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Deco Glaze Heads Towards a Quantum Leap in Bespoke Manufacturing
Customer benefits at a glance
- Provided constantly visible business information
- Information flowed freely from one process to another
- Systemised and automated bespoke manufacturing tasks
- A development team regularly delivered new enhancement options
- Constantly being developed to deliver quantum leaps in super-lean manufacturing
- Enabled business growth while labour was scarce
- No 3–5-year technology replacement or upgrade costs
- Facilitated scaling up and business development without moving technology platforms
- Exceptionally user-friendly, and ideal for roles that don’t usually involve technology
- Data remains accurate as it flows through processes unhindered by technology interfaces
- Prevents data silos from forming
- No system downtime during manufacturing plant move
- Increased capacity and profit
The challenge
Before adopting FuseMetrix, Deco Glaze faced the same challenges as other businesses using different technologies for various tasks across many departments. Business information was stored in different software solutions which disrupted data flow through the business, hampering reporting and business transparency.
“Before migrating to FuseMetrix, business information visibility was a constant issue,” commented Etienne Baird, Director at Deco Glaze.
After contemplating joining function-specific software such as CRM to other technology interfaces, Etienne started to consider bespoke options.
The solution
“If you buy a completely bespoke software platform, you can do anything, but at great cost. When you start with the FuseMetrix platform, you can still do anything because it’s constantly evolving and upgrading in collaboration with the organisations using it.
“This is refreshing because I’ve found that mainstream software solutions don’t do the same,” added Etienne.
Because FuseMetrix is a whole-business management platform, containing practically everything needed to run a bespoke manufacturing company, information remains tightly knitted to the core system. This improves information accuracy and enables it to flow from one process to another, without passing through different technologies.
Any enhancements or new modules that come out of the FuseMetrix Group’s development team all hang from this core system. So all relevant information is linked at all times on its journey through an organisation.
The results
After migrating most of the business to FuseMetrix, senior management had constant visibility over their operation, with the ability to drill down to small pieces of related data. FuseMetrix forced processes to be followed and has automated many complex admin tasks (e.g. scheduling). Having all this information on the same platform also avoids data silos.
Deco Glaze moved to a new plant, without any system downtime. Laptops were taken to the new site and plugged in right away, because FuseMetrix is cloud-based.
Furthermore, Deco Glaze will soon pilot a FuseMetrix e-manufacturing app which automates mundane manual tasks, prevents mistakes and enables senior management to easily investigate or intervene, at any time, from any location.
“Eventually, we will be able to send customer drawings from mobile devices straight to the factory floor, without any human intervention until final checking. This will shorten existing processes, eliminate human error, reduce material processing wastage, and help overcome the terrible labour shortage that is restricting the UK’s manufacturing industry.
“We already have one of the most efficient operations in our industry, with each product passing through two or three pairs of hands prior to glass-cutting. However, the development that we are about to pilot will reduce this, with 95% of products going through only one pair of hands and perhaps 1% passing through two pairs. This will reduce lead times by half and release staff for immediate holiday cover and front-end backup,” explained Etienne.
Deco Glaze is already a market leader in terms of tolerances, quality and product range. FuseMetrix continues to help improve its operational efficiency, leading to more profit, and less wastage, without compromising quality.
Etienne estimated that the next quantum leap FuseMetrix will deliver will increase Deco Glaze’s capacity without increasing head count –and could push turnover upwards by 25% in year one. Although profits would increase, infrastructure costs would remain static and end-user pricing would remain unchanged – an exciting prospect for any manufacturer.
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