Another company benefitting from Hexagon’s WorkPlan software is Burnley-based API Design & Build — formerly known as KTL Tooling and part of a US-owned composites manufacturing corporation before its recent acquisition.
Danny Hough, API’s general manager (pictured) said KTL had been using a group-wide ERP system, which was far from ideal for the bespoke work being undertaken. “It was a made-to-stock system, highly customised for the composites business, and as we are a bespoke tooling company it was never a good fit.”
The bulk of API’s work is high-end aerospace tooling, composite mould tools, assembly fixtures and drill templates, for both military and commercial applications. Customers include BAE Systems, Rolls-Royce, Airbus and Boeing.
He added: “A lot of KTL’s work involved tooling for exterior panels. Historically these have been produced from aluminium alloys, but much progress has been made in converting these types of parts into composites.”
The company uses a large Hexagon CMM, which ensures that the process of guaranteeing a completely accurate final mould tool is kept in-house. Mr Hough says process times vary, depending on the number of points being measured, and that there is often a queue of parts waiting to go into the inspection booth.
“WorkPlan gives us full visibility of the work going through the CMM, allowing us to make informed decisions on the implications of certain items queueing. Some of our tools are particularly complex or large, while others can involve up to 300 sub-assemblies, so it is no wonder that the old ERP system had been causing issues.
“Everything had to be made and transacted through stock, which meant we couldn’t keep track of costs on a project until many of the sub levels were transacted towards the end of a project. Only then did we know if we were making money on a job or not.
“That all changed when we installed WorkPlan, as we are now placing purchase orders directly against the job. As soon as an order goes into WorkPlan we start the manufacturing plan around it. This shows times and operations, which are then multiplied by our rates for each section, allowing us to constantly see the cost building up while creating a budget for us to work to.
“The software’s purchase-to-order aspect is absolutely vital, providing full control over the processing of large tools and sub-assemblies on the shopfloor. The commercial team inputs each job as an order; and once approved, the planning department adds materials and operations before production commences.
“The Purchasing and Stock Management function is another major benefit, as buyers can easily bring up the material list for a job, group materials together then send everything to the supplier as one purchase order or a multiple line purchase order — instead of requiring individual purchase orders.
“With WorkPlan, we have a complete overview of where each project is in real time. Previously we had to draw up project and costing reports on Excel and presentation files.”