It is over 20 years since Maylan Engineering first invested in PSL Datatrack production control software. As the company has passed from father to son and moved to more modern premises over the intervening years, there has been continued reliance on the system alongside investment in new modules.

Managing director Stephen Weiss said: “We couldn't live without PSL Datatrack. It has made these important company transitions seamless and supported our move into new markets with a greater variety of profitable work.”

Maylan’s Corby-based business centres around CNC manufacture of precision components ranging from one-off samples to batches of 10,000-plus. For national and international customers in a wide range of industry sectors including hydraulics, motorsport and oil and gas, Maylan uses the latest machine tool technology to turn and mill anything from mild and stainless steels through to plastics, super duplex steels and titanium.

Winning new orders is crucial and in this respect PSL Datatrack plays a vital role in gaining a competitive edge.

Mr Weiss added: “We can turn around a simple quotation from receipt of an engineering drawing to emailing the prospective customer in as little as 3min.

“Thanks to the information already stored in PSL Datatrack we know details of materials, suppliers and costs, so it is simply a question of adding the machining cycle times, resulting in an accurate quotation which we can present professionally by email.”

Ease of quoting
More complex quotes may take a little longer, but again PSL Datatrack allows Maylan to recall all the information needed to formulate the quote at the click of a button, including prices for additional processes such as heat treatment and details of various in-house production processes. Ease of quoting has enabled Maylan to take on more added-value assembly work.

Since implementation, Maylan has increased the importance of PSL Datatrack to its operations significantly with ongoing investment in new modules. Alongside quotations and the sales and purchase order processing modules, Maylan has added the Job Costing, Shop Floor Data Collection (SFDC) and Time And Attendance modules.

Job Costing allows management to review all financial aspects of a job and identify profitable works orders while SFDC and Time And Attendance together provide a fast and simple method of calculating hours worked and payroll calculations.

The Work In Progress (WIP) module has also been upgraded to the full Sequential Scheduler which plans and controls the production flow for the entire Maylan operation.

Traceability
According to Mr Weiss, the key benefit resulting from all of these interlinked modules is the traceability afforded throughout the company’s business model. Data entered to formulate a quotation is immediately available to be re-used in other modules as the job is progressed.

Traceability is essential for Maylan’s customer base and management are able to identify which members of staff were involved in any job and in what capacity. The company is ISO 9001:2015 accredited and inspectors can quickly be presented with any records that are required during quality audits.

Mr Weiss continued: “PSL Datatrack’s capabilities give us flexibility and three of us in the management team can access the system. This enables us to control our business very effectively, including both the sub-contract work and the manufacture of our own Pallet Master product for machining centres.”

The additional PSL Datatrack modules acquired by Maylan have been added as “plug and play” solutions. Mr Weiss initially received training on how to use them directly from PSL Datatrack and has subsequently imparted that knowledge to all other users at Maylan.

He concluded: “It is simple to use, but PSL Datatrack is always there to support us with any questions on how to run the software and how to improve our utilisation of it.

“Whatever the size and complexity of a quotation and subsequent order, the administration and production requirements are essentially the same and we entrust complete responsibility to PSL Datatrack to manage these for us.

“High levels of customer service, on-time deliveries, no rejects and repeat business remain our key ambitions and PSL Datatrack is helping us to achieve these goals day in, day out.”