The Lafert Group is strongly oriented towards improving performance thanks to technological innovation and high performance as well as satisfying customer needs thanks to a high rate of product customisation. To achieve these objectives, the company equips each department with the best tools available and consequently has adopted the APS CyberPlan to plan and schedule its production, efficiently. The head of planning, Davide Mestre, tells us how, in just one year, Lafert has reduced planning times by 30% and increased the already excellent level of service by 15%.
Precise programming, based on certain numbers
As in many companies, Lafert’s planning was also carried out by extracting the data contained in the ERP and reworking them later; to calculate the production capacity, the “piece-day” method was used and therefore a summary assessment of the actual average production capacity of the department.
In a context such as that characterized by high variability and many customized codes, in which cycle times also vary enormously from one piece to another, the previous method could not meet Lafert’s needs.
“We found ourselves making plans that were subsequently disregarded – continues Mestre – this because the actual weight of the orders in terms of cycle time and machine commitment was not taken into account.”
Evolve methods and systems, moving to an APS
Having understood that the performance limits were due to the limitations of the tools used at the time for the production programming process, Lafert began a software selection to equip himself with tools appropriate to his needs. After careful analysis, the choice fell on CyberPlan, Cybertec’s flagship software for finite capacity planning and scheduling.
“We made a software selection, from which Cybertec emerged as the winner. To select the best solution, several parameters of the program were evaluated such as flexibility, speed and ease of interfacing with our current ERP system, JD Edwards” says Mestre.
Plan production taking into account finished capacity
Thanks to the planning improvement project carried out with Cybertec’s supply chain consultancy and CyberPlan, Lafert was able to abandon the “pieces/day” method by basing the calculation on the actual hours needed to produce the pieces. An important role for Lafert’s challenges was the possibility offered by CyberPlan to calculate the production capacity with the so-called finished capacity: “Unlike the MRP offered together with the ERP that generated the orders with infinite capacity, in fact, CyberPlan performs the MRP calculation and immediately proposes to the planner the possible delivery dates. However, the latter are always evaluated and validated by the planner according to what could be the machine commitment already in place or the expected machine commitment. This is a very useful enhancement of the planner’s capabilities, which is relieved of the most complex calculations and remains in charge of decisions with the highest added value “.
Implementing CyberPlan has delivered tangible benefits
The CyberPlan project, already a year later, has allowed a clear improvement in delivery performance. The level of service has improved by 15% overall, a figure that is the result of the improvement processes implemented by Lafert. Among these, the implementation of CyberPlan, and therefore the fact of having equipped Lafert with the important features of APS (such as what-if simulations and finite capacity), certainly played a fundamental role.
In the departments where CyberPlan has been implemented, both in terms of planning and fine scheduling, planning times have been reduced by an average of 30%.
Benefits also in communication between departments and for workers’ accounts
The benefits deriving from the use of the APS CyberPlan do not stop at the optimal organization of the production department, but also invest aspects not previously considered: “communication between the purchasing and planning departments has also improved, this is because we now share the same system and see all the changes made to the production plan, in real time.
Compared to the old method, which used pieces/day, planning production with CyberPlan allows you to manage the actual load of machine hours and therefore the actual work queues. What helped me the most about CyberPlan was the fact that it had usable data that allows for more in-depth analyses.
In addition, there has also been an improvement in terms of usability of information. This is both within Lafert, and towards the workers’ accounts: today Lafert can share with the workers’ accounts what may be the expected load for the weeks to come. “Oggi we can check in the medium – long term what can be critical in terms of factory and department structure by predicting whether it is necessary to increase production capacity rather than managing the current one in a different way.”
Lafert
The Lafert Group is a leader in Europe in the design and production of electric motors and customised drives for industrial use, in particular in the fields of industrial automation, energy saving and renewable energy. The Group is strongly oriented towards technological innovation, high performance and product customisation to meet customer needs, aiming to improve performance and reduce environmental impact. Founded in 1962, today over 90% of Lafert’s production is non-standard.
What you want to know about APS
Cybertec’s APS solution allows the European leader in the production of electric motors to obtain the numerous and important advantages we have just seen. Find out more details and information in the free guide we have prepared for you.