In a constantly evolving and growing market such as that of Pet Care, it is necessary to combine production with technological development in step with the times. Ferplast has always believed in innovation and progress, a characteristic that has allowed the Venetian company to maintain its market leadership over the years. Particularly important was the decision to equip the production planning of the CyberPlan software, the most innovative and functional APS on the market that has followed and accompanied the growth of the Venetian company, adapting to its changing needs.
Roberto Manea, Production Planner of the Venetian company, told us about Ferplast’s path in the implementation and use of CyberPlan, a project that led to a considerable reduction in the time needed to plan production and achieve a very high level of service.
The right tools for the best results
Ferplast is characterised by the presence of an ERP that acts as a central database for all company functions. Each area has been equipped with the best dedicated software that interfaces with the ERP itself. In this way, each department has the best tools that allow maximum efficiency while maintaining the management system as a “star centre” and continuously updated.
“When I joined Ferplast – says Manea – the company carried out planning and scheduling with a very popular tool in the planning of production processes, even if it was not performing and adequate: this tool was Excel.”
Planning production processes with numerous Excel sheets would not have allowed the company to grow and maintain market leadership. The need for improvement and reduction of time, necessary at the time to carry out planning and scheduling activities, prompted Ferplast to look for a dedicated software. Already in the 1990s, therefore, a software selection was carried out to select the best planning application. CyberPlan was chosen as the best APS software able to respond to the needs that arose, especially in terms of processing times.
This forward-looking choice stems from the fact that the company has always believed that equipping the different departments with the appropriate tools and knowledge leads the entire company to perform better, obtaining the best possible result. As part of the planning and scheduling of production processes, Ferplast has been a real forerunner thanks to an architecture composed of the management system and the various departments (it is the architecture most used and recommended by the main consulting companies and top experts to date) and Ferplast has equipped itself with the Advanced Planning & Scheduling system (APS) of Cybertec as a department of the management system already in 1997.
Improve efficiency and reduce the time of complex planning
Already in the 1990s, Ferplast’s production was very complex, both for logistical, product and market issues. Speaking of supply chain logistics, Ferplast’s head office is located in Italy in Castelgomberto; to this site have been added over the years the offices in Slovakia and Ukraine.
As for the products in the Ferplast catalogue, it was necessary to plan over 2,000 items made in the three locations, manage over 50,000 rows of materials, produce items with numerous levels of bill of materials, while guaranteeing the shortest possible processing times.
In addition to this, it must be considered that some items are made up of different components that are produced in the three aforementioned plants and must be taken into account for the calculation of needs, appointments between materials, construction and delivery. It is therefore a fairly complex system that benefits from advanced planning.
Among the objectives that the company intended to achieve were the reduction of production lead times, the increase in the level of service and the reorganization of production in addition to the primary one of company growth. In short, Ferplast had ambitious goals and the determination to achieve them thanks to the best tool available on the market.
Planning production with an APS or Excel?
The answer is easy: today, in fact, thanks to the use of advanced production planning software such as CyberPlan, Ferplast boasts a service level that is between 95% and 99%.
“Now the calculation of the needs of the whole group is extremely fast, we are in the order of 60 seconds, and the good thing is that all this is now normal and obvious for us, and thinking about how we planned on Excel you understand that it is not so easy. The simulation area is also very effective and is one of the most difficult things to achieve as a planner. Integrating CyberPlan with a sales forecast generation program means having a kind of crystal ball.”
Today Ferplast has the opportunity to do something fundamental, thanks to the use of only one key: the control of materials.
“Excel may be easier to use and better known than specific applications, but it does not give a whole series of calculations and services such as material control, or appointments between materials. Another thing I like is that, unlike Microsoft Excel, CyberPlan correctly places constraints based on the logic given to it by the user and then follows the basic logic of scheduling.
In line with Ferplast’s philosophy, which has always been to use top-of-the-range applications on the market, the company has therefore adopted the CyberPlan solution, which has followed and accompanied the growth of the Venetian company, adapting to its changing needs.
It was a great opportunity not only for the company but also for the collaborators who were involved in the project.
“It has allowed people to be professionally qualified and to increase knowledge at the level of supply chain management, logic, and planning and scheduling systems.”
The importance of the relationship between company and supplier
The long link between Ferplast and Cybertec can indicate what are the important elements in such a relationship, in addition to achieving the objectives. The teamwork carried out between the Ferplast team and that formed by Cybertec consultants and programmers was in fact fundamental to achieve the high quality of the project and to have a long-lasting relationship that still lasts today and that allows the CyberPlan APS solution to continue to evolve around the needs that arise from the continuous growth of Ferplast.
“We have relied on CyberPlan as an APS for 20 years. It allows us to simulate and analyse needs and capacities starting from the MPs plan, accept the MRP proposals and through scheduling give the departments a feasible production plan. A valuable contribution must also be recognized to Cybertec consultancy, which has always followed us with assiduity and precision.”
Roberto Manea – Production Planner
Ferplast
Ferplast has been an undisputed international leader in the Pet Care sector for over 50 years. Born from a typical Northeast business reality, today Ferplast produces over 4000 types of products, has about 1,000 employees, distributes in as many as 85 countries on five continents, has commercial branches in Italy, France, Germany, Great Britain, Poland, Luxembourg, Ukraine, Slovakia, Russia, the United States and South America as well as 3 production sites in Italy, Ukraine and Slovakia. Not only dogs and cats, but also rodents, birds, fish, amphibians and reptiles: every family of friends of man finds in the Ferplast range the most advanced solutions for well-being and the most pleasant human-animal coexistence.
What you want to know about APS
Cybertec’s APS solution has allowed, and has allowed Ferplast to obtain the numerous and important advantages we have just seen for over 20 years. Find out more details and information in the free guide we have prepared for you, by clicking here.