customer success story
prodx helps RP Fedder Industrial manage supply chain disruptionDon't wait to digitize your operations
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a crash course in digitizing
An old-school manufacturer digitizes for growth
In The News
81% of supply chain managers consider data analytics to be vital to cost decreases. With real-time information and updates, companies can respond to changes in the supply chain at a moment’s notice.
RP Fedder had a legacy ERP that they used for order processing, inventory management, and billing, but they weren’t using it to its fullest potential. Manufacturing bills of materials (BOMs) were managed in a separate database for costing; without access to BOM data, the ERP couldn’t forecast raw material demand and supply. As a result, it was not unusual to stock-out of critical materials in the middle of a production run. Instead of basing cost of materials on BOMs and actual procurement costs, Fedder relied on standard costs – which made it difficult to monitor the effect of rising commodity prices on margins.
Testimonial
“prodx helped communicate a vision that was an inspiration for the entire organization.”
former Director Digital Strategy
Agilent Technologies
Establishing a source of the truth
Processes, platforms, & data enable visibility
Given accurate BOM data, we used open sales orders for each manufactured part to forecast the demand for raw materials and components. This guided purchasing decisions to assure we had adequate safety stock, and informed production scheduling to make sure we had all materials on hand before starting production.
With the new forecasting process in place, the management team completed a physical inventory to restore faith in the inventory data.
Once we had confidence in the data and the Excel-based process, prodx migrated the BOM data into the legacy ERP to use its supply forecasting and production management features. prodx developed training for the staff on the new capabilities, and in-person support until the staff was confident using the new process and system.
Rapid results
Record-breaking results in 120 days
- Production tickets were automatically generated for each sales order line item and release, triggering PO suggestions for any materials that were short on supply.
- Production managers could see at a glance if they had material on hand to complete a production ticket before the job was released to the floor.
- Orders could be invoiced without manually deducting materials from inventory and hand-calculating COGS.
- The system calculated gross margins based on actual costs, alerting management to margin erosion due to rising materials costs.
- Management had reliable real-time data on costs, margins, supply, and demand.
The end result: March 2021 was a record-breaking month for manufacturing output at RP Fedder. Armed with timely and accurate information, the manufacturing team was able to clear a backlog and achieve new levels of productivity.
even small companies can digitize.
Digitize BOMs, routings/methods & recipes
develop a rapid prototype to validate the data & prove the benefit
deploy data into manufacturing platforms
Demonstrate measurable results
Testimonial
“Everyone on the prodx team was kind, and motivational, and able to communicate in different ways until everyone at Agilent fully understood the purpose of the program. It wasn’t just helping the digital team manage this transformation, but also digging in to help the business side understand the importance and value.”
former Director, Content Center of Excellence
Agilent Technologies