Aptean Industrial Manufacturing ERP Case Study: Tek Pak

The Challenge

Tek Pak, Inc.—a manufacturer of packaging for the electronics industry—previously used bar code data collection for shop floor reporting and inventory but struggled with errors, missing and incomplete transactions resulting in general disinterest among the workforce.

“Because the bar code system was not interactive and provided no feedback, workers didn’t know if the transactions were correct or complete, and grew complacent as a result,” said Tek Pak Human Resources Manager Renee Carter. “I was forced to spend time every day trying to correct two to three pages of transaction errors.”

Tek Pak experienced these challenges:

• Data updates were a day behind, making system information of no real value

• Inventory accuracy and visibility were lacking

Because the reporting was not reliable, information from the system was suspect. “There was little confidence in the data,” said Dr. Scott Carter, Vice President for Research & Development. “A lot of our production involves parallel activities that make reporting more complicated, so it was particularly challenging.”

In addition, material usage was logged only once per week by supervisors based on hand-written notes from operators, so material issues generally went unnoticed until it was too late. The Tek Pak team realized it was asking too much from the bar code system and set out to find a solution that would provide more interactive and accurate reporting to ease both production and administration burdens.

The Solution

Since Tek Pak was already leveraging Aptean Industrial Manufacturing ERP, the business chose to implement the Aptean Shop Floor Manager (SFM) module, a shop floor execution solution. Its interactive interface for the production floor allows visibility into the current status of a job without having to generate reports continuously.

Tek Pak set up SFM workstations on the plant floor for employees to clock on and off jobs and enter material usage directly to apply to the correct job. In addition, the SFM displays gave workstation users access to corresponding job documents, such as drawings and work instructions, right at their fingertips.

The system was accepted as easier to use than the bar code system, and users saw direct benefits. “The most important change was that the employees took ownership of the data,” according to Renee Carter. “They had a much better understanding of what they were doing, and they could see the results—better information coming back to them from the system. That, in turn, motivated them to continue entering the data correctly.”

The Results

Tek Pak’s SFM implementation immediately resulted in an 80% improvement in labor reporting, along with equivalent improvements in time and inventory count accuracy. What’s more, component shortages were relatively commonplace before, but are rare now that inventory records are under control.

Tek Pak has achieved the following with Aptean Shop Floor Manager:

• 80% reduction in labor-tracking errors

• Timely and accurate shop floor data resulting in enhanced visibility and control

• 75% more accurate inventory records, with lot control, equating to fewer shortages, reduced inventory and increased traceability

Supervisors now have access to real-time, accurate status and location information on every job out on the floor—at a glance. There have also been big improvements in job costing as well. “Information was severely lacking on the job-cost side,” said Gail Hernly, Tek Pak Controller. “But with new access to accurate costs, especially for labor, we are now better able to track costs and margins by product and by customer. That has allowed us to better identify opportunities and understand how we compete and where we can do better.”

Master Your Operation With Aptean Manufacturing ERP and Shop Floor Manager

Aptean’s industry-specific software replaces paperwork, increases visibility, improves accuracy and streamlines processes—helping you boost productivity, cut costs, maximize throughout and drive business growth.

With specialized industry functionality, cloud deployment options and by-your-side support from our in-house teams, you can start improving your business straight out of the box, without a complicated implementation.

So, if you’re ready to find out more about our proven manufacturing software, get in touch with our experts today. Or, request your personalized demo at a time that suits you.