Hills Panel Products
Effective
and Efficient Management of Production and Distribution
Hills Panel Products (HPP) are a broad range supplier to the furniture and building trade. Their product range includes a huge selection of sheets, cut and edged board, work tops, vinyl wrapped furniture doors, and associated fittings. In order to manage the growth of their business activities HPP realised they required a truly integrated financials and logistics solution, leading them to investigate a number of potential solutions. Being a complex business with diverse product ranges, Hills Panel Products came to the conclusion that the de Facto system was the ideal solution for their manufacturing and distribution operations.
Complex
Sales Orders handling Industry Specific Requirements
As a result of implementing the de Facto solution and the examination of their business processes by our implementation specialists, HPP have switched to utilising Sales Orders for their production planning. The switch has resulted in the ability to manage complex orders much more efficiently, removing the need for a huge number of Bills of Materials.
A single Sales Order may include diverse items from across their product range. For example, fittings from the fittings warehouse; cut and edged panels in standard and non-standard sizes; board supplied full sheet or cut, part-finished or not, and a variety of door types.
In order to facilitate this process, De Facto created additional functionality within the Sales Order window to record the full range of product specific information that HPP needed to record and track. These extra fields enable them to record such information as components, styles, door production information etc. This 'extra fields' functionality is standard in S5 and can easily be set up at implementation time to handle any business specific information required.
Vistas
managing information to control Routers and Saws
Further significant efficiencies in production planning and management became possible on the basis of utilising S5's powerful Vistas. Through Vistas, HPP have an easy to use and effective method for taking the information right through to the routers which cut the patterns and products out of their raw materials.
For example, the Vista can take a selection for a single colour of raw product from the list of orders and the output can be directly utilised by the CAD/CAM software which optimises the routing jobs. As a result, HPP have experienced dramatic increases in production efficiency. Planning and optimisation have been improved, with reduced wastage of both boards and vinyl. Furthermore, the improved grouping allows for bigger production runs, which in turn enables improved quality due to optimal press temperature attainment.
Advanced
Transport and Load Planning
Hills Panel Products run their own transport and distribution operations. Load planning is a vital issue for them due to their extremely varied range of products and extensive customer list. de Facto S5 enables them to manage load order and drop order with maximum efficiency. Where previously this process was managed manually, S5's functionality allows for the optimum ordering to be created automatically.
As HPP distribute products in a wide variety of units and sizes, de Facto S5's ability to load plan in a range of units is used to good effect. Unassigned capacity is easily viewed for planned loads using the planning window. S5 enables the easy printing of drop orders and transport instructions for the haulier, as well as detailed load manifests. Packing documents further enable the customer to see at a glance the contents of packs within a load.
Effective
Multi Warehouse Management
As Hills Panel Products operate multiple product-specific warehouse areas within their sites, communication and effective management of resources are vital. From within the same 'multi-disciplinary' Sales Order, S5 filters enable the viewing and utilisation of only those products particular to an individual functional area of a warehouse. Having thus enabled the staff to manage their own operation at their own level, the full range of items in the Sales Order is then brought back into view for transport planning purposes. Staff are therefore able to see exactly the information they need to see when they need it, efficiently using information without redundant information input.
Martin Hill, Operations Director, HPP Ltd:
de
Facto has enabled HPP to gain great efficiencies in all areas of our business.
This partnership has enabled us to focus our efforts on moving the business
forward. Our future growth plans all involve working closely with De Facto
as their flexibility gives us the confidence that whatever challenge we
present De Facto Software will be able to handle it.
The de Facto solution has had multiple benefits for HPP. Previously manual processes are now entirely electronic based with considerable automation. Production has become more efficient as has load and drop planning. Changes in business processes have been implemented, such as the switch from 'made for stock' to 'made to order' with consequent gains in efficiency and turnaround. Having demonstrated a commitment to De Facto's solutions by upgrading to S5, HPP are looking forward to the future implementation of a number of new features to further enhance their business operations.
Comprehensive
use of Sales Order Processing to handle HPP's industry specific requirements.
Download
