JAWS, key clients of COGITA , manufacture buckets and face shovels for excavators ranging from 4 to 800 tons. They also make front end loader buckets, material handling attachments, dump truck trays, and mining site water tank and service trucks modules. Their speciality is the provision of these attachments for giant mining machines.
JAWS operates in a competitive industry, with Mark Howard, the company’s Financial Controller, identifying four competitors for heavy mining products and “Dozens” at the low end bucket manufacturing.
According to Mark Howard, mines cost millions a day to run, if their machinery is not operating, they do not make money. JAWS’ advantage is quality, reliability and warranty backup, as these traits give the clientele comfort that the machinery they depend on will be operational as often as possible.
The initial impetus for the company’s adoption of ERP was the millennium bug. Since then, new pressures have emerged, notably the price and waiting times for high-grade steel the company relies on to build its products. These factors make it important to have adequate control over the manufacturing process, to understand when it will be possible to schedule production and deliver products. The cost of labour is another concern. It is sufficiently high that the company needs to manage its workforce’s productivity carefully to remain competitive.
JAWS’ old, DOS-based, tools were not up to the job either. They had scheduled jobs manually on a two-metre long board and kept adding more white boards to the end.
These systems also made it hard for staff in different areas of the business to understand their role on a project. People on the shop floor would start a job and then need a part, so they would go to the machine shop and ask for it to be made. Supervisors could not access information that would help them understand how to direct other workers more effectively.
Solution
JAWS acquired Epicor ERP & Supply Chain Software in 2000 and now use more than 20 modules, including several financials and engineering modules, along with document management and field service. In 2006 the company added advanced materials planning and manufacturing execution modules and a mobility extension.
JAWS chose the Epicor ERP for its integration, especially between engineering modules, as some specialist manufacturing management tools the company considered lacked native financials.
The software’s implementation was driven from the top levels of the organisation. Epicor ERP made it possible for JAWS to become a more efficient company. There have been major efficiency gains with processes like the flow of componentry in the workshop. They no longer have 100 guys walking around looking for a part or walking to the machine shop to ask for something to be made. Everything relates to a drawing and staff work according to a job plan, often with components waiting for them to include in the current project.
Productivity has also been enhanced with Epicor ERP logged on to for much of the day. The length of time they are logged in, when mapped against the company’s output, is allowing the company to measure efficiency and productivity to understand its capacity and therefore to offer better forecasts of product delivery to customers.
JAWSnow have actual versus estimated cost looked at for every job. The MD looks at the report and refers to the details in Epicor ERP to understand the variables Having this data available enables the company to understand if it will need to allow overtime or outsource some work, further enhancing its ability to control costs while also satisfying customers. Financials are also tighter. The purchase orders are consolidated and ordered with required amount of lead time; which used to be ordered as required. Now, JAWS have gone from sales order book to purchase orders and they purchase according to the forecasts.
Enabling growth
The combined effect of these changes has allowed JAWS to enjoy incredible growth. Epicor ERP have allowed JAWS to concentrate on a different market. Before Epicor, JAWS concentrated on the end user. Now JAWS supply to the OEM heavy machinery companies like Hitachi, Komatsu, Caterpillar as well as direct to mine sites nationally and internationally. Sales have increased and stress levels in the organisation have dropped.
More Epicor ERP for the future
JAWS is now looking at making further use of Epicor ERP, with an upgrade to Version 8 and its new CRM module on the horizon, along with a new report writer. Customisation for use on mobile devices on forklifts so their activities can be tracked in real time is also planned, as is greater use of barcoding.