 American
Tubing, Inc.
ERP resolves scheduling issues and increases the bottom line
for tubing fabricator
Overview
American Tubing, Inc. (ATI), established in Springdale, Arkansas in
1976, is a leading producer of copper components and brazed copper
assemblies for use in the air conditioning and refrigeration industries.
With revenues exceeding $10 million, ATI is a make-to-order shop with more
than 150 employees, producing parts to individual customer specifications
and prints.
The Challenge
Prior to implementing Intuitive ERP, ATI faced a problem familiar to
many manufacturers—scheduling. Customers were demanding shorter lead times
and ATI’s existing ERP system was not capable of providing the information
necessary to respond quickly. As a result, ATI was losing business.
ATI was also moving their equipment away from manual operation toward
automation and they required a system that could schedule efficiently and
had machine loading capability.
It was imperative for ATI to view their shop floor load at any point in
time, allowing them to determine where potential problems existed and to
create corrective solutions on the production line before slowdowns
occurred.
The Solution
ATI management contemplated rewriting their existing system in-house
while they searched for other system solutions. Then they learned about
Intuitive ERP from Intuitive Manufacturing Systems—an ERP software system
that offered a 100 percent Microsoft® solution.
Because the Microsoft platform was already in place at ATI and
employees were accustomed to the interface, ATI management realized
implementation and training would be quick and straightforward. These
factors, coupled with the price, ease of maintenance and administration,
and the ability to make modifications on their own convinced ATI
management that Intuitive ERP would have a substantially lower total cost
of ownership than any other system.
After a visit to Intuitive Manufacturing Systems, ATI determined the
system functionality of Intuitive ERP would be a perfect fit for their
business and licensed the Intuitive ERP base system with the Location/Lot
Tracking and Shop Floor Control (SFC) options for 25 concurrent users.
“In relation to other systems, Intuitive ERP is very easy to learn and
use,” said Chuck Lewis, President of ATI. “It follows rules consistent
with manufacturing which allow us to have consistency. It is also a very
logical system and flows in the way a person would imagine.”
ATI’s Results
ATI believed it was important for their own growth to be involved with
the technology from the beginning. That investment paid off for ATI.
“To date, there has not been an upgrade made available that we have not
considered taking the time to install as soon as we could,” said Lewis.
“New versions are always faster and more feature-rich.”
Within the first year after implementing Intuitive ERP, ATI experienced
a dramatic drop in overtime. Intuitive ERP gave ATI the ability to view
their shop floor load at any given point in time and allowed them to
schedule hours by department, rather than the entire shop.
“Intuitive ERP is better than any other system we have used at ATI,”
Lewis continued. “Based on the progress we have made during the past
several years, I see us using the software for a long time to come.
Intuitive is committed to their customers. They listen to our needs and
address issues as they arise.”
Additionally, Intuitive ERP improved ATI’s reporting. The system
previously used by ATI did not assist managers in preparation of
consistent reports for scheduling purposes, whereas Intuitive ERP
prescribes to an APICS-based set of rules and procedures that support
report consistency throughout the system.
ATI’s Reaction
“For our company, Intuitive ERP has been a perfect fit. It is a dynamic
system that can expand as our company grows. We have worked heavily with
the software, using it as a base to develop additional solutions to our
specific needs. We have found it to be a thorough system that considers
the various ways of going about business. It is also a very flexible
system, allowing us to customize without compromising data,” said Lewis.
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Challenges