Lessons Learned: Supply Chain Resiliency in the Face of Unplanned Events

Lessons Learned: Supply Chain Resiliency in the Face of Unplanned Events

Watch the recording to learn how MedBio used DELMIAWORKS manufacturing ERP system to cope with major fluctuations in demand across multiple market sectors caused by COVID-19.

This pre-recorded webinar was hosted by MPO. The speakers for this presentation are Sean Callaghan and Aric Emery from MedBio and Steve Bieszczat from DELMIAWORKS manufacturing software (formerly called IQMS).

About MedBio

Based in Grand Rapids, Michigan MedBio is a premier contract plastics manufacturer, which specialises in medical and biotechnology industries. As well as precision injection moulding, they also count injection mould tooling, assembly, packaging, project management and design support amongst their services.

Prior to the COVID-19, MedBio’s general manufacturing production consisted of:

• 30% of business in the Biotech area and micro fluidity which is high-volume / low-labour
• Two-thirds (65%) in medical devices, which is how the company started. MedBio’s medical devices are lower-volume/high-labour, with some assembly, secondary ops, etc.
• Five percent in speciality lenses for aerospace and automotive, which in this case is lower-volume/high-labour, too.

The impact of COVID-19 on MedBio

A brief synopsis of the impact COVID has had on MedBio’s operations:

• In March, April and May, demand for biotech went up, due to virus test kits, amongst other types of test kits. Demand for medical devices remained steady at that time, due to people thinking that the pandemic would be over in 2-4 weeks and so they continued to build inventory
• Automotive and aerospace customers shut down completely at that time, so demand dropped off
• In June and July, demand for biotech continued to increase, but demand for medical devices dropped as non-essential surgeries that had been cancelled caught up with inventories. Automotive and aerospace did pick up a little at that time, though it was a slow and steady growth
• In August, demand was up across the board – which led to “a different type of chaos”.

MedBio manufacturing operations

The manufacturing operations of MedBio basically include:

• 47 plastics injection moulding machines, which range from 17-350 tonnes
• A further four moulding machines are ‘on order’ to add additional manufacturing capacity
• Several secondary operations, monitored with DELMIAWORKS real-time production and process monitoring capabilities
• A number of additional work centres in assembly operations. These are also monitored in real-time by DELMIAWORKS.

In terms of technology, MedBio doesn’t have any requirement for in-house IT staff – they are able to outsource that, and run the full DELMIAWORKS manufacturing ERP and real-time production and process monitoring (MES) system.

Going paperless “used to be once a dream and now it’s becoming a reality” – especially with workflows changing due to COVID-19.

MedBio is ISO1345:2016 certified and is registered with the FDA.

How an ERP system helped MedBio to maintain supply chain resiliency

The “nuts and bolts” of the ERP system meant that these tools became a “lifesaver” during COVID-19.

MedBio has been able to implement features on the fly, to enable people to work remotely from home. At their Texas location, in particular, scheduling changes became hectic and complex, as customers pushed and rearranged orders:

“the constant changes and back-and-forth, even with the same customers, really came down to uncertainty. It was like flying your plane and the fog: you just don’t know what’s out there and what’s going to come around the corner”.

Scheduling

MedBio was able to work with their customers to understand ‘what-if’ scenarios and come up with a plan. In regulated industries, moulds cannot just be put in a different similar machine to make parts. They have to be validated, which can take weeks – and a lot of money. In some cases, tools were validated in other machines but a lot of that flexibility just isn’t possible.

Using DELMIAWORKS’ scheduling tools, they were able to easily drag-and-drop within the schedule, keeping colour coding up-to-date, to quickly give you an instant answer as to whether a new due date is possible, what they would need to do to meet it and what options they have.

Whiteboard and Capacity Planning

DELMIAWORKS’ whiteboard tool facilitates capacity planning for both machines and labour. They give a visual on ‘hot spots’ where they may be over capacity, or there may be room for additional capacity. Everything is instant, so there is no need to wait overnight to run the manufacturing ERP system. Updates can be accessed instantly from your PC – even at home.

Forecast Changes

The forecast module makes change forecasting easy. MedBio is owned by a PE firm, who – along with the lenders and banks – are dealing with uncertainty due to COVID. It’s important to keep those stakeholders regularly up-to-date on exactly what’s going on, and by plugging them into the Forecast Changes tool, they can automatically get sales, revenue and cost updates – including live data on shipments, open orders, and future orders.

It’s all broken down in a nice tool and BioMed can quickly send out reports for updates.

Production Schedule

DELMIAWORKS’ production schedule features, like auto-load, helped BioMed to quickly adapt by entering purchase orders or sales orders and putting them in the schedule for you. It’ll put them in the best fit order, based on due dates and what machines they have to run, due to the limited flexibility.

Auto-load can also consider which other machines have been validated for that part and it may move it from one machine to the other. It can be done quickly, and then you are able to manually drag and drop and look at several different views to figure out what you’ve got and made it happen.

Material Requirement Changes

Other ERP systems have similar functionality, but DELMIAWORKS’ material requirements allow you to both pull in and push out the information. as soon as you move something in the schedule it instantly updates everything else across the system and alerts people who need to make those things happen.

“These tools really really helped us out with the heavy lifting, in terms of the changes and uncertainty out there that keeps bringing more and more changes”

Biotech has grown quite rapidly with emergency FDA approvals for COVID tests. Customers would submit for those and try to get ahead of the game, to increase orders, but then they’d hit a delay and back things out, and then they’d get approval and it’s seven days a week, full steam ahead, working weekends. And that is a challenge in itself because our goal is to minimise the people that
actually have to be in the facility at any time.

Amazingly, most of MedBio’s staff have been managing all this from home. The business quickly enhanced its technology platform, so they can handle that ‘home office traffic’. DELMIAWORKS’ workflows and alerts features, send out prompts and sequential tasks that can be done electronically and keep everything moving.

There is no issue with communication when employees are working from home – they can even access the system via mobile.

All of these changes are also being done with basically no IT staff. The system is intuitive, enabling MedBio to configure these changes without the need for outside help.

Real-time, the MES part of the system gives MedBio remote access to full visibility over their operation. They are able to see every single shot on every injection moulding machine, every single cycle on their secondary operations using a machine, all using graphical colour coding. Everybody in the organization is able to see that information from their home computer or tablet.

DELMIAWORKS features and tools that helped MedBio get through the pandemic

Like other businesses, MedBio went through a period of initial uncertainty when the pandemic first hit, unsure whether this was going to last a few weeks or be ‘ the new normal’.

They began to consider how to plan for unplanned events like this – something that would rarely come up in audits.

Because of the way they implemented DELMIAWORKS though, they didn’t have to start planning totally from scratch. DELMIAWORKS is easy to access from home, via a remote desktop protocol which provides a consistent platform for everybody. Everyone in the business is logging in and using the same system: “it’s sort of like having your own cloud”.

IQ Alert

One of the features MedBio has used heavily during this time is IQ Alert, which acts like a toolbox, which can set up to trigger workflows, send out notifications, or generate reports at specific times.

MedBio has been able to customise DELMIAWORKS, using it for some activities that are outside the scope of what the system was originally conceived for:

“This has just been cool, coming up with different ways to utilise [DELMIAWORKS] over this period of time”

DELMIAWORKS sends emails to alert for critical production issues, for example, to notify if and when presses go down so that they can run lights-out operations. By looking at the last time there was a cycle, and based on a pre-coded parameter, it can then send emails to specific people, or if the press hasn’t created a cycle in a specific amount of time. This feature has been particularly useful for seven-day-a-week operations while keeping staff inside the plant to a minimum – the only limiting factor is keeping the material going when someone has to go in and swap out the hoppers.

Workflows for engineering, quality and production processes

During this period, MedBio has used those specific workflows, for engineering, quality and production processes. Crews have been able to seamlessly transition to doing much of their job from home, using these features.

The “Tattler”

In correlation with that is the alerts, which MedBio use to ‘tattle’. This identifies when somebody isn’t getting their job done, or there’s another hold-up and send an email to alert specific people, who can chase down the issue and find out what’s going on.

MRB Material Review Board

DELMIAWORKS enables MedBio to address issues on the shop floor from home Workers can set up rework instructions, get them approved and by all the appropriate departments and carry on with business, without even having to set foot in the shop.

Remote Desktop Protocol

The remote desktop protocol is basically how MedBio operates with DELMIAWORKS. The software isn’t installed on anyone’s desktop, so in order to access it, they have to log in – whether you’re in the shop or remote.

Document Control

“We went from zero to 60 with the doc control workflows. We’ve dreamed about it for a long time and this was the final straw”

MedBio needed to keep thighs going remotely, and were able to push through their document control effortlessly.

Document control creates sign-offs for everything, all the documents can be viewed and changes made before it all goes back into Document Control, where it’s stamped, then released into the system, and automatically printed with the required work order or packing slip.

Documents can be auto-printed, including internal documents or attaching certain certifications. Sales orders or POs can automatically print at shipping.

DELMIAWORKS’ Document Control has eliminated huge amounts of paper and admin time, so processes take hours instead of days. This results in huge cost and time savings. When MedBio had to quickly increase production to seven days a week, normal capacity was 24 hours a day, five days a week. They’ve had a lot of people working overtime and – though many are willing to do that – they wanted to keep overtime to a minimum. With things like IQ alert for sending emails, there are times where it will run for a period of time without anybody on the shop floor at all, and the system sends an alert out if the cycle is interrupted.

Supply Chain Resiliency

“Without these tools, I’m not sure we could have done it like we did with the minimal staff”

The crew only had to come in to complete tasks like changing moulds, dealing with materials, and handling parts, with everyone else working from home the majority of the time.

COVID-19 has disrupted just about everyone in every industry, but there has been a silver lining for MedBio. Without the ‘push’ of the pandemic, they may not have gotten the tools and systems in place to improve productivity and enable remote working.