Global Interconnect (AKA GII) manufacture cables used in the global healthcare industry – they make up parts of electrosurgical tools and critical patient monitoring devices – which makes it literally life-or-death essential that the products they manufacture are absolutely failsafe.
GII outsource their manufacturing to plants in Hong Kong and China, which lowers manufacturing costs but adds a level of complexity, with tight controls needed in day-to-day operations, in order to ensure quality. Troy Mauk, Director of Global Procurement for GII said:
“There was one day that I put my pencil down and went to my boss and said – We can’t continue to operate this way if we want to continue to grow”
GII was trying to balance the requirement for zero-failure products, with the complexity of a global supply chain, whilst using an antiquated MRP solution.
- Manual calculations were being made to process the number of parts bought in the US and exported to China
- Communications were getting more complex as time differences necessitated 24/7 data sharing
- More manual calculations were being performed as finished goods arrived, further increasing overheads, and exacerbating the risk mistakes due to of human-error
- Two separate software systems were being used to maintain the business, with different interfaces and no clear oversight between accounting and inventory
- Inventory accounting then had to be dealt with in a manual backflush process, taking hours each month, requiring extensive cross-checking and forcing invoices to be paid via a manual approval process
- Incoming material receipts also had to be manually entered into the accounting system
As the business continued to grow, GII’s director of global procurement Troy Mauk realised that they needed a better system, and the GII management team found three options.
Some of the teams’ key considerations in picking an ERP system included:
Key considerations in picking an ERP system
Ease-of-use
The ERP system needed to be intuitive and user-friendly enough to minimise training, and make the transition as painless as possible.
Reporting capabilities
GII’s chosen ERP system would need powerful reporting options inbuilt, to facilitate the sharing of critical data across functional areas of the business
Single system
GII was looking for an ERP system that brought accounting, purchasing, sales orders and inventory into a single set of financials.
Ultimately, GII wanted a manufacturing system that would not only bring operational efficiencies in terms of a single integrated system, simplified onboarding and expanded options for reporting but one that would also serve their customers.
Due to the critical nature of healthcare manufacturing, quality control was of the utmost importance. IQMS (now DELMIAWORKS)’ Quality Module helps GII with compliance, thanks to features like traceability and lot coding that can track materials across the supply chain.
Since implementing IQMS (DELMIAWORKS), GII has doubled their sales, whilst increasing productivity by 25%, with no added overhead – and all within four years.
To learn more about the benefits GII has seen since implementing a one-stop ERP system for medical manufacturers to manage their global supply chain with real-time connectivity, download this whitepaper.
Posted by Paul on 13th August 2018.