ATA Gears Oy is a Finland-based metal-sector company that specializes in power transmission solutions. Internationally known company is particularly well-known for its bevel gears, cylindrical gears and splines, and as a partner that delivers even highly demanding tailored products. ATA Gears chose iPES by Pinja to make its production plans and floor-level implementation match as closely as possible.
A next step in production planning
ATA Gears has used PES (Planning Efficiency System) in its production planning and shop floor management since 2013. The company has typically used the system by exporting and importing large production-related data masses back and forth between the company ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) and PES.
“We originally adopted PES to relieve our capacity overbooking and to facilitate the management of our long order lists. The system brought an apt solution to this end”, says Supply Chain Director Ville Reuna from ATA Gears.
The long-running PES functionalities are still in good use at ATA Gears, but the status and market of the company has somewhat changed. Further needs have arisen in more detailed planning and the pursue of increasingly shorter delivery times. The company thus felt that it was time to take the next step in its production planning. Early in 2020, the decision was made to acquire iPES by Pinja.
“We are shifting from the transfer of large data masses into continuous data flows. Since information will soon flow between ERP and iPES in practically real time, for us users, the solution starts to resemble a single unitary system”, Reuna notes.
iPES will be deployed at ATA Gears at the end of 2020. In the same conjunction, the system will also be taken into use for supervisors, which will further improve transparency. The renewal will improve the level of detail in planning as well as help production planners and the shop floor staff to step up their mutual communication.
Realistic plans improve productional flexibility
The production of ATA Gears is strongly characterized by tailored products, numerous routing variations and varying bottlenecks as regards the machinery. Streamlined and realistic production planning thus bears particular importance for its entire business.
Similarly to all businesses today, ATA Gears also strives to improve operational efficiency as much as possible and cut any extra expenses. If their production plan deviates significantly from realized production, the difference becomes painfully visible through higher expenses due to overtime or increased subcontracting.
“With iPES, we aim to have a clear and visual real-time overview of our production, quickly complete any half-finished work and optimize the utilization rate of our machinery”, Reuna says.
“The better our production plans are, the better is our view of the production as a whole. This upgrade will allow us to respond to customer demand more flexibly when it comes to urgent orders, last-minute changes, and so forth. In our line of business, these are more of a rule than an exception”, Reuna concludes.
Read more
Guide: FAQ – Production planning system adoption
Blog: How to carry out production planning that allows for changes and disturbances?
Blog: Tips for those looking to get a production planning system
