Auto Bolt is a proud American cold-heading bolt manufacturer with over 65 years of experience in quality bolt-making. In 2017 the company took the leap and decided to take on the implementation of the Plex Manufacturing Cloud as the foundation for the company's digital transformation.
Operating on outdated systems made it difficult for the company to get useful information to run the business. This was coupled with the fact that Auto Bolt focused more on its business than on upgrading the systems, which meant the company quickly outgrew them. This led to employees resorting to paper-based processes or manually entering information in spreadsheets. Locating inventory and parts became time-consuming and limited visibility into production meant increased rates of inaccuracy.
What made the Plex Manufacturing Cloud so attractive to Auto Bolt is the availability and accessibility of real-time information. Now the company has accurate information in inventory, WIP, and finished goods, which helps with the creation of a more realistic production schedule. Serialized containers capabilities within Plex enables Auto Bolt to monitor pieces in a specific bin from receipt in the warehouse to sub-contractors to shipping to the customer.
A key to the company’s success with the Plex implementation was the decision to partner with Cumulus Consulting. Director of Materials Management, Kurt Kronz, at Auto Bolt said, “Basically, all I had to do was see the big picture and have them help guide us to get to that point. They were very knowledgeable about the system gave us an unbiased view of some of the strengths and weaknesses. We think we’ve captured most of the strengths and worked closely with Cumulus throughout the whole process.”
Auto Bolt is now confident in the information they’re using to run their business. It’s enabling them to respond quicker to customer demands and adjust as needed to continually improve. Dave Spinks, Director of Engineering, puts it best: “We’re getting better every day. Plex has given us things to measure from a performance standpoint that we’ve never had before. It’s invaluable."
Watch the video on Auto Bolt’s Plex success here.
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