Case Study

Inteva Products

Inteva Products’ Salonta Operations, based in Romania, is known for its production of cables, interior products, latches, strikers, and window regulators for European automakers. As a global supplier of engineered components and systems for the automotive industry with over 8,000 employees across 30 sites, Inteva and its world-class manufacturing facilities have created a name for themselves across the globe.

Results

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Improved inventory tracking, resulting in lower carrying costs

Enhanced the ability to determine reasons for scrap

Enabled real-time visibility and communication across departments

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Leaving Behind an Outdated Legacy System

Founded in 2008, Inteva Products, LLC is a leading global automotive supplier of engineered components and systems, dedicated to customer service and innovation. With an outdated ERP system that lacked clear visual components, the team at Inteva Salonta in Romania recognized an opportunity for growth and improvement with a new ERP system to support the European operation’s expanding needs. Inteva’s North American locations initially began the launch of Plex as their ERP solution in 2014.

With Inteva Salonta’s legacy system, not only was navigation difficult, but it was also tedious to access reporting. While the data itself was robust, the interface and menu layout were deficient, and a lack of visualization made it difficult for employees to learn the system’s ins and outs. Inteva Salonta Finance Manager Sebastian Indrei was able to see the impact of this outdated ERP system across many departments, as it required excessive time and deep employee expertise to utilize its full functionality. Bringing new employees on board with the system was a struggle. With awareness of the success of Plex in their North American locations, Inteva Salonta shifted gears and made the switch.

It’s great because you can easily access it from everywhere.

Sebastian Indrei - Inteva Salonta Finance Manager

Empowering Employees with a Modern Solution

Inteva Salonta launched Plex in 2015, making it the first European site to complete its Plex implementation. The Plex ERP system was rolled out from the United States with the help of an in-house implementation team. This team traveled from the U.S. and used their knowledge, best practices, and experience traveling to various sites to assist in a seamless launch.

With many years under its belt, Indrei notes that as Plex is robust and easy to learn, the Inteva Salonta location plans to continue expanding and exploring various modules. The production team is working to implement the maintenance module to better link their lines with management and maintenance schedules. When asked about the benefits of Plex’s cloud-based model, Indrei stated that “it’s great because you can easily access it from everywhere.”

Employees at Inteva Salonta also completed training prior to the implementation. The majority grasped the new system with ease, attributed to the fact that Plex ERP is made by and for manufacturers. Additionally, Inteva Salonta employees who did not speak English as their first language found Plex easy to learn given the system’s modern user interface with menus that are easy to access and explore. Even today, new employees continue to be onboarded with ease.

Since completing the implementation at Inteva Salonta, the shop floor has most notably been improved. Using Plex has helped to ensure that all employees are on the same page, with real-time data and enhanced visualization enabling better communication and increased understanding of the impact of their actions on other departments. Cloud-based Plex ERP not only delivers a view of the entire production cycle across all facets, but it also offers the ability to manage financial, operational, and IT strategies in one system. Plex is also enabling Inteva Salonta to track schedules, materials, orders, scrap, and inventory more efficiently and in real-time. Orders are placed with suppliers and simultaneously integrated into Plex, ensuring that each order is carried out efficiently. As soon as inventory leaves the supplier, Inteva can track it in Plex.

Plex helps to better monitor the actions you take in managing deliveries, the supplies, and the production, stated Sebastian Indrei. The production and plant floor teams are especially positively impacted by the switch to Plex.

Sebastian Indrei

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