Plex Systems > Case Studies > Gill Industries Standardizes Operations with Plex Manufacturing Cloud Across Global Facilities

Gill Industries Standardizes Operations with Plex Manufacturing Cloud Across Global Facilities

Customer Company Size

Large Corporate

Region

America
Asia
Europe

Country

United States
Ireland
Mexico

Product

Plex Manufacturing Cloud

Tech Stack

Cloud-based Infrastructure

Implementation Scale

Enterprise-wide Deployment

Impact Metrics

Productivity Improvements
Digital Expertise

Technology Category

Functional Applications - Enterprise Resource Planning Systems (ERP)
Platform as a Service (PaaS) - Connectivity Platforms

Applicable Industries

Metals

Applicable Functions

Business Operation
Warehouse & Inventory Management

Use Cases

Inventory Management
Process Control & Optimization

Services

System Integration

About The Customer

Gill Industries is a world-class supplier of advanced mechanisms and welded assemblies, headquartered in Michigan, with offices in Trenton, GA, Richmond, KY, and global offices in Mexico, Europe, and Asia. The company operates in the metalforming industry and is located in Grand Rapids, MI. Gill Industries has a significant presence in the manufacturing sector, providing high-quality products and services to its clients. The company has a strong focus on innovation and quality, ensuring that its products meet the highest standards. With a global footprint, Gill Industries is well-positioned to serve a diverse range of customers across different regions. The company is committed to maintaining high-quality standards and continuously improving its operations to meet the evolving needs of its clients. Gill Industries' dedication to excellence and customer satisfaction has established it as a leader in the metalforming industry.

The Challenge

After acquiring another manufacturer, Gill Industries needed to quickly standardize on a single ERP with the ability to centralize operational data. As an organization that relied heavily on QuickBooks and spreadsheets to manage its business and production, the team was challenged by its new executive leadership to track and report performance metrics across the organization, for all eight facilities. Its legacy ERP system required heavy IT resources, maintenance and upgrades, so a quick move to a less cumbersome system was a priority. One of the challenges in the aftermath of an acquisition is to determine which systems the newly formed company will standardize on and use to run the business. Gill Industries, a supplier of advanced mechanisms and welded assemblies, was in this position in 2015 when it acquired GR Spring & Stamping. Prior to the acquisition, Gill had three different ERP systems (IQMS, QAD, and MAPICS) and was in the process of rolling out IQMS as its standard.

The Solution

What made the Plex Manufacturing Cloud an attractive ERP system for Gill Industries to standardize on was the fact that it didn’t require a lot of IT heavy lifting to maintain. 'Plex’s cloud-based infrastructure has definitely alleviated the pressure on my team,' said Edler. His team can now focus on more important long-term projects rather than on keeping servers up and running. Edler also thinks Plex offers an easier experience for users. The company also had new executive leadership who wanted more accurate data on how the business was operating, which was the final motivation for moving to Plex. Gill Industries began the implementation in February 2015 for two facilities, the next two facilities went live in August 2015 followed by two more in November 2015. By April 2016, all eight manufacturing facilities in the United States, Mexico, and Ireland are running the Plex Manufacturing Cloud. Each work cell on the shop floor has a tablet running Plex. Line operators are responsible for recording production, scrap, and quality checksheets. Shop floor employees use warehouse scanners for inventory movement and there are even pushcarts with tablets mounted on them so workers can do all production or inventory movement on the fly. This central repository also acts as the single source of truth for quality, and holds each step in production accountable for meeting quality standards.

Operational Impact

Standardized all 8 facilities in the U.S., Mexico, and Ireland on Plex.
Streamlined over 600 differences in Plex settings down to 30 in the first standardization phase.
Real-time production and quality check recording to maintain high-quality standards.
Reallocated IT staff to more value-added business activities.
The project started with over 600 differences in how Plex was set up and used across the company and ended up with only 30 differences after the first phase.