Wisco Industries Enhances Operations with Plex Manufacturing Cloud for Improved Efficiency
Customer Company Size
Mid-size Company
Region
- America
Country
- United States
Product
- Plex Manufacturing Cloud
Tech Stack
- Cloud-based ERP
Implementation Scale
- Enterprise-wide Deployment
Impact Metrics
- Productivity Improvements
- Cost Savings
Technology Category
- Functional Applications - Enterprise Resource Planning Systems (ERP)
Applicable Industries
- Food & Beverage
Applicable Functions
- Business Operation
- Warehouse & Inventory Management
Use Cases
- Inventory Management
- Manufacturing System Automation
Services
- System Integration
About The Customer
Wisco Industries is a mid-sized company with two divisions operating across three locations, totaling 300,000 square feet of manufacturing and assembly operations. The company is based in the United States, with facilities in Wisconsin and Alabama. The Metal Stamping and Fabrication division supplies OEMs in various industries with precision metal stampings, fabrications, sub-assemblies, and complete products. Meanwhile, the Food Service Equipment division manufactures and distributes pizza ovens, convection ovens, and heated merchandisers. Wisco Industries serves a diverse range of industries, including food and beverage, and is committed to meeting the evolving needs of its customers by adopting advanced manufacturing technologies and solutions.
The Challenge
When Wisco Industries’ customers began requesting advanced capabilities such as integrated quality and EDI, the company knew it needed a new ERP system. Its previous platform didn’t integrate with other business systems and lacked adequate functionality for controlling inventory. It also required lengthy upgrades that disrupted production. Hoping to eliminate the data siloes that made it difficult to meet customer needs, Wisco Industries began researching cloud-based solutions. Losing production time to upgrade a complex ERP system is something that would make any manufacturer cringe. Yet, it happens. But for Wisco Industries the pain didn’t stop there. Along with the complicated upgrades, the company also had a lot of external systems that didn’t interface at all—like quality documentation, SPC, and even human resources information like employee vacation time.
The Solution
Wisco Industries came across the Plex Manufacturing Cloud in Fabricator Magazine, and what stood out about the system was a unified database. Soon after connecting with Plex, the Wisco team met Patti Nowak from Control+M Solutions, LLC.—a former Plex customer turned consultant. Patti and her team guide manufacturing companies through Plex implementations leveraging solution architect experience and expertise to ensure a successful outcome. Wisco saw the value the Control+M team brought to the table in helping the company focus on optimizing its Plex implementation. The live scheduling and visibility Wisco gained with the Plex Manufacturing Cloud has had a great effect on shop floor operations. Employees are using the Control Panel to record production of all materials, and this has dramatically improved efficiency. Now the company can use live scheduling to respond quicker to customer requests without affecting other customer orders or stopping and re-starting production. Wisco can see at any moment what’s being done at any workcenter on the shop floor, who the employee is, levels of production rates or quality, and the checks that are in progress or completed.
Operational Impact
Quantitative Benefit
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