CASESTUDY
Blanc Aero Industries
The business
Blanc Aero Industries UK is a subsidiary of the Lisi Aerospace Group and specialises in the manufacture of fasteners for the aerospace industry. Based in Rugby, Warwickshire the company has over 200 employees. Clients include: Airbus, Boeing, Bombardier, Embraer, GEAE, Eurocopter, Pratt & Whitney and Rolls Royce.
Performance and quality are key features in this highly competitive industry and Blanc Aero Industries strives for excellence and customer satisfaction in everything it does.
The challenge
Having an effective ERP system is crucial in an industry where high quality products and strong customer relationships hold the keys to success. Following the successful implementation of Movex in the French subsidiary, Blanc Aero Industries, the Lisi Aerospace Group decided to roll-out the Finance, Sales and Logistics modules across Europe over two years, starting with Blanc Aero Industries UK.
The alternatives
The Movex vendor expertise utilised in France was not readily available here in the UK and the implementation team at Blanc Aero was tasked with seeking out highly experienced Movex consultants to assist with the UK roll-out.
Totalamber was contacted following a referral from a Blanc Aero employee. Ian McCullough, IT Manager at Blanc Aero explains:
“We heard about totalamber via word-of-mouth and we invited a couple of the consultants in for initial talks followed by a short trial period. We were impressed by their knowledge of Movex and their willingness to look at alternative methods to cope with the differences between our system and that of the French company.”
The UK roll-out was initially expected to “mirror” that of the Lisi Aerospace (France) Movex implementation, but variations in processes and some differences in UK finance law demanded expert consultancy. Having provided independent professional services to over 60% of Movex clients in the UK, in addition to 80 Movex customers around the globe, totalamber was well equipped to assist.
The solution
The UK roll-out of Movex at Blanc Aero covered 6 key areas
• Financial account management
• RPG configuration and data management
• Manufacturing process management
• Customer order management
• Movex Output Manager
• Supply chain management
Due to their high quality skills and in-depth understanding of the company’s needs and culture, the role of the totalamber consultants expanded as the project progressed. Ultimately the project was completed successfully and on-time.
Financial Account Management.
totalamber consultant John Undrell worked closely with the Blanc Aero finance team to provide assistance on process changes to accommodate UK functionality requirements; along with education on the cost accounting aspects of the project.
RPG and Data Migration
Working closely with Blanc Aero and his totalamber colleagues, totalamber consultant Kelvin Smith assisted with the migration of data from legacy systems across all areas of the project, and provided programming support to meet the required modifications.
Manufacturing Process Management and Customer Order Management
Totalamber consultants Geoff Burton and Barry Humphreys worked together on the MPM and COM areas of Movex. The project effected processes that were handling around 100 batches per week.
“That doesn’t sound high,” explains totalamber consultant Geoff Burton, “but the issue is with quality. Blanc Aero needs to be able to vary the qualities and quantities of its product according to customer requirements and so needs the flexibility to make changes in the production plan. We managed to get around typical Movex restrictions by developing alternative structures. This has worked really well and the Blanc Aero team has been really pleased by the results. Over the course of the project, we have to write extra bits of interface to the old system and due to the nature of the business have had to be very thorough in our testing and implementation of particular areas of Movex.”
Client Endorsement
“The Totalamber consultants worked well to cope with some differences in processes and they arrived at innovative solutions to some of our problems. An example of this is a specific batch process we use that Movex structures are simply not designed to cope with. Our methods of manufacture can be different depending on the quantity required and the totalamber consultant found a way to make Movex choose the correct method of manufacture rather than rely on extra manpower or new processes.
“I’ve been very happy with the consultants and their willingness to work with us, overcoming some quite unusual problems. I’d definitely use them again.”
Ian McCullough, IT Manager
Blanc Aero Industries UK
“Totalamber consultants have a very good knowledge of the Movex software, and great experience of its implementation. They work very closely with operational people, and adapt their working method to the size of the company. And most significantly, they fully engage themselves towards achieving results.
“The project was delivered on time, within budget, and with full functionality. We were very happy with that - it was a real success.”
Didier Giroduy – IT Manager
Blanc Aero Industries
Blanc Aero Industries UK is a subsidiary of the Lisi Aerospace Group and specialises in the manufacture of fasteners for the aerospace industry. Based in Rugby, Warwickshire the company has over 200 employees. Clients include: Airbus, Boeing, Bombardier, Embraer, GEAE, Eurocopter, Pratt & Whitney and Rolls Royce.Performance and quality are key features in this highly competitive industry and Blanc Aero Industries strives for excellence and customer satisfaction in everything it does.
The challenge
Having an effective ERP system is crucial in an industry where high quality products and strong customer relationships hold the keys to success. Following the successful implementation of Movex in the French subsidiary, Blanc Aero Industries, the Lisi Aerospace Group decided to roll-out the Finance, Sales and Logistics modules across Europe over two years, starting with Blanc Aero Industries UK.
The alternatives
The Movex vendor expertise utilised in France was not readily available here in the UK and the implementation team at Blanc Aero was tasked with seeking out highly experienced Movex consultants to assist with the UK roll-out.
Totalamber was contacted following a referral from a Blanc Aero employee. Ian McCullough, IT Manager at Blanc Aero explains:
“We heard about totalamber via word-of-mouth and we invited a couple of the consultants in for initial talks followed by a short trial period. We were impressed by their knowledge of Movex and their willingness to look at alternative methods to cope with the differences between our system and that of the French company.”
The UK roll-out was initially expected to “mirror” that of the Lisi Aerospace (France) Movex implementation, but variations in processes and some differences in UK finance law demanded expert consultancy. Having provided independent professional services to over 60% of Movex clients in the UK, in addition to 80 Movex customers around the globe, totalamber was well equipped to assist.
The solution
The UK roll-out of Movex at Blanc Aero covered 6 key areas
• Financial account management
• RPG configuration and data management
• Manufacturing process management
• Customer order management
• Movex Output Manager
• Supply chain management
Due to their high quality skills and in-depth understanding of the company’s needs and culture, the role of the totalamber consultants expanded as the project progressed. Ultimately the project was completed successfully and on-time.
Financial Account Management.
totalamber consultant John Undrell worked closely with the Blanc Aero finance team to provide assistance on process changes to accommodate UK functionality requirements; along with education on the cost accounting aspects of the project.
RPG and Data Migration
Working closely with Blanc Aero and his totalamber colleagues, totalamber consultant Kelvin Smith assisted with the migration of data from legacy systems across all areas of the project, and provided programming support to meet the required modifications.
Manufacturing Process Management and Customer Order Management
Totalamber consultants Geoff Burton and Barry Humphreys worked together on the MPM and COM areas of Movex. The project effected processes that were handling around 100 batches per week.
“That doesn’t sound high,” explains totalamber consultant Geoff Burton, “but the issue is with quality. Blanc Aero needs to be able to vary the qualities and quantities of its product according to customer requirements and so needs the flexibility to make changes in the production plan. We managed to get around typical Movex restrictions by developing alternative structures. This has worked really well and the Blanc Aero team has been really pleased by the results. Over the course of the project, we have to write extra bits of interface to the old system and due to the nature of the business have had to be very thorough in our testing and implementation of particular areas of Movex.”
Client Endorsement
“The Totalamber consultants worked well to cope with some differences in processes and they arrived at innovative solutions to some of our problems. An example of this is a specific batch process we use that Movex structures are simply not designed to cope with. Our methods of manufacture can be different depending on the quantity required and the totalamber consultant found a way to make Movex choose the correct method of manufacture rather than rely on extra manpower or new processes.
“I’ve been very happy with the consultants and their willingness to work with us, overcoming some quite unusual problems. I’d definitely use them again.”
Ian McCullough, IT Manager
Blanc Aero Industries UK
“Totalamber consultants have a very good knowledge of the Movex software, and great experience of its implementation. They work very closely with operational people, and adapt their working method to the size of the company. And most significantly, they fully engage themselves towards achieving results.
“The project was delivered on time, within budget, and with full functionality. We were very happy with that - it was a real success.”
Didier Giroduy – IT Manager
Blanc Aero Industries
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