Assembly ace: New ERP system lowers inventory, eliminates stock-outs for high-tech specialist
By Manufacturing Business Technology Staff -- Manufacturing Business Technology, 4/3/2009 2:25:00 PM
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Rocklin, Calif.-based Parallax, a designer and manufacturer of microcontrollers, sensors, and robotic components, reports a $350,000 reduction of inventory and the elimination of out-of-stock conditions after deploying an ERP system from SYSPRO.
Parallax relies heavily on the MRP (material requirements planning) module to view, analyze, and manage real-time inventory figures on the Web. Parallax managers credit this application with simplifying the complex task of managing inventory to feed manufacturing facilities on two continents—a U.S.-based surface-mount assembly plant, and an electronic assembly and chip testing operation in China.
“SYSPRO has made a major difference in our ability to compete,” says Ken Gracey, Parallax VP of sales & marketing. “We have an internal chart showing how SYSPRO MRP has reduced our global total inventory by 16.1 percent. This has made a substantial impact on our business—particularly in the current market.”
Prior to implementing SYSPRO MRP, Parallax was frequently out of stock of key finished goods and often overloaded with an excess of raw materials and the wrong finished goods.
“The SYSPRO MRP set-up requirements were instrumental in getting the company to carefully analyze manufacturing run times, operation, and BOM [bill of material] correctness and lead times for a variety of processes and parts,” Gracey said. “When you add in our requirements planning from a variety of warehouse demands, we've got a fairly complex system to manage.”
The electronics industry is one of four core super verticals for SYSPRO. Joey Benadretti, SYSPRO USA president, says the company is particularly focused on helping U.S. manufacturers in this space compete effectively and meet market challenges.
“Our approach is different from many other ERP vendors,” says Benadretti. “We have a single product—not disparately acquired modules—with tight integration and analytical capabilities. When you put such a cohesive enterprise system on a very advanced Microsoft .NET architecture, you provide incredible benefits to even smaller manufacturers.”
