Integrated, real-time data in OmegaCube ERP enables Marten Machining to optimize resources, control costs in job-shop environment

Marten Machining is a precision CNC machining company based in Stevens Point, WI, specializing in producing tooling and fixturing for customers across various industries, with a significant focus on medical device manufacturing. The company operates with a small but dedicated team of 16 employees, working at near full capacity to meet the demands of its loyal customer base. Marten Machining is known for its expertise in multi-axis machining, which allows it to create precision parts with complex features and contours efficiently. This capability is particularly crucial for their medical device manufacturing clients, who require stringent process and materials traceability. The company’s operations are characterized by short lead times and rapid changes, necessitating a highly adaptable and integrated system to manage the constant influx of new jobs, order changes, and material adjustments. The company’s commitment to quality and efficiency has driven its need for real-time data access and streamlined processes to maintain its competitive edge in the industry.

Change is such a constant at Marten Machining that David Marten, Vice President, describes the CNC machining business as operating in a “state of controlled emergency, every day”. Typical of a job-shop, short lead-times are the rule and ongoing developments alter planning at a rapid pace - every 5-10 minutes - with new jobs coming in, old jobs shipping out, order changes, materials changes, time card changes and tool changes, to name a few. A small but loyal customer base keeps the 16-employee milling and turning operation working at close to capacity. Marten Machining focuses on multi-axis machining, which allows it to machine precision parts with complicated features and contours with a limited amount of setup a production time, a must for medical device manufacturers, which account for the largest percentage of the company’s business. “Our medical devices customers, in particular, must meet pretty significant requirements for process and materials traceability, so we face some of those same requirements as well,” says Marten. “For that reason, and because of the short-run nature of our business, we needed to be able to access current shop floor data and track things like materials, orders and changes to the BOM in real-time.” According to Marten, the company’s legacy ERP system, a non-integrated mix of database programs for financials and a job-shop-specific application, was anything but real-time. “We really didn’t realize how much time we had been spending and how much trouble it had been entering and moving data from one place to another until we started running OmegaCube ERP. With manufacturing in one place and financials in another it was costing us a lot of time, and oftentimes information just never reached the shop-floor.”

The integration and associated real-time capabilities of OmegaCube ERP turned out to be a tremendous time saver for Marten Machining. “With OmegaCube it’s taking us much less time to do the day-to-day administration, like purchasing, tracking orders, creating jobs and sales orders, so we’ve freed extra time for our staff,” says Marten. The solution is so much a time saver, in fact, that Marten Machining was able to abandon plans to hire an additional person for data entry and instead employ an individual to take on value-add responsibilities on the manufacturing floor. Shop floor personnel are now accessing more data through OmegaCube as well, enabling them to be more involved and informed on delivery dates, order changes and process and quality issues. According to Marten, this newfound access to information on the shop floor allows front line employees to resolve issues before key managers need to get involved. “OmegaCube has allowed us to broaden responsibility, which makes the shop-floor easier to manage,” says Marten, while pointing out that enhanced process efficiency has made it easier for the company to handle more orders and more quotes, contributing to business growth. “As soon as jobs are completed everyone knows an order is ready to ship. An email is sent via mobile devices so people throughout the facility are notified no matter where they are. When new jobs are created people can immediately check BOMs and inventory levels, so tools and materials can be ordered within minutes.” Marten Machining is streamlining its operations with OmegaCube in another way - by automating previously manual processes. Timecards, for instance, were once hand written and the time-card data entered once a week. OmegaCube ERP now tracks jobs and employees on mobile devices as they log in and out of jobs or work centers - even employees required to work on multiple jobs at multiple workstations concurrently. This customized capability is vital to cost control, resource allocation and profitability and was not even an option with the previous system, given the degree of manual intervention it required.

• Full integration centralizes all information in a central database.
• Automation of previously manual processes provides access to real-time data.
• Increases in process efficiency allowed for business growth without additional resources.
• Integrated Quality Control module helps facilitate ISO certification.
• Data accessibility decentralizes responsibilities, minimizing management involvement in non-critical matters.

• Next Day Air orders for materials and tooling have decreased by 75% since OmegaCube’s implementation.