SYSPRO Case Study: Harold Johnson Optical Labs Achieves 30-40% Savings in Estimate Calculation Costs
Company Size
11-200
Region
- America
Country
- United States
Product
- SYSPRO
- ZYGO GPI Interferometers
- ZYGO PTI Interferometers
Tech Stack
- UNIX
- Microsoft Windows NT
Implementation Scale
- Enterprise-wide Deployment
Impact Metrics
- Cost Savings
- Customer Satisfaction
- Productivity Improvements
Technology Category
- Functional Applications - Enterprise Resource Planning Systems (ERP)
- Functional Applications - Manufacturing Execution Systems (MES)
Applicable Functions
- Quality Assurance
Services
- Software Design & Engineering Services
- System Integration
About The Customer
Harold Johnson Optical Laboratories, Inc. was founded in 1967 to provide lens designers and engineering companies a source for breadboard models and production optics. Based in Gardena, California, the company builds and tests hardware to exact design specifications to assure product reliability. Harold Johnson’s craftsmen are quality-oriented and take pride in meeting all requirements and tolerances imposed by the drawings and specifications of customers. Every optic shipped from Harold Johnson Optical Laboratories has a minimum of five inspections regardless of quantity ordered, and some of the instrumentation utilized by the company’s inspection personnel include a digitized lens bench, Zygo GPI and ZYGO PTI Interferometers. The company serves diverse markets including medical and graphic arts imaging, the U.S. Navy, aerospace, and the film industry. They stock 1800 master glasses and provide lens designers and optical engineers with prototypes and production optics.
The Challenge
In 1980, Harold Johnson’s Chief Engineer, Joe Stuart, realized that a computer could streamline aspects of the business and help track work-in-process. Each customer requires different specifications, making it necessary for each order to be custom produced. The target markets of the firm include medical and graphic arts imaging, the U.S. Navy, aerospace and the film industry. Spherical, prismatic, plano and cylindrical surfaces must be processed to meet specific tolerances required by different customers in these diversified markets. The company, which stocks 1800 master glasses, also provides lens designers and optical engineers with a source for prototypes and production optics. The manufacturing process at the lab often requires as many as 30 sequential steps from the bill of materials to final shipping. Phases of production include rough shaping, grinding, polishing, edging and coating. Most jobs running through the lab have a cycle of eight to ten weeks, including the purchase and receipt of materials. Hal Johnson, Jr., President, had been content with his “home grown” computer tracking of work-in-process, but he needed more functionality. The software had to perform many of the internal accounting functions being done manually. Hal investigated 30 commercial accounting and manufacturing systems. He was specifically looking at software that could accommodate job shop manufacturing applications. Rather than getting “locked into” a proprietary system, he wanted an “off-the-shelf” system with all the capabilities already built in.
The Solution
After a thorough analysis of the best available systems, Johnson decided to install SYSPRO on the UNIX operating system. The quality combination was also the most cost-effective solution for Harold Johnson Optical Labs. “For me, SYSPRO has become critically important because it has enabled us to integrate job estimating with work-in process so that I can quickly and accurately formulate quotes on the computer system, based on actual costs incurred,” said Hal. Harold Johnson Optical Labs has been an enthusiastic user of SYSPRO software for more than eight years. SYSPRO has enabled the company to realize savings resulting from, among other things, better control of the manufacturing and accounting operations and improved customer service. SYSPRO has also streamlined job estimating procedures so that calculations are more closely aligned with actual costs. In fact, the 30-40% savings in estimate calculation costs is now prompting the company to migrate to Microsoft Windows NT and SYSPRO, which features a feature rich quotations and estimating module. This process has resulted in a 30-40% increase in combined efficiency and a reduction in the cost of working out these estimates. Most of the stations are used in the front office by persons who, prior to the installation of SYSPRO, did their work manually. Now, time sheets, machine run times, job tracking, accounts receivable and accounts payable are fully automated.
Operational Impact
Quantitative Benefit
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