WinMan ensures Lean and precise production at Lander Automotive

Lander Automotive, based in Birmingham, is a tier one supplier to leading car manufacturers. The company specializes in the production of vehicle fluid and air carrying systems. Recently, Lander Automotive invested around £5 million in a new facility to service a major new order. The emphasis at this new plant is on precision planning of supplier inputs, minimal work in progress, and lean processes throughout. The new plant utilizes the latest CNC and automation technology and includes clean room manufacturing areas. Lander Automotive operates a lean production discipline with minimal work in progress and extensive use of Kanbans. The company relies on WinMan ERP software as a key enabler behind its lean operations, ensuring that supplies are in place at the right time to meet high production demands.

Lander Automotive, a tier one supplier to leading car makers, faced the challenge of ensuring precision planning of supplier inputs, minimal work in progress, and lean processes throughout their new facility. The new plant, which required a significant investment of approximately £5 million, needed to service a major new order to supply vehicle fluid and air carrying systems. The company needed to ensure that supplies were in place at the right time to meet the high demand of 10 million engine parts per year, corresponding to thousands of different part numbers, within specified 4-hour time slots. Additionally, Lander Automotive needed to maintain a lean production discipline with minimal work in progress and extensive use of Kanbans, while also ensuring traceability and accuracy of information throughout the production process.

Lander Automotive implemented WinMan ERP software to ensure that supplies were in place at the right time to meet production demands. The software assesses everything that needs to be sourced to meet orders on production schedules and puts together bills of materials for each part number. It then generates orders which are automatically emailed to Lander’s suppliers. Weekly schedules are sent electronically to Lander, including two weeks’ worth of firm schedules and a further four weeks’ estimated schedules. Lander updates the firm schedules, deletes old estimated schedules, adds new ones, and re-assesses what it needs. A further daily MRP is run to fine-tune production plans. Kanbans are used throughout the production process, and parts are tracked with hand-held scanners and barcodes generated by WinMan as they pass through each production process. Shop floor data collection (SFDC) using WinMan mobile functionality is used extensively, providing precise information on the current state of each order. The production cell team leaders request the parts they need via WinMan, which translates into a picking list for the fork lift driver to collect from the secure stores. The picking list is displayed on a tablet PC on the fork lift truck, and as the driver picks the parts, they are scanned out of stores and come off the picking list. The parts are then delivered to flow racks on the production floor that act as intermediate Kanbans, and are decanted off into smaller Kanban boxes to replenish supplies at the cell. As the part goes through each stage of production, it is scanned in and out of each process using WinMan mobile functionality to check its progress. Finally, when the part is finished, it is scanned into the warehouse, and all the items used to make it are back-flushed from the stores inventory.

• WinMan ERP software enabled Lander Automotive to maintain a lean production discipline with minimal work in progress and extensive use of Kanbans.
• The software provided precise information on the current state of each order through extensive use of shop floor data collection (SFDC) and mobile functionality.
• The implementation of WinMan ERP allowed for a paperless process in preparing deliveries to ship to customers, enhancing efficiency and reducing errors.
• The traceability and accuracy of information provided by WinMan ERP allowed Lander Automotive to address areas such as inventory improvement and constant refinement of processes.
• Display screens around the factory, constantly updated by WinMan, provided real-time reports on the status of individual purchase orders, facilitating better decision-making and process optimization.

• Lander Automotive's new plant is capable of supplying customers with 10 million engine parts per year.
• The company can meet production demands within specified 4-hour time slots.
• The weekly schedules include two weeks’ worth of firm schedules and a further four weeks’ estimated schedules.