DOWNLOAD THE PDF VERSION OF THIS CASE STUDY

---

ABOUT THE COMPANY

Onbelay Automotive Coatings Corp., is the foremost industrial automotive supplier specializing in corrosion-resistant coatings, and suspension system sub-assemblies. Headquartered in Ontario, Canada, Onbelay operates a 142,000 square-ft facility, and serves Tier One automotive industry leaders.

BUSINESS GOAL

Onbelay was looking for a performance management solution to support the company’s lean initiatives, and needed to find a means to improve its production reporting accuracy, reliability and frequency.

THE CHALLENGE

Onbelay’s primary challenge was to eliminate aspects within its manufacturing process, that did not add value to its customers. The application of lean principles was key to the success of the project, and utilizing lean tools such as Value Stream Mapping accounted not only for the activity within production, but also the management and the information systems that supported basic processes.

Shoplogix provided Onbelay with the lean tools it needed to gain new insight into the process and decision making flows. The Shoplogix Plantnode solution, helped Onbelay reduce waste relative to downtime, labor, energy and raw materials; enabled real-time production reporting for more reliable and accurate data; and significantly increased visibility into day-to-day operations from the ground up.

RESULTS

Plantnode proves the value of lean technology

Excessive waste resulting from unplanned downtime and over-consumption of raw materials, necessitated drastic changes at Onbelay. Based on historical data, annual unplanned downtime totaled 200 hours for the aggregate of Onbelay’s e-coating and powder coating lines. The two lines account for two-thirds of the company’s primary business. Taking the cost of labor, quality, and lost production time into account, the shortfall represented hundreds of thousands of dollars in lost opportunities.

Over and above the cost of downtime, waste due to over-processing translated to excess energy consumption and chemical usage as well. While parts on the line waited to move from one process to the next, energy was wasted due to over-exposure in the curing process. Onbelay also identified a .59% fallout rate on each line, due to chemical overspray contributing to excess waste that was previously undetected.

A new perspective

Before the implementation of Plantnode, at the end of every shift Onbelay’s employees physically counted the number of parts produced and entered the figures into a spreadsheet manually. Although it seemed to work in the past, the mandate to go lean shifted Onbelay’s perspective and sparked the inevitable decision to automate its data collection processes.

According to Onbelay President Aly Rahemtulla: “To stay competitive, we needed to invest in lean technology to provide customers with the best possible service. Since implementing Plantnode we have clearly identified the root causes associated with unplanned downtime, and as a result we were able to reduce total downtime by 26.3%. We also improved our material flow by lowering the incidence of line stoppages, and are better able to manage energy use and keep the costs of quality down to a minimum. The ROI on implementing a Shoplogix solution exceeded 210%, with a payback of less than three months.”

Although higher output and increased productivity were certainly key factors in Onbelay’s justification to invest in a Shoplogix solution, the impact of installing Plantnode on the e-coating and powder lines filtered down throughout the organization. With access to real-time feedback on overhead displays, operators now have the information they need to understand where they are, and where they need to be in the production process. As a result, Onbelay employees have gained a sense of ownership and pride in their work, and are continuing to make a positive impact on the company’s bottom-line.

The improvements to real-time reporting accuracy and reliability, gave way to a number of other capabilities at Onbelay’s Chatham facility. Automatic event detection and escalation allows supervisors and managers to keep on top of issues as they come up rather than after the fact. The result has been better product quality from the more efficient use of materials; and total operational visibility into the production process has provided Onbelay’s managers with access to decision-support information from anywhere in the plant.

CONCLUSION: AN INTEGRATED APPROACH TO INTELLIGENT PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT

Shoplogix Plantnode is an intelligent performance management system designed to increase operational efficiency, improve quality, and drive higher levels of performance in discrete manufacturing environments. As a hybrid software/hardware solution, Plantnode leverages existing investments in equipment and business systems, to enable operational visibility and real-time information flow that is fast enough to be actionable, with the accuracy and reliability to facilitate strategic planning and tactical execution.