We are huge fans of Plex cloud-based manufacturing software. Here’s why you should be, too -- and why those who rely on powder metal technology are missing out if their manufacturer doesn’t use Plex:
Over the past few centuries, industry has gone from steam engines, to electricity, to computers. Now we’re on the cusp of the next step of industrial technology -- mass connection and immersion.
This new version of manufacturing is popularly called Industry 4.0. It’s all about how we continuously monitor our processes digitally to run our businesses --- and therefore your business -- more smoothly.
To do that, Horizon uses the Plex Manufacturing Cloud. Manufacturers with strict and exhaustive traceability and quality goals are considered ideal fits for Plex. This software connects the physical world to the computer world and manages a manufacturer’s day-to-day, including:
Less tech-savvy readers may be wondering what the point of all this connectivity is. Uses of a cloud MRP include:
Traditional ERP (enterprise resource planning) or MRP (material requirements planning) “solutions” involve painful implementation, followed by rare updates -- companies often go years without updating their system. Those manufacturers -- and in turn, their customers -- lose value each day.
Not with our system.
Plex updates its system daily, allowing your vendor to continuously improve efficiency and customer responsiveness. Your lead times will decrease, and you’ll receive quicker customer service from people who’ll have all the answers literally right at their fingertips.
With Plex, everything physically on the manufacturing floor is represented by the same exact entity in the computer system. So if anything gets used or put through a process, Plex is following that to a T, step by step. This includes:
Electronically accounting for each manufacturing step eliminates confusion and loss of product.
Here’s an example of the cloud’s troubleshooting capabilities: At most factories, if a press goes down at night, a manager has to drive to the building. But thanks to Plex, a operations manager or quality manager can quickly get your project up and running again from home via computer or phone app.
Downtime goes down dramatically with Plex in place. Your project is less likely to fall behind schedule while waiting on your vendor to fix something or clumsily manage your inventory.
We at Horizon love being paperless. Keep reading for more reasons you’ll love it, too.
Your vendor makes a lot of different parts at the same time.
Plex manages this for users by tracking:
So Plex can tell your vendor, “You need these 10 parts to be good to go by Friday, and you can use them at these operations and these times.”
Plex neatly arranges all the logistics you can’t possibly keep in your head or on a notebook.
Because Plex sends a notification when each step of the supply chain is complete, the next person up instantly knows when he/she needs to perform a task. While that sounds simple, this heavily contributes to the 30% increase in operational efficiency Plex promises on its website.
And if for any reason there’s a hiccup, Plex users can go in and look at every single component that passed through a process. We can identify every single person who touched that component, down to a very small window of time.
Thanks to that traceability, the vendor can follow your product back through the entire supply chain. The vendor can then provide you accurate data so that together, you know how to solve any problem.
Powder metal manufacturers can, for example, use only the “quality” features of Plex while using a different, cheaper software for production, transactions, etc.
At Horizon, Plex is literally our entire manufacturing system and then some. We use Plex as a closed-loop system for:
There’s a great feeling of security knowing you can trust a manufacturer’s process. We can actually give you a Plex login ID and show you our data collection. We can recall data from every single component we’ve made in the last 10+ years with Plex:
It’s a quick and easy way to check on your project. Transparency is a beautiful thing!
Customers and suppliers familiar with Plex breathe a sigh of relief when they find out we use it. Remember, a cloud-based system doesn’t just help your powder metal company -- it also helps you via:
A lot of other software companies have tried to match Plex. In our estimation, Plex has kept a pretty good lead on them and will continue to do so.
On our end, we’re working toward further process improvements we can pass on to you.
One day, we’d like the presses themselves to tell us, “Hey, I just made a bad part. I'm going to scrap it and log this issue in the system.” Similarly, we’d also like our sintering oven to someday be able to tell us, “My temperature just dropped below a certain range, so I’m shutting down and notifying the system directly.”
The end goal with these “talking machines?” Leaving no room for operator error.
It seems like an ambitious dream now, but so did the idea of a cloud computing system 10 years ago. Let’s work together to keep optimizing your powder metal parts!