JAVELIN "Will Allow Us To Quadruple Our Turnover"

Regional Small Business Of The Year, Arrowsmith Engineering, has spent the recession preparing for the upturn, including bringing in Jobshop as its ERP/MRP system, and building an additional 5,000 square foot factory.

Arrowsmith managing director Jason Aldridge recognizes that Jobshop has become a crucial part of the company’s SC21 implementations and their Continuous Sustainable Improvement Plan. He says they are aiming to be a world class supplier to the aerospace industry, and expects Jobshop to help them achieve that.

“We wanted a system that would grow with us, and JAVELIN is perfect for that.”

The Coventry company won the prestigious 2009 Small Business of the Year Award organized by the Coventry Telegraph in conjunction with Coventry and Warwickshire Chamber of Commerce. It is now emerging from a very busy period applying SC21 practices and working with the Manufacturing Advisory Service on their upskilling, restructuring and expansion program. “The aerospace industry will need to commission a lot of work, and thanks to Jobshop we’re now ready to take it on,” says Jason Aldridge.

Providing a range of aero engine components for clients such as Rolls Royce, Goodrich, Pattonair and Gardner Aerospace, along with parts for Formula One racing car engines, Arrowsmith had reached the stage where their existing ERP/MRP system was reaching its capacity. One of their major customers told them they needed to bring in an improved system. “They said if we intended to take on more work and grow, we needed a system that could do more. We looked at the marketplace, did a lot of research and met a lot of companies. Jobshop was the one that provided everything we were looking for, and our workforce felt extremely comfortable using it.

“The Jobshop system will allow us to quadruple our turnover and be able to control it. It is an absolutely vital and integral part of the future development and success of Arrowsmith.” Jason Aldridge says it shows customers how they can take their work on and produce it on time. “Literally, pictorially, we can show them how we’re going to produce their components on a particular machine, telling us when to start and how much capacity we have.”

While Jobshop plays an important role in improving the On Time, In Full (OTIF) capability, it also provides information to populate their Business Operating System (BOS) charts, which Jason Aldridge says are hugely important within the company. “We can now collect shop floor data which then feeds our KPIs, enabling us to carefully control OTIF, quality and scrap.”

His prediction is that they will use all of the important functions which make up Jobshop’s flexible, scalable and intelligent system of advanced functionality and value in the key areas of manufacturing and assembly. Using the array of specialist features simplifies procedures such as operations, scheduling and costing – but in particular it enables manufacturers to meet traceability standards in being able to provide full evidence right the way through the production process.

Thanks to Jobshop, Arrowsmith now has capacity management and data to populate a visual system of management for OTIF, quality, returns, scrap and supplier performance. All of these are monitored daily and they are continually looking at ways of improving efficiency even further. Jason Aldridge says: “We’ve started with capacity management and got the MRP system running, then we’re intending to use it to manage the administration of our FAIR (First Article Inspection Report) traceability standards and calibration, along with estimating.”

The system means Arrowsmith can readily manage a variety of procedures: Estimate & Quotations; Sales Order Processing; Material Requirements Planning; Purchase Orders; Work Orders; Scheduling; Shop Floor Data Capture; Materials Control; Costing; and Document Management.  The company expects its return on investment to be high, but is not making a detailed forecast yet.

The company has also used ALPHACAM, another Planit software application, for around five years to drive its variety of CNC turning and milling machines, and has recently upgraded to the 3D modelling unit. “This is extremely beneficial to us both for our aerospace customers and our Formula One customers. ALPHACAM now enables us to unfold the 3D models and work with them.”

The workforce of 36 are based on a 10,000 square foot site on the outskirts of Coventry, including a new 5,000 square foot factory and office which has replaced a 4,000 square foot building. Arrowsmith’s expansion, upskilling and restructuring program was mentioned in a speech by former Business Secretary Lord Mandelson, to the CBI in Birmingham. He said: “Arrowsmith Engineering in Coventry spent more than £1m upgrading and expanding their precision engineering capacity.”