Normet

Challenge: Improvement of productivity, anticipation, and work quality

Mikko Muona is engaged in the development of software and processes related to the company’s equipment business. His tasks include various improvement and enhancement work related to IT management, enterprise resource planning, and CRM software.

– In our company, development work is carried out in close co-operation with the actual operators of production lines. They express their requirements and hopes for production improvement and we endeavor to make the changes in the manner desired, closely consulting with our ICT department as well, says Mikko Muona, Development Director, who works at Normet’s office in Iisalmi.

The company employing 1,200 people aims to develop its functions and strives for improvements in productivity, profitability, and safety. Production problems had been observed, for example, in the timing of work stages.

Solution: Pinja implemented a PES solution to support the existing enterprise resource planning system

Normet chose Pinja’s PES solution to complement its Microsoft AX enterprise resource planning system. In particular, the PES solution has been used for anticipation and simulation of the availability of product components and materials. This has enabled production planning based on reliable data and without unreasonable manual work.

– The use of PES has brought us relief in many areas: production planning, assembly, rough and fine loading, and operational purchases, says Muona.

The introduction of PES commenced in 2012, and in 2017, the co-operation transferred to a more comprehensive level. In the meantime, the Microsoft AX 2012 ERP system had evolved and a newer version of PES had been released. New features of interest and benefit for Normet had become available.

– With this latter implementation project, among other things, we introduced a web version of PES that we can distribute to a wide group of users in Normet’ss organization. The new user interface is also much more user-friendly as compared to its predecessor. Through the wider use, we have also moved away step-by-step from manual production anticipation and the use of Excel spreadsheets. PES clearly demonstrated what was behind the hard, manual work we used to do before. In practice, it is safe to say that several work hours have been saved per each machine manufactured, Muona estimates.

In addition to the time and effort saved, automation also significantly improved the quality of production.

– With manual work, the risk of errors was significantly greater, since not all component absences were always discovered early enough. The resulting timing problems multiplied, since a delay in the manufacture of a machine naturally resulted in delayed manufacture of the machines next in line.

The next step: Microsoft Dynamics 365

Normet is about to take the next step in its enterprise resource planning by introduction of Microsoft Dynamics 365. The related works are currently underway and the objective is to integrate PES into the D365 environment.

– Naturally, we are anxious to see the new improvements made possible by the new ERP environment. Our goal is to take simulation to an even more accurate level, in the direction of MES-based manufacturing execution. We want to take advantage of the opportunities offered by digitalization wherever this is reasonable, Muona says.

Normet is pleased with the co-operation with Pinja.

– PES works well for us at the moment. The people at Pinja clearly know their line of business. The product supports the very things we hoped it would support, from the customer’s viewpoint. We especially appreciate the in-house process expertise – after all, efficient teamwork is what it’s all about. In case of people and systems alike.