Tasowheel

Through PES integration, Tasowheel Gears sought to improve the visibility, predictability, security of supply, and capacity utilization rate of its production, among other things.

Forecasting and scheduling with iPES

Tasowheel, a company established in 1979, is manufacturer of transmission components seeking international growth. At present, the company employs about 60 manufacturing workers and 15 white-collar workers. Through PES integration, Tasowheel Gears sought to improve the visibility, predictability, security of supply, and capacity utilization rate of its production, among other things.

Development project

Within the framework of the project, a PES production planning system was introduced.

Integration of the PES production planning system

Unproductive waiting time has been reduced by 20%.

Renewed operating models

Continuous production development and automation also strongly serve the goal of internationalization.

In my opinion, the reason behind the good results is that we took the opportunity to review our activities as a whole in the context of the PES project.

Mikael Mäkinen, Production Manager, Tasowheel

Challenge: Manufacturing efficiency and unproductive waiting times between production steps

A special challenge related to Tasowheel’s production is that the production chain is exceptionally long and meandering. A typical product requires 8-10 work steps and the materials can vary greatly. In addition, the objective was to reduce the amount of work in progress and the empty, unproductive waiting time between stages.

Solution: A manufacturing execution development project implemented with Pinja streamlined the operation

In the manufacturing execution development project, Tasowheel Gears and Pinja jointly created new operation models for production planning. By the end of the project, Tasowheel commissioned a PES production planning system integrated into Powered-ERP. Tasowheel chose Pinja as the service supplier because of the company’s flexibility as a co-operation partner.

After preparation for the integration within the framework of a definition project, the implementation stage followed. The completed integration was introduced in production in August 2019, and the improvements were evident right away, says Mikael Mäkinen, Production Manager. In Tasowheel’s business area Gears, he is responsible for production, procurements, and IT arrangements, among other tasks.

– With PES, we managed to shorten the unproductive waiting time between different production stages significantly, by an estimated 20%. In addition, there is less work in progress on the plant floor and the amount of capital tied up in production has decreased, Mäkinen says.

Efficiently towards the future

Over time, the family business originally established for manufacture of gears more than forty years ago has developed into a versatile component manufacturer. The next step in development is to invest increasingly more in international growth. About half of the company’s production is already being exported, for example, to the Nordic countries, Russia, and Central Europe.

Continuous production development and automation also strongly serve the goal of internationalization. In terms of turnover, Gears is Tasowheel’s largest business area, and other subsidiaries are currently planning production enhancement projects as well.

– Our products are of high quality, and with the help of optimized production, I believe in our ability to become a recognized and trusted contract manufacturer on the international level, Mäkinen sums up.