3 min read
A new ERP and mobile hardware investment is helping this trailer manufacturer reduce labor costs and simplify production. By replacing its legacy ERP software, adding mobile hardware and new Wi-Fi infrastructure, Felling Trailers automated workflows while reducing software licensing and support costs.
If there’s one exception to the adage, “You get what you pay for,” it may be with enterprise resource planning (ERP) software, and Felling Trailers is an excellent case in point. Since 1974 Felling has been making expansive lines of trailers “Designed and Engineered for the Long Haul,” as their website says. The company has also grown considerably in recent years, expanding its corporate headquarters in 2018 and acquiring a competitor more recently. Today, Felling has more than 300 employees and nearly 350,000 square feet of production, office and yard areas.
Legacy ERP Software and Growing Companies Are Not a Good Fit
Like any company experiencing a growth spurt, there typically are a few growing pains, and Felling was no exception. One area the company realized it needed to address was its ERP. (Check out their headquarters in Sauk Centre, Minnesota in the image.)
“The software used was originally made for the pharmaceutical industry, not manufacturing, and it didn’t support our workflows,” says Tom Zwack, Director of IT at Felling Trailers. “Plus, it was modular, which created two additional problems: first, we had to pay a separate subscription for each module. For example, we had a warehouse management module and an engineering change control (ECC) module, to name two. Besides paying for separate licenses, the modules weren’t integrated very well. For instance, the ECC only had access to about 1,000 tables in the ERP’s database, which contained more than 80,000. Without access to the entire database, you don’t get accurate information from queries and reports.”
One of the legacy ERP system’s most significant pain points was how it handled bills of material (BOMs). Since the company manufactured many trailer components, such as taillights and ramps, there were many steps in the workflow. “Each job contained 100 legal-size pages,” says Zwack. “Not only did the packets have to be printed, but the process of logging into each step was tedious, and the ERP couldn’t accommodate any deadline or sub-assembly changes.”
ERP Software + EMS Hardware = A Winning Combo
In 2019, the Felling IT and business teams researched solutions and selected Global Shop Solutions ERP software. “Global Shop Solutions has a strong presence in our industry, plus their scheduling functionality and pricing were more attractive than competitive offerings we looked at during our six-month research and evaluation process,” says Zwack.
Before Felling could implement the new software, it had to address two other parts of the overall solution – Wi-Fi and mobile computers. Zwack led the charge in upgrading the wireless network to a secure mesh system. He asked Global Shop Solutions for direction for the hardware and was referred to their certified partner, EMS Barcode Solutions. “I was initially skeptical about working with a solution provider to buy barcode scanners, printers and handhelds,” admits Zwack. “But, after validating that there were minimal pricing differences, I decided to give them a shot and my decision was affirmed shortly afterward. One of the devices we ordered didn’t work properly, so we contacted EMS for support. They responded to our request quickly and remotely connected to the device and ran a diagnostic scan using the Quick Support app that comes preloaded with their hardware. Over the years, we’ve purchased hardware solutions, kits, print ribbons, media and other items – probably close to 100 items total – and we’ve only needed support a half dozen times. And each time we did need support, they resolved the problem quickly.”
“The other nice thing about working with them is that they’re a certified integration partner of Global Shop Solutions. So, for example, each EMS device comes preloaded with a shortcut to the Global Shop Solutions software, which saves us a ton of time if we had to set it up ourselves. Additionally, there’s no passing the buck between the hardware provider and software vendor, as I’ve experienced with other vendors in the past.”
Tom Zwack, Director of IT at Felling Trailer
A New and Better Way to Work
Implementing Global Shop Solutions ERP software during a pandemic drew the process out a bit – from an initial projection of 8 months to 12 months, to be exact – but it’s now complete. Although Felling has only been live with Global Shop Solutions for two months, it’s already seeing benefits. “We’re paying 10% less for the Global Shop Solutions software licensing than the other ERP modules, in addition to paying less for our support agreement,” Zwack says. “We’re also saving a few hours a day in our sub-assembly scheduling process because Global Shop Solutions ERP software automatically handles so many more steps that used to be manual. For example, our machine operators and assembly workers only have to scan one barcode on a work order as opposed to 80+ barcodes previously.”
Despite the many improvements, Zwack admits it hasn’t come without a few growing pains/learning experiences. Two specific things he’s learned from it all and would like to share with others considering a similar undertaking are:
- Don’t underestimate the value of training
- Don’t put the training burden on the IT team.
“With ERP, the trainer should be someone like a supervisor or manager who’s deeply familiar with the shop floor workflow processes, not an IT person who’s likely pretty far removed from these things,” he says. “Also, managers need to make training a priority and not assume that workers will intuitively figure out how to transition from the old system to the new.”
The saying that comes to mind here, and still holds true, is “If a thing is worth doing, it’s worth doing right.”