Gear Motions is a custom gear manufacturing company that supplies high-precision gearing to the commercial air compression, specialty automotive, motorcycle, medical device, packaging, oil and gas, mining, and industrial pumping industries.
For years, Gear Motions managed the business with an ERP system that lacked the ability to track data in real-time. Seeking to improve scheduling, job costing, and other areas of the business, management upgraded to Global Shop Solutions ERP software, primarily for its visibility of data and robust Advanced Planning and Scheduling (APS) application.
As a custom manufacturer, one of Gear Motions’ biggest shop floor challenges involves staffing appropriately in order to execute at a level needed to satisfy customer demands. According to Plant Manager, Dan Bartelli, Global Shop Solutions makes it easy to identify what needs to be done so managers can put together an effective plan to keep their customers satisfied.
Customers want product a lot quicker than they used to. Jobs that used to take us eight to 10 weeks to complete, customers now want in three to five. Scheduling with APS allows us to execute more effectively because it gives detailed views from a job, department, and entire shop floor perspective. It affords many different ways to slice and dice the data, so we can tell what we need to do and when to meet tighter shipping deadlines.
Dan Bartelli, Plant Manager at Gear Motions
Gear Motions constantly uses the ERP software to drive process change throughout the organization while making more informed decisions. In particular, Bartelli appreciates the ability to make adjustments in the moment to meet customer deadlines.
“The system automatically updates the data every few minutes, so we can see exactly what’s going on in the shop in real-time,” explains Bartelli. “This allows us to act in the moment rather than looking at a report a month later and saying we should have done something differently.”
Moving work in process (WIP) to finished goods and closing work orders can be a time-consuming task. Global Shop Solutions simplified this process for Gear Motions by providing quick access to all the necessary data through one single screen – Supply & Demand.
“If you need to know anything related to a part from beginning to end, Supply & Demand quickly supplies the information,” adds Bartelli. “No matter what you’re looking for, the screen will have a tab that takes you right to the data you want.”
Suzanne Waters, Director of Accounting and IT at Gear Motions, frequently uses the software’s flexibility to create custom reports that format data in a way that fits Gear Motions’ unique operating environment. For example, one of these reports tracks output for machine operators on a daily basis, providing a powerful feedback tool for improving performance and accountability.
As the Global Shop Solutions administrator for Gear Motions, Waters values the ease of navigation throughout the system as well as the timely technical support.
“Global Shop Solutions has everything I need to effectively perform my job while helping others learn the software and do their jobs more efficiently,” she says. “When people come to me with questions, I can usually resolve the issue or suggest resolutions, and if we can’t resolve it internally then I place a call to Global Shop Solutions’ technical support.”
To read more about how ERP software improved Gear Motions’ business, download their full case study.