Brunswick Steel is a full-service steel production job shop that provides custom products, one-offs, and scheduled production for manufacturing and construction customers throughout western Canada. For years, Brunswick Steel operated with one foot in the past and one in the future. The company employed the latest in modern steel cutting and processing equipment to produce its high-quality steel products. But many facets of the production processes relied on outdated manual procedures.
When Adam Plouffe, an experienced ERP user, joined Brunswick Steel as General Manager, he recognized the need for a change. After convincing ownership of the benefits of a fully integrated ERP system, Brunswick Steel implemented Global Shop Solutions, setting in motion a process that revolutionized how the company works.
One ERP System That Does It All
When researching ERP systems, Plouffe identified three primary selection criteria:
- A robust system that would automate as many manual procedures as possible
- A fully integrated system that made current and accurate production data easily accessible throughout the business
- The flexibility to handle Brunswick Steel’s mixed-mode manufacturing model
“Most of the ERP systems we looked at had major weaknesses when it came to managing both production processing and stock sales. Those two business lines run very differently. Global Shop Solutions was one of few that said, ‘Yes, we can do that.’ In addition, their Advanced Planning & Scheduling (APS) module got my attention.”
Adam Plouffe, General Manager at Brunswick Steel
Visible Improvements on the Shop Floor and in the Back Offices
After going live with the software, Brunswick Steel began experiencing wins in many areas of the business.
The first big impact came in finance, where having a fully integrated ERP system eliminated the need to run financials through separate systems. After only a month of using the software, the company’s CFO sent Plouffe an email saying, “Thank you for pushing this change. I can now run all financials through our ERP because the data is all tied together.”
Other big time savers came from integrating Global Shop Solutions with Brunswick Steel’s nesting software and improving how shop floor personnel record jobs.
Flexible ERP to Run Their Business Their Way
To date, Brunswick Steel has achieved what they initially hoped to accomplish with the software, but Plouffe considers the software’s flexibility as the driving force behind Brunswick Steel’s continual improvement efforts.
“We didn’t want an ERP system that would force us to do things a certain way,” Plouffe says. “Global Shop Solutions provides the flexibility to make changes as we need them and run our business the way we need to run it.”
To learn more about how Brunswick Steel revolutionized their business with ERP software, download their full case study.