PLM helps electronics manufacturer deliver quality products

Sept. 29, 2014 – The Company: August Electronics is an electronics manufacturing services (EMS) provider headquartered in Calgary, Alta. They have a long-standing track record of customer satisfaction and productivity, as shown by their yearly recognition in Profit magazine’s PROFIT 200 — Canada’s top 200 fastest growing companies. As an ISO 9001:2008 certified company, August Electronics is committed to a philosophy of continuous quality improvement.

The Challenge:  As an EMS provider, August Electronics receives product/BOM information from customers in various formats, including emails, spreadsheets and even phone calls. Without an electronic system in place to track and manage this information, August would run into issues with duplicate data and wasted time spent searching for information. The company’s existing ERP system did not keep a history of any change/ECO process, and was not capable of storing and controlling documents. This made it difficult to gather all of the support documents needed with regards to engineering change and document control.

The Strategy: The company needed a software solution to electronically manage BOMs, keep track of ECO history, provide document revision control and integrate with the ERP system. August Electronics selected the Empower PLM solution from Omnify Software based on a recommendation from its ERP vendor.

The Results: “Omnify Empower offered exactly what we needed,” says Tanya Korenda, general manager at August Electronics. “It has allowed us to simplify and efficiently manage engineering changes, and document control is now easier than ever.”

The Omnify Empower system is integrated with August’s Intuitive ERP environment. Information is shared bi-directionally, where released files are uploaded from Empower to Intuitive, and data is also uploaded from Intuitive into Empower. Sharing this data electronically provides a guarantee that design and manufacturing have access to accurate and current product information.

“Omnify Empower makes it easier to find the information needed to communicate with customers by allowing us to tie much more information to parts and assemblies than would be possible with just ERP,” states Korenda.

Implementing Omnify Empower also helped August Electronics obtain ISO 9001 certification by supporting proper processes to meet the ISO Quality Management Systems requirements. With Empower PLM, August has the necessary controlled processes in place for managing product information and aiding continuous improvement practices.

“Our emphasis on quality, customer focus and innovative technology is what provides our customers with significant advantages in the marketplace,” says Korenda. “Adopting Omnify Empower to improve our development processes is another verification of our focus on consistently delivering high-quality products and services that meet our customer’s needs.”

www.omnifysoft.com

This case study orginally appeared in September’s Automation Software Case Study Guide.