CASE STUDY
Gulf Extrusions | Extrusion Management System case study
In their pursuit of operational excellence and in alignment with market demands, Gulf Extrusions chose to deploy an EMS system at their Dubai facility, seamlessly integrating their in-house system with machines and ERP functionalities to meet evolving market needs.
The system went live on the mid of 2015. EMS system is fully integrated with ERP and machines PLCs. Orders, product and other master items are being created on ERP and sent to EMS to schedule the production, process the order as per the flexible production routing (steps). The production parameters are sent from EMS to machine PLCs and production actual attributes/ details will be collected from PLC, saved and analysedin EMS. EMS will send the required production details to ERP.
THE SYSTEM COVERS ALL THE PRODUCTION LINES:
• Extrusion (6 presses)
• Aging (6 ovens)
• Anodizing
• Powder Coating
• Crimping
• Packing
EMS ALSO COVERED THE PRODUCTION SUPPORTS FUNCTIONALITIES:
• Scheduling
• Die shop
• Die store
• Quality
• Remelt
The system was also implemented on the new plant in Abu Dhabi for all the production lines, cast house and they have bigger scope to added to the current modules implemented in Gulf Extrusions.
MAIN CHALLENGES FACED BY THE CUSTOMER
Main challenges which Gulf Extrusions was facing are:
• Fixed order routing: they weren’t able to have different production sequence based on the customer or technical requirements.
• No control over the production and the operators were using their expertise to run the production, so changes between operators were affecting the production performance.
HOW PRODUCT HELPED
RESULTS, RETURN ON INVESTMENT AND FUTURE PLANS
The productivity, recovery and efficiency were increased because production depends on the best production parameters registered automatically on the system on the level of profile, die, alloy, press and surface treatment type.
The optimal production parameters for a specific product type are automatically retrieved and applied in subsequent production runs.
The production scheduling is more mature and can be followed on floor since EMS provide all the information/restrictions to ensure create extrudable products in the schedule.
Traceability is maintained all over production to support all type of high standard production like architectural, automotive, industrial, transportation, etc. It improves operational efficiency by minimizing the occurrence of “missing products during material processing and ensures accurate tracking of material movements between production lines, including correct product attributes and clarity. Gulf Extrusions
teams excel in providing customers with a comprehensive order tracking system, bolstering their commitment to delivering exceptional service.
EMS supported increasing the quality produced on the dies because the die life and maintenance cycles are fully managed and tracked in EMS including die nitriding, cleaning, correction and die life.
EMS provide complete reporting system (overall and detailed reports) for all level of management on the company real time data without a need to wait for end of shift / day / month to get the production details.
