SCM Engineering has implemented a system for planning optimization in Podolsk, at OJSC Arkhbum's production plant, on the basis of OMP Corrugated and Solid Board System by ОМ Partners.
The Podolsk corrugated board factory is a modern plant with capacity of 14 million m2 of corrugated board per month, equipped with the most advanced, high-technology machinery by leading global manufacturers. The plant belongs to the ARKHBUM company.
One of the preconditions for production planning and management optimization at Arkhbum was construction of a new production site, which will allow to extend production capacities up to 290 million m2 of corrugated board per year. The previous planning system was only used for cutting and did not provide functionality to support state-of-the-art planning methods for maximum economic benefits. Thus, planning and scheduling were performed manually and that aggravated human factor impact on the planning process quality.
Irina Galakhova, Director of Arkhbum's plant in Istra (in the beginning of the project, Development Director at the Podolsk plant):
"Given the planned increase in production, we needed to analyze the existing planning system and define the set of requirements to the planning system meeting which would help us to raise competitiveness in the corrugated board market. With the new system we are going to reach maximum economic performance and reduce the production costs along with maintaining high quality of the end product. We felt an urgent need for a modern, powerful and flexible system for production planning and management to support all recent developments in management of corrugated board production. We had a clear vision that the new system had to cover all the planning stages and provide monitoring of actual production indicators."
Within the framework of the project on development of a planning system, the following objectives were set:
- Reducing production costs due to optimized cutting;
- Automated planning of capacity utilization;
- Management of the production processes and jobs on lines. Job queue visualization for operators;
- Recording production data on actual output of machines and process lines;
- Interaction (integration) of the new system with the existing 1C system for client order receipt and processing.
Selection of the most appropriate system took a long time and required thorough market investigation. Finally, the dedicated OMP Corrugated and Solid Board System by OM Partners was chosen as the best one corresponding to the plant requirements.
The chief engineer and programmer at the Arkhbum's division in Podolsk, Marina Murina, says:
"The main criteria for system selection were as follows: account for specifics of corrugated board production, support of the recent methods for optimized planning, incorporated global experience, a possibility to provide seamless two-way data exchange with the 1C system, availability of a localized Russian version and technical support through a Russian partner. In the end, we chose a dedicated solution by OM Partners by all criteria best corresponding to the current business requirements of OAO Arkhbum.
The project was implemented by efforts of OM Partners' partner in Russia, SCM Engineering, specializing in implementation of innovative methods and IT solutions in supply chain management. A demo version, developed by SCM Engineering specialists, and deployed in the ОМР CSBS system using real enterprise data, as well as SCM Engineering's experience of implementation of similar projects, one more time proved that we had chosen the right partner.
The system implementation project started in June 2011 and lasted 8 months. On February 13, 2012, the system was commissioned for commercial operation. According to SCM Engineering specialists, the customer's project team was of great assistance during the implementation. Thanks to them it was possible to stick to the schedule even at the most demanding stage—collection of reference information for the system. Notably, after training and active participation in system commissioning, ARKHBUM's specialists were able to provide the first line technical support to OMP system users at their plant.
Today, the production planning and management system on the basis of OMP CSBS engages not only production support services but also the enterprise management, sales and supply departments personnel.
Konstantin Borumbei, Deputy Production Director at Podolsk corrugated packaging factory, comments:
"Thanks to the OMP system, we were able to manage production in a more flexible and effective way, reduced labor intensity and gained an opportunity to promptly provide processing line operators with information on job queue as well as control plan execution in real time. The system improved information exchange efficiency in the production process and minimized the human factor impact on this process."
The factory management points out that the tasks to reduce labor intensity and time consumption for the production process in whole, set prior to the implementation, have been achieved. By the end of the year it is planned to start utilizing the planning and scheduling capabilities to the full extent.
"Following the successful deployment at the production site in Podolsk, we are planning to deploy the OMP CSBS solution at our new site. The more so, the management of the two production sites will be performed from a single center. We will be able to receive reliable real-time information on production and in the most effective way plan capacity utilization, while reducing total costs," comments Irina Galakhova.
Anton Shmatalyuk, SCM Engineering CEO:
"This project reflect current market trends when production plants turn from particular problems in particular challenging areas to a comprehensive approach to production planning and management. During implementation of this project, ARKHBUM top managers gave priority to improvement of customer service along with increasing production output which is a good ground for long-term business development. The company's intention to integrate the new site into a single planning environment is an illustrative evidence. We are looking forward to cooperation with ARKHBUM's managers and experts and appreciate their commitment to establish effective and manageable production comparable with the best European practices.
