Dunlop Systems & Components Gained complete control over all operational costs

Customer Success

Who: Dunlop Systems & Components

What: Design and manufacture Advanced Electronic Control Systems and Air Suspension components

Web: www.dunlopsystems.com

Dunlop is a name that is steeped in the manufacturing history of the UK for over 100 years. In 1890 the Dunlop Tyre Company first opened its gates in Coventry and it has been part of the landscape ever since. In 2007 Dunlop Systems & Components was formed after a management buyout of the Dunlop Coventry suspension division from Trelleborg AB. Today, at their state of the art Coventry facility they design and manufacture Advanced Electronic Control Systems and Air Suspension components for the automotive and ancillary industries.

Their products include Air Springs (Dunlop were one of the first companies to produce these), Electronically Controlled Air Suspension (ECAS), Air Suspension Conversions, Mobility Systems, Testing Services and Electronic Design. They currently employ close to 100 people in their engineering and manufacturing operation and turn over approximately £10m pa. They have sold over a quarter of a million Ecas systems worldwide, with over 10 million Air Springs sold since they began production in the 1950’s.

Challenge: Surface Customer Needs and Pain Points

The senior management team, the driving force behind the new ERP project, saw the need for a more robust and efficient system to replace their old, outmoded legacy system. The drivers for change included:

• DSC wanting a more flexible ERP system compared to their legacy system
• The legacy system was overly expensive to maintain
• The legacy system had data accuracy issues relating to BOM’s routings and core part data
• Most importantly the legacy system had a poor MRP mechanism resulting in operational inefficiencies

Dunlop aimed to implement a full ERP package concentrating on production, logistics and project management. Their plans for the future include extensive use of shop floor data collection, PDA’s, bar coding and live reporting of production.

Solution: System openness, interoperability and flexibility

Medatech UK Ltd provided an overall standard system with pertinent modifications to suit the business processes at DSC. We put together processes and data flow solutions that provided smooth and efficient workflows in the challenging environment of a manufacturing platform in a multi-company setup. A conscious decision was made by DSC to perform extensive data cleansing before migrating the new system. This ensured the ease of use of the various data analysers to get accurate results every time with the press of a button in every area of Priority ERP.

Results: Present ROI and Tangible Value Derived

Project Management

The project management module is an integral part of the system rather than a stand-alone unit. This allowed transparency for the engineering department towards the other users of the system.

Executive Reporting

Dunlop have the business intelligence module as part of their package which allows executive dashboards within the Priority ERP environment as well as on the MS outlook interface, allowing the
management an excellent snapshot and drill down capability on the business processes and performance.

Production Efficiency

During implementation, Dunlop timed all operations and reviewed BOM’s for all parts. As a result of this data review and input, accurate product prices are now available through Priority ERP. Operations on the shop floor are constantly reviewing strategy. There is a growing trust towards the data coming from the new system as opposed to the old system which was often misleading.

Inventory Management

Both final products and raw materials are managed effectively using FIFO and Lot control and are easily traceable. Manufacturing and raw material procurement is closely monitored and managed fully utilizing the benefits of the Priority ERP and purchase planning modules.

Dunlop has succeeded in implementing a full ERP package, logistics and project management. Their plans for the future include extensive use of shop floor data collection, PDA’s, bar-coding and live reporting of production.