After switching from Epicor to another ERP system, Dalsin Industries quickly realized that limitations of the new software was limiting their own productivity. Epicor Professional Services eased their return to using Epicor Kinetic and helped Dalsin Industries build a foundation for embracing and succeeding with Industry 4.0 principles.
Dalsin Industries is a precision metal manufacturer that prides itself in being an extension of its original equipment manufacturer (OEM) customers. Based in Bloomington, Minnesota, the company provides metal manufacturing solutions through a unique blend of experienced staff, advanced and automated CNC stamping and fabrication/assembly equipment, and design services supporting product manufacturing cost reduction and optimized product fit, form, and function.
Once an Epicor customer, Dalsin tried out another enterprise resource planning (ERP) system for a while before returning to Epicor. “We eventually figured out we couldn't track our costs on the jobs accurately on that system,” recalled Jeff Dalsin, IT business analyst for Dalsin Industries. “You could only do one quantity for a quote at a time, and we couldn't see the actual costs of a job in real time. This caused some concern and some problems, because we didn't know exactly how we were performing on our jobs. It just wasn't a good fit, so we had to make a change.”
Dalsin relied on Epicor Professional Services to make the return to Epicor as smooth as possible. “There had been some changes from the version we left to the version when we came back,” said Dalsin. “So, they came in and helped lay the groundwork for us, and we could bounce questions off them and make sure we were building a foundation to put us in a place to continue succeeding not only now, but also in the future.”
“Some of the most significant challenges we face are increasing customer demands from the standpoint of technical ability, documentation, and service lead-time being reduced, but yet wanting it all for less,” said Keith Diekmann, vice president of technical operations. “The cost is very competitive out in the market today, so we must maintain our competitiveness through having technology reduce the time to get the product to market.”
“Epicor has helped us evolve on how we keep up with our customers and put us in a great position to help us grow as we embrace the future of manufacturing.”
Dalsin is embracing the future of manufacturing by adopting Industry 4.0 principles, such as ensuring machines communicate with one another about data and performance. To do so, it must have a technology foundation.
One of the ways that Epicor has supported Dalsin in figuring out its Industry 4.0 future is by taking advantage of the business activity queries (BAQ) that have given the company visibility into virtually all aspects of its operations. “The BAQs for getting reports generated or information out of the system is very important,” said Dalsin. “We need to be able to create dashboards so people can have quick information on their screen. That flexibility allows us to get the answers to the people that need them as soon as possible. It can be about anything-from what jobs are late, to a certain operation, to what's ready to ship so they can get it out the door.”
“Another thing that we run into, for instance, is figuring out when we need to purchase additional equipment,” said Dalsin. “Epicor allows us to see how many hours are on our shop load, how many hours we're getting off the load, and how efficient we are against using that machine so we can better justify purchasing equipment-when we're actually outside our capacity-to help us get additional capacity to satisfy customer needs.”
“For us, the customer's experience is the reason we're here, so that's obviously very important. Each and every time, we must engage our customers responsively, interact with them and provide them with products and services that meet or beat their expectations,” concluded Gary Fruth, chief executive officer. “Epicor has helped us evolve on how we keep up with our customers and put us in a great position to help us grow as we embrace the future of manufacturing.”
