Delwi/Groenink Machinefabriek enables time stacking and gains insight into time costing with the SPS shop floor application

Delwi/Groenink Machinefabriek has gone live with the shop floor application of Smart Production Solutions (SPS). The SPS software is seamlessly connected to the Ridder Data Systems ERP. Janine Delfsma, Finance Director: “It gives us much more control over time registration and over allocating hours fairly to job, machine and employee.”

Nothing is as cool as manufacturing. Still, there is room for efficiency improvements here and there – and that was the case at Delwi/Groenink Machinefabriek too. “The growth of our company and the fact that we have been subject to audits for three years made us want more control over our processes,” says Delfsma.

‘Choosing a proven, complete shop floor application’

Choosing the shop floor application of Smart Production Solutions was the logical step, according to the finance director. “The shop floor tool is a complete, mature IT solution. That was a requirement for us in our search for more control. As a fast-growing company, we cannot – and do not want to – put energy into extensive application development. That is also why we chose Smart Production Solutions and not a comparable but less mature solution from our ERP supplier.”

Allocating hours fairly across machines

The roll-out took place in the summer of 2021 and was deliberately split into several stages. The assembly department had the honour of the kick-off, followed by the washing department and then machining. In machining, the important stacking function was worked out and developed together. “Our employees can alternate between several machines, and thanks to SPS the hours can be allocated fairly. The ability to stack hours was a precondition for rolling out the application.” After machining, the app was introduced in the rest of the factory.

App automates pre- and actual costing

The main benefit of the shop floor app is that pre-calculation and actual costing are no longer based on paper timesheets. “Paper is patient, so rounding off time happened easily. But you don’t really want that,” says Delfsma. “On top of that, an employee can easily work on several machines and still record very precisely how much time was spent on each job. That gives us much more control over the organisation and our actual costing. We can now compare the old and new time calculations and adjust future quotations where needed.” Another important advantage for Delwi/Groenink is the ability to create batch functions for a group. Delfsma: “That makes it easier for the department manager to monitor the work.”

‘A neat roll-out’

Delfsma is very pleased with the collaboration between the project leads of the factory and SPS. “It was simply good, and the application was rolled out neatly.” If changes are needed, SPS makes them remotely. “Some employees did need a little time to get used to it, but the simplicity of the system ensured quick adoption. The shop floor application is very user-friendly.”