A successful family-owned business invests in modern production planning – ABL-Laatat
As production volumes increased, ABL-Laatat decided to invest in improving productivity and delivery reliability. As the demands on production grew, it became necessary to renew the entire production planning process and move from spreadsheets to a modern production planning system. ABL-Laatat chose Delfoi Planner.
Growing production called for an advanced production planning system
Originally operating solely as a tile importer, ABL-Laatat has over the years increasingly specialised in delivering demanding construction and interior design projects. As customer expectations and requirements grew, the company established its own cutting shop to support more complex site projects. With a growing customer base and more contract manufacturing, production planning has become ever more critical to the overall profitability of the business.
”As production volumes continued to grow, we needed a solution that would support production planning as comprehensively as possible. We were looking for a system that would allow us to replace the Excel sheets we had used previously. Our ERP system did not include a modern production planning application, so we wanted a solution that would be both modern and easy to use, and at the same time provide everything we needed,” recalls Jere Tillgren, responsible for production at ABL-Laatat, and continues:
”After reviewing Delfoi Planner’s capabilities, I was immediately convinced. The solution covered most of our requirements, Delfoi had already collaborated with our ERP vendor, and we were soon able to start a pilot.”
Implementing Delfoi Planner was easy and fast
”Before the broader roll-out we ran a pilot period during which the system was tested against our needs and the integration to our Visma Nova ERP system was implemented as a functioning whole. Delfoi had carried out similar projects before and, under their guidance, the project progressed as planned and on schedule, without major delays. The company’s commitment to the timetable was key here. We were very keen to get the system into full use. The production team also adopted it quite quickly once the benefits of Planner became visible through everyday use. We acquired tablets for everyone so that the browser-based Planner can be used freely anywhere in the production facilities,” says ABL-Laatat Production Manager Jere Tillgren.
Higher productivity and shorter lead times as key benefits
Delfoi Planner enables capacity-constrained planning and optimisation, as well as quick rescheduling when needed. Schedules can be reviewed visually, for example to highlight material shortages, delays or work progress. The Delfoi Planner MES solution allows companies to monitor and control production in real time. Through the Delfoi MES interface, operators can update the status and the realised times and quantities for each operation whenever work progresses.
”The benefits of Delfoi Planner became visible quickly. Our production productivity has increased, and the reporting tools support continuous improvement in our operations. With simulation, we can estimate the lead time of even large customer projects with good accuracy. Non-productive time is reduced because we can identify potential bottlenecks in advance and manage production in real time. The visual dashboards and reports also help us understand the entire production flow much better. Even one extra productive hour per day is already a significant improvement,” says ABL-Laatat Production Manager Jere Tillgren.
”In my view, Delfoi Planner delivers excellent value for money when you consider everything it enables. Its ease of use and the way it allows us to use production data for continuous improvement mean the investment pays back quickly through higher productivity. We are currently in a fine-tuning phase of around 4 to 6 months, during which we are reviewing and adjusting operation times so that they correspond as closely as possible to the actual hours worked.”
Close partnership as a solid foundation for future development
ABL-Laatat and Delfoi have worked in close partnership throughout the implementation and beyond. Thanks to its modular architecture, Delfoi Planner can be rolled out step by step, and additional modules are already planned for future deployment.
”Our goal is fully paperless production, and we will continue to develop the system further. Over time, all relevant information will flow from Planner all the way through to invoicing. ‘From workshop to factory’ is our motto, and we are aiming for strong, sustained growth. Because the groundwork has been done thoroughly at this early stage, that growth will be much easier to manage,” summarises ABL-Laatat Production Manager Jere Tillgren.
”In my view, Delfoi Planner delivers excellent value for money when you consider everything it enables. Its ease of use and the way it allows us to use production data for continuous improvement mean the investment pays back quickly through higher productivity."
– Production Manager Jere Tillgren, ABL-Laatat