An international leader in designing and producing medical devices, Axelgaard Manufacturing wanted to gain a competitive edge without compromising cost or quality. Epicor Kinetic helped the company identify potential improvements by providing visibility and analytics into every part of the manufacturing process.
Since its founding in 1985, Axelgaard Manufacturing Co., Ltd. has been recognized as an international leader in the design, development, and production of premier neurostimulation and sensing electrodes. One of the biggest challenges the company faces is competing against low price, low quality products from foreign countries. While Axelgaard can't compete on price alone, Kinetic (the new name for Epicor ERP) gives them a powerful tool to identify where they can improve processes, reduce scrap, and be more efficient without compromising quality.
“Having great technology has always been important to me,” said Dr. Jens Axelgaard, CEO of Axelgaard Manufacturing. “My vision is to keep using technology—on all levels—as much as possible and simplify work for us through an enterprise resource planning (ERP) system. That was the main reason I was sold on Epicor. It could help us on all levels, even levels I knew we didn't need when we bought it but may need as we grow.”
I don't need to go to the floor and interrupt a production supervisor to determine what happened—it’s all in front of me in Epicor.
“Epicor allows us to expand on the visibility of various data points in the company,” explained Christian Boddaert, IT manager at Axelgaard Manufacturing. “As a manufacturer, there's a lot of information that comes back from machines on the shop floor, so now we can review that data to make better business decisions. Real-time information is critical for production planning purposes as we manage orders that come in throughout the day. And it's also important we have current, up-to-date information for our customers and vendors.” The Epicor ERP system has also been able to reduce the company's IT footprint, as they consolidated functions that previously required multiple systems.
Implementing machine analytics to every piece of equipment has saved Axelgaard a significant amount of time as well. “When we run product on a machine, we get reports if something breaks down, if there's an error in the product, or if it simply doesn't meet specifications,” said Rachel Horton, R&D engineering manager at Axelgaard. “I don't need to go to the floor and interrupt a production supervisor to determine what happened—it’s all in front of me in Epicor.”
With these process improvements, the company has reduced the amount of scrap and waste in raw material while also increasing an operator's productivity time. This leads to lower prices for customers and frees Horton and the Axelgaard staff to focus on other value-added tasks. “With the time and effort I saved from the Epicor system, I can spend more time focusing on initiatives such as R&D and costing for our current and planned product lines,” added Horton.
Axelgaard was also having a difficult time managing inventory levels and ensuring they always had enough product on the shelves to meet customer demand. With Epicor ERP, they're able to stay ahead of the game and replenish their inventory as quickly and efficiently as possible—all while avoiding overstocking. “This is the scenario where Epicor has made a huge difference,” said Barbara Sepich, CFO, Axelgaard Manufacturing “We are now able to optimize our inventory levels at every stage of production.”
The flexibility the Epicor system enables the company to not only avoid overstocking, but also take on projects without all parts in stock. “We can move very fast-even with semi-finished products or works in progress,” said Dr. Axelgaard. “We can just build it partially and save it for later when we do get the rest of the materials to complete the order. This allows us to expedite part of an order and regain the space in the manufacturing lines to continue building something we do have all the parts for.”
“I think we will always be ahead of the game by having Epicor directly tied into the machinery and everything that goes on here,” added Dr. Axelgaard. “With Epicor, you will see an immediate impact by being able to produce much more efficiently. Efficiency is one of our biggest drivers, and Epicor is key for enabling that.”
