Leading OEM Harnesses the Power of Real-Time Data to Optimize Productivity and Processes
Jetta Company Limited may not be a household name, but its customers certainly are. Lego, Hasbro and iRobot Roomba are just a few of the widely recognized brands. From a small sub-contracting toy manufacturer, Jetta has grown to become one of the world’s leading Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs), specializing in product design, development, engineering and manufacturing. Headquartered in Hong Kong, the company operates two production facilities in mainland China.
With toys, consumer electronics, and hygiene products, Jetta has a growing, diverse, and complex business—one that simply was not being served by a legacy AS400 system and homegrown applications. Kenneth Wong, CEO at Jetta revealed, “We developed a reputation for our engineering services and willingness to take on challenges and deliver innovative solutions. But our system was creating bottlenecks.”
Further exacerbating the problem, there was no support because of the age of the system. Vincent Wong, Project Manager at Jetta, admitted, “It felt like a time bomb waiting to go off.”
Jetta needed a modern, automated, and integrated ERP solution to better manage operations and inventory across multiple sites.
A thorough investigation led to a decision to adopt Epicor Kinetic and Epicor Mobile Warehouse. Vincent Wong recalled, “We saw a demonstration of Epicor Kinetic and it’s built for manufacturing with all the functionality we needed, right out of the box. The readiness of the solution was much higher compared to SAP and Microsoft.”
Vincent Wong cited three other important factors that strengthened confidence in Epicor. “The Epicor team invested in understanding our business processes, the database technology utilized an SQL Server which our team already knew and used, and our implementation consultant, Data World Solutions, recommended Epicor.”
He added that customer trust in Epicor reinforced the decision. “Many of our customers make very sophisticated products. Epicor helps us to track and manage all the in-house processes so we can control quality and report to the customer about throughput from each process,” Vincent Wong remarked.
He continued, “With Epicor on our side, our customers have confidence that we have a single, proven, reliable, and well-integrated system that is collecting all the pertinent data, providing real-time visibility to the production process, and helping ensure the highest quality.”
The Jetta team took advantage of the transition to redefine and streamline business processes. Kenneth Wong shared, “Because we had been running an antiquated system, many of our processes were not as efficient as they could be. We wanted to ensure that we leveraged all of the great Epicor functionalities, and we learned best practices from both Epicor and Data World Solutions to create a world-class manufacturing system.”
A significant advantage of the new Epicor solution is that all data—including customer specifications and vendor requirements—is stored on one platform, help provide clear visibility and easy access to an unprecedented level of business intelligence.
We saw a demonstration of Epicor Kinetic, and it’s built for manufacturing with all the functionality we needed right out of the box. The readiness of the solution was much higher compared with SAP and Microsoft.
For Kenneth Wong, the most critical data is cash flow. He elaborated, “The economy is changing so rapidly and as the CEO, cash flow is vital. Every day, shareholders are watching it. Epicor gives us the ability to track and manage liquidity, whether it’s a deposit in the bank or inventory. It’s a critical KPI for me and for reporting to the board.”
He acknowledged that Epicor provides a robust range of functionalities and that the challenge now is for Jetta to learn to take the greatest advantage of all the tools, create indispensable reports and define meaningful, strategic KPIs.
He added, “Epicor Data Discovery is a powerful tool for management. Dashboards present exactly the right information in real-time, without the need for a human to interfere. Plus, the ability to create reports without leaning on IT is wonderful.”
Major challenges in the toy and consumer electronics industries include the many compliance and certification requirements. One is RoHS, the Restriction of Hazardous Substances Directive, a set of regulations put in place by the European Union to protect human health and the environment from the harmful effects of certain hazardous substances.
Epicor will support Jetta in meeting RoHS and the many other Environmental, Social and Governance demands of its diverse customer base.
“Each time we create a quote, we need to be able to check that a supplier meets all the required qualifications and has the right certifications,” Vincent Wong explained. “Epicor empowers us to do that.”
With Epicor Kinetic deployed, Jetta is moving quickly to adopt additional integrated solutions to amplify the impact.
Epicor Mobile Warehouse has already been implemented and Kenneth Wong predicted major wins as mobile devices free factory employees to gather data at the source without needing to return to a desk. “Employees can stay on the floor, running the production line, and providing more accurate, real-time information to management to help decision-making,” he shared.
Epicor has given us a stable, flexible, built-for-manufacturing foundation with limitless potential. Whatever we want to implement, whatever we can dream up, we have confidence that Epicor is ready to make it a reality.
At the same time, Mobile Warehouse is transforming Jetta factories into paperless environments—no more paper checklists and reports.
Jetta is also in the process of launching the Epicor Supplier Portal to further drive efficiencies and streamline processes. The Portal will enable automated communication with suppliers and provide a single-pane view of status and documents for all sourcing requests. Jetta expects to enhance delivery times, optimize inventory levels and improve PO traceability.
The company is further exploring the Epicor Advanced Manufacturing Execution System (AMES) to collect real-time plastic molding production data, including production and scrap quantity, and convert that data into useful information for management. This aids in delivering real-time visibility and enhanced operational control.
With a world-class reputation for innovation and quality, Jetta set a high bar for technological solutions. Kenneth Wong said, “Our expectations were very high, and Epicor exceeded our aspirations.”
He highlighted, “Since day one, support from Epicor has been professional and responsive. Having an Epicor presence in Hong Kong has been vital.”
And those old-system bottlenecks are a distant memory. Epicor has helped position Jetta for future growth without restrictions. Kenneth Wong emphasized, “Epicor has given us a stable, flexible, built-for-manufacturing foundation with limitless potential. Whatever we want to implement, whatever we can dream up, we have confidence that Epicor is ready to make it a reality.”
