First Level Provides Automotive Supplier with Scalable Solution by Robert Smith (This material has been reprinted with permission from the June 2001 issue of Midrange Technology SHOWCASE published by IIR Publications, Carlsbad, CA © 2001. All rights reserved.) Melling Tool Company is a major supplier of oil pumps and primary oil filters to the automotive industry. With seven manufacturing facilities and 40 warehouses nationwide, Melling functions as both a first-level supplier to automotive manufactures, via electronic data interchange (EDI) releases, as well as a supplier to the automotive after-market, driven by more traditional reorder point techniques. Five of the six peripheral manufacturing facilities supply parts for the oil pump manufacturing facility located in Jackson, Michigan, as well as their own customers. The sixth manufacturing plant produces primary oil filters for the Big Three (Ford, General Motors, and Daimler-Chrysler), as well as for the automotive aftermarket. In 1993, the company was facing ever-increasing demand from its customers to reduce costs, achieve ISO 9000, implement EDI, etc. The company decided to find a software product that could meet the needs of its six peripheral manufacturing sites. The vendor and product would have to meet a number of criteria in order to achieve an ongoing turnkey solution. The Heat Is On The peripheral manufacturing plants ran a variety of PC-based systems. However, it was clear that these systems were not adequate to meet the changing requirements of the automotive manufacturers. In order to remain profitable, Melling had to find a cost-effective solution for the peripheral manufacturing sites. The Melling Tool MIS department, headed by J. Michael Oostmeyer, and David Dent, vice president of Melling products, began the search for a long-term solution that would meet the current and future needs of the six peripheral facilities. The department evaluated several solutions, which fell into three categories: PC solutions, midrange systems, and large-scale, mainframe-class solutions. PC-based systems, while cost-effective, failed to meet the need for flexibility. "We would be required to adapt our business to the solution, and in most cases, this was impractical," Dent said. And mainframe solutions were out of the question. "Large systems were simply overkill, cost-prohibitive, and would require the MIS department to administer," he added. After evaluating several midrange products, Melling chose First Level from MFG/EDP. Heading for the Fast Track Melling selected First Level based on MFG/EDP's 25 years of experience with suppliers to the automotive industry. Another influencing factor was MFG/EDP's commitment to make ongoing changes to the systems as requirements dictated. A third, critical consideration, given the range of business requirements, was cost. In order to contain costs, the selected vendor had to demonstrate that it could operate as an extension of the Melling MIS department, providing an ongoing solution in a cost-effective manner. Melling struck a corporate-wide agreement, enabling all six sites to implement First Level. The first manufacturing site selected was Melling Products Corporation, located in Farwell, Michigan. The process began in July 1993 and was complete by December of that year. The first implementation task was to identify the critical differences between the software and Melling's business requirements. Systems analyst Edward Doverspike and manufacturing specialist Robert Smith, both with MFG/EDP, met with Melling's implementation team to identify the required changes. The initial focus was on what was necessary to get up and running, as opposed to a wish list. Often, the answer to a suggested enhancement or change was, "Yes, but later." Once the necessary changes were identified, MFG/EDP personnel made the modifications, and the implementation went forward. Melling repeated the same process for the balance of the manufacturing sites, and all were up and running by June 1994. Now They're Rolling Given the variety of its businesses and their ever-changing requirements, Melling wanted a solution targeted at the specific business units' needs. Now, the Jackson oil pump manufacturing company uses an IBM AS/400 Model 620 running J.D. Edwards and custom code. The peripheral manufacturing sites use AS/400 170s or 436s upgraded to AS/400s running First Level. PC networks are attached in most facilities. The applications running at the various locations are comprehensive, as each business unit operates independently. The applications cover accounting, production control, estimating, costing, scheduling, purchasing, material requirements planning, EDI, quality control, and supply chain management (SCM). All of the plants are now certified ISO 9000. Since the installation and implementation, several major upgrades have occurred or are in process. The first was an upgrade to Y2K-compliant code early in 1999. The second was the move to AS/400 native code with the SEAGULL graphical user interface, rendering the software Internet-capable. The third and ongoing upgrade concerns supply chain and EDI management via the Internet using the Euphrates package from IBC Technologies. Euphrates is the backbone of MFG/EDP's Internet supply chain management solution (SCM). Capitalizing on a partnership with IBC, First Level is capable of distributing and receiving data via all communications channels, including faxes, email, paging, EDI, XML and the Internet. . Recently, Melling Tool in Jackson implemented its first warehouse transactions via the Internet, and several other transaction types are planned. The Winner's Circle The company has met its initial goal of containing MIS costs while providing the peripheral manufacturing sites with quality products and ongoing support. As with any project of this scope, it is difficult to quantify the results. The new features have reduced inventory, provided a firm handle on costs, and increased sales through automated estimating--all without adding staff. The company says that the best way to determine whether it met its goal is to ask, "What if we hadn't done it?" Melling reports that the resounding answer is it might not be in business today.   Robert Smith is President of MFG/EDP, Inc., and has twenty-five years experience in the IBM midrange market.. Mr. Smith has published several articles dealing with conversion manufacturing, Prior to the introduction of the IBM S/34, S/36 and Advanced/36, Mr. Smith consulted with the IBM development team in Rochester, Minnesota. He can be reached via email at sales@mfgedp.com.   MFG/EDP, Inc. P.O. Box 488 Key West, FL 33041 Tel: 800-388-3914 Fax: 305-294-4230 Web: www.mfgedp.com