We recently spoke with Rory Lee, Vice President of Operations and Business Develop Manager with Saturn Industries, Inc. Rory, who has been with Saturn since 1997, talked about his company’s experiences before and after implementing Protected Flow Manufacturing™ (PFM) by LillyWorks.

This is Part 3 of a 3-part series, you can read Part 2 here: Protected Flow Manufacturing (PFM) Benefits Saturn Industries

Q: Can you tell us more about using Protected Flow Manufacturing™ (PFM)?

Protected Flow Manufacturing is very simple to use. It doesn’t take a person to run it. It runs on its own. We update PFM a couple times a day. It’s a self-sufficient system. It’s taken man-hours out of scheduling and sorting through jobs.

Q: Does Protected Flow Manufacturing™ (PFM) save labor?

We have multiple departments within our shop. Some areas spend more time organizing and scheduling than others. We save at least 4 hours a week company-wide using PFM.

The amount of time our sales department spends on the phone chasing orders, that’s a whole other story. When we get a phone call from a customer, the sales person has to go out on the floor and chase it down. There was a lot wasted in that exercise. We’ve probably saved upwards of 5 to 10 hours a week with PFM.

Q: What is the impact on sales?

Right now, this will be the fourth month in a row where our on-time delivery is over 90% company-wide.

We had a handful of customers who would send a status report every Friday. We’d check all their open orders and we’d have to report back. Those reports may still come in but not as frequently because we’re hitting our delivery dates. And when the reports do come in, 9 out of 10 times it’s been shipped on time.

I’m hoping that our customers will have the confidence to start pushing more work our way knowing that we’re meeting our delivery commitments. I truly believe that PFM has made Saturn Industries a better company.

About Saturn Industries

Saturn Industries has been the leader in the design and fabrication of EDM (Electrical Discharge Machining) electrodes and tooling since 1959. Saturn offers its customers a full range of the finest Isomolded and Extruded graphite products. Saturn is dedicated to the aerospace, automotive, glass, medical, molding and power generation industries. In addition to its manufacturing capabilities, Saturn also offers an extensive range of industrial tooling, accessories, and consulting services.

About Protected Flow Manufacturing™ (PFM)

Protected Flow Manufacturing™ (PFM) is a revolutionary new Manufacturing Execution and Planning System. Aimed specifically at the crucial area of “production execution”, Protected Flow Manufacturing™ continually directs production priorities to minimize wait time and maximize on-time delivery using data fed from a customer’s existing ERP system that customers can act on.

Learn more at www.protectedflowmanufacturing.com.