CIMdata PLM Industry Summary Online Archive
25 March 2008
Implementation Investments
Šlechta Polishes up its Performance with MyWorkPLAN
Since 1997, Šlechta s.r.o, based in Políkno in the Czech Republic, started as a toolmaker, but changed direction and began specialising in the hand polishing of aluminium and steel mold inserts in 2000. Now, the company has 35 employees and a turnover of 1€ million, carrying out mirror finish and technical quality surface polishing. Customers include Robert BOSCH, Visteon, Seaquist Closures and Automotive Lighting, and cover a variety of industries including packaging, consumer goods and automotive.
Martin Lepic, Controlling Manager, said, “Šlechta is one of the biggest companies in its field in Central Europe, and is well known for its quality. Our objectives are to maintain and improve our quality standards and provide an even better service to our customers.” The company is already ISO 9001:2001 accredited, so it appreciated the need for investment in its infrastructure to achieve the improvements it was looking for.
The key company employees evaluated several job management systems before selecting MyWorkPLAN from Sescoi, based on its functionality and the positive testimonials from existing customers. MyWorkPLAN uses an open MySQL database, which enables it to exchange data and interface with external software packages such as CAD systems, Microsoft® Office products, and accounting packages. It communicates with existing systems and makes use of a company’s previous investment in software, and the skills and experience of its staff..
Modules within MyWorkPLAN help companies to generate more accurate quotations based on historical information and the ability to analyse customer’s drawings, control purchasing costs, and keep track of stock levels. Of particular interest to Šlechta is the software’s capability for recording time and attendance and the time allocated to each job. Martin Lepic said, “Monitoring the hours spent on each job is far quicker now, as is recording the working hours and attendance record for each operator. We also have better control of our production schedule.” Shop floor terminals record manufacturing times by logging operators against each job, giving managers information about each task as it happens. Having this level of data allows the company to advise its customers of the exact status of each job and provides a warning if a task is overrunning its allotted time. MyWorkPLAN also makes it easy for the company to create reports for its key performance indicators. Martin Lepic added, “From the information we collect we are able to create Microsoft® Excel reports for our payroll and accounts. Clocking in and out is also far simpler with MyWorkPLAN. Hours worked for all employees, as well as monthly reporting spreadsheets, can be completed with one mouse click.” Two Microsoft® Excel spreadsheets with a macro connection to the MyWorkPLAN database via ODBC provide this functionality. He continued, “We had to define a series of rules in MyWorkPLAN and now the system covers all our needs, such as summarizing overtime hours and night time hours for each employee over a six month cycle.”
Šlechta has found that the links to Microsoft Excel and the automated report creation are valuable tools, saving it from re-entering data and the possibility of transposition errors. Its next target is to make use of the documents which can be automatically generated by MyWorkPLAN, and to implement the scheduling module. However, the software is already proving to be very valuable. Martin Lepic concluded, “Preparing our monthly payroll used to take several days, now it can be completed in a few minutes. MyWorkPLAN is highly important to Šlechta. Within a short time we expect it to become indispensable.”
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