Psl Datatrack Production Control Is The Heartbeat Of Dp Engineering's Expansion

DP Engineering, now a very long standing PSL Datatrack user, began to expand its engineering business significantly back in 2003. They soon realised that their existing procedures would not be capable of supporting the planned expansion. After assessing options for production control software, it became clear that only a few suppliers catered for a small subcontract precision engineering company with significant growth ambitions. It was vital for DP Engineering that its expansion should be supported by robust software that offered the functionality and adaptability to meet the company's evolving needs. PSL Datatrack fitted the bill exactly and has continued to be “the heartbeat of the business” according to DP Engineering's Managing Director, Richard Trevail.

PSL Datatrack's modular approach has enabled the Redruth based company to focus their effort effectively, only purchasing additional modules as and when a business need has arisen. “This is obviously a cost effective approach for smaller businesses as the software is scalable, PSL's business with us has grown hand in hand with our own business growth.” says Richard.

DP Engineering's customers include a variety of blue chip companies from many industries with the aerospace, oil & gas sectors making up the biggest proportion of the company’s business. The company has AS9100/ISO:9001 Quality Management accreditation and has attained the Aerospace and Defence SC21 Bronze Award.  DP Engineering also helps its customers realise their own engineering ideas and achieve their production objectives. High levels of engineering support are offered through five engineers using off-line programming and simulation with Mastercam, Delcam and Vericut software.

Batch volumes vary from 5 to 500,000 pieces per annum, manufactured on state of the art machining centres and CNC lathes. Many products are safety critical parts for which traceability and visibility of the production process is absolutely vital, PSL Datatrack provides this level of control. In addition the company also holds around 300 different components on Kanban which are controlled by PSL Datatrack with call off requirements, scheduling, shop floor monitoring and analysis.

PSL Datatrack modules in use today that support DP Engineering's day to day activities include quotations, sales/purchase order processing, process layouts, stock control, scheduling, shop floor data collection, non-conformance, gauge management and traceability. “It copes very well with our production volumes and enables us to achieve the quick response to requests for quotations that we have set ourselves. These are typically provided within 24-48 hrs.” says Richard. Most importantly for DP Engineering, all the PSL Datatrack modules are integrated and work together to form a robust process for its successful precision engineering business. “PSL Datatrack is the glue that sticks it all together.” says Richard.

DP Engineering utilise PSL Datatrack variance reporting to highlight jobs that are not in line with their original estimates. When a manufacturing variance has been highlighted, the Factory Wiz software then provides more in depth analysis to see exactly what happened in production. The company are then able to employ the lean manufacturing tools that all the workforce are trained in, so that they can look at ways of improving processes and eliminating waste.

Richard acknowledges that the PSL Datatrack team understand the company's requirements, respond well to “wish-list” requests and provide customisation to the system to satisfy their specific needs. “PSL Datatrack is a very customer focused supplier and always help us to look at our own operation to improve what we do for our customers. We have close control and management of what is now a much larger business. We wouldn’t be where we are without PSL Datatrack, support from experts who understand what we are trying to achieve.” concludes Richard.