DATA DONE RIGHT: TMS OFFERS MANUFACTURERS REDUCED INVENTORY, COSTS

DATA DONE RIGHT

TMS offers manufacturers reduced inventory, costs

Tool management systems (TMS) are changing the data-management game for manufacturers, largely because they’re so useful at reducing costs, improving uptime and increasing productivity.

Paul Hendricks, CEO of Grand Rapids-based Creston Industrial Sales Inc., said TMS checks many boxes for manufacturers. Implementing the systems can also help companies reduce tooling SKUs, inventory, and costs.

Hendricks points to the 30-20-10 TMS goal for businesses. For example, if you have 10,000 different tooling SKUs, a TMS should be able to reduce that number by 30 percent, inventory by 20 percent, and overall costs by 10 percent.

“If you’re managing fewer items, you’re going to be more efficient as an end user,” Hendricks said. “Carrying inventory and managing it can be cumbersome. Implementing 30-20-10 would be a good target for why a company might want to invest in a good TMS system. Tooling management can also help with the interconnectivity of all your systems and the improvement of your design and simulation processes.”

TMS serves as a database for accurate tool information. Hendricks’ Creston Industrial “wholeheartedly” embraces the technology and encourages other businesses to join the datamanagement movement.

“Like any industry, digitization and technology improvements are happening; our industry is no exception,” Hendricks said. “A good tool-management system can really help the end user and the manufacturer become more efficient and increase productivity in their facilities.” Manufacturers’ adoption of TMS comes as part of a larger revolution.

In a survey of executives, management consulting firm McKinsey and Co. found that companies must change their operational models and organizational structures to “reflect the new environment so that organizations continue to reap rewards from their technology investments.”

“At the same time, these management systems can take advantage of new technologies beyond the basic desktop productivity tools available to workers,” the authors at McKinsey wrote in the June 21 report. “While automation software was expensive and out of reach for many organizations a decade ago, it is now affordable and scalable for businesses of all sizes. Digital tools have now reached a level of maturity that is ready for prime time and at-scale deployment.”

Creston Industrial understands this tech sea change and recently partnered with Germanybased CimSource to build-out its engineer and buyer portals.

CimSource North America uses an international tool standard called Standard Open Base (StOB) to ensure tools are all made to specification. That information is fed into a tool management system so tools can be delivered on time. In the last six months, the company has on-boarded three large American toolmakers.

According to Hendricks, Creston Industrial’s updated portals incorporate advanced searching capabilities for users for various tools, allowing more flexibility. “Once they have found the item that they’re looking for, they can easily download the data of the tooling components into their CAM system or their TMS system,” he said. “The adoption rate of a full-blown installed TMS is still growing, but still a majority of our customers are not doing this.”

The slow uptake can be expected with any new technology, Hendricks added.

“It’s quite an endeavor to make the commitment financially and, more importantly, the implementation and buy-in from the entire organization,” he said.

“Carrying inventory and managing it can be cumbersome. Implementing 30-20-10 would be a good target for why a company might want to invest in a good TMS system. Tooling management can also help with the interconnectivity of all your systems and the improvement of your design and simulation processes.”

—Paul Hendricks, CEO of Creston Industrial Sales Inc.

SELLING TMS TO OTHERS

Companies want higher productivity rates while slimming down on material use. Using databases with accurate information can make a huge difference, said David Darling, chief strategy officer for CimSource North America, a global company that provides product databases.

“This industry has bought tools the same way since, essentially, the beginning of time,” Darling said. “When you go to Amazon and you have to find a pair of pants, you might sort by a color or an inseam length, but that’s oftentimes as complex as it’s going to get. Whereas with our tools, there could be 100 to 150 valid parameters, any one of which might be the one that’s going to make that the right tool for you.”

Because a filtering tool system like this didn’t exist, CimSource created search portals for Creston Industrial that would cater to people who need to replenish old tools (a buyer’s portal) to those trying to discover something new for an application (an engineer’s portal).

“It’s taking what CimSource already knows as it relates to data and structure for the engineering of these types of things and marrying it with the e-commerce capabilities,” Darling said. “You can go in and use that high-end and detailed parameter-based search for application-based search features and find the tool that you’re looking for.”

The best way to sell TMS and similar technologies to companies is to show them, Darling added. While companies may have completed tasks the same way for years, most accept the inevitability of change.

“Once you see it, it’s kind of hard to unsee it,” Darling said. “From my perspective, it’s helping these vendors find standard formats, converting what they have, filling in the gaps for what they don’t have, and getting it to the end users when they want it in the format they want it.” n