Download PDF
CUSTOMER SUCCESS STORY - WOW PROJECT JobBOSS Empowers: Kemco Manufacturing
Technology Category
- Analytics & Modeling - Process Analytics
- Application Infrastructure & Middleware - Data Exchange & Integration
Applicable Industries
- Aerospace
Applicable Functions
- Discrete Manufacturing
- Procurement
Use Cases
- Manufacturing System Automation
- Supply Chain Visibility
Services
- Software Design & Engineering Services
- System Integration
The Challenge
Kemco Manufacturing, a St. Louis-based company that produces aerospace parts for the military, embarked on a diversification project in 2004 to become a global contract manufacturer for aerospace and other manufacturers. In 2003, the majority of Kemco revenue came from Department of Defense work. However, the pendulum of the aerospace industry was moving to commercial. Seeing this as an opportunity rather than an obstacle, Kemco set out to re-brand their image in order to diversify their services and customers, and used technology to increase their competitiveness. A key factor in Kemco’s success was the implementation of JobBOSS, business management software for contract manufacturers, coupled with Amplify Technologies Partner Synchronization Services (APSS), an integrated supply chain analytics tool that integrates directly to JobBOSS.
About The Customer
Kemco Manufacturing is a St. Louis-based company that produces aerospace parts for the military. The company embarked on a diversification project in 2004 to become a global contract manufacturer for aerospace and other manufacturers. By achieving these goals, Kemco’s core competencies have grown to include machining, fabrication, assembly, welding, engineering services and program management, repositioning themselves to compete globally and attract new defense contractors and other commercial customers. In 2003, the majority of Kemco revenue came from Department of Defense work. However, the pendulum of the aerospace industry was moving to commercial. Seeing this as an opportunity rather than an obstacle, Kemco set out to re-brand their image in order to diversify their services and customers, and used technology to increase their competitiveness.
The Solution
Kemco ensured their future by transforming from a local Boeing-preferred supplier into a global, award-winning, diversified systems integrator providing manufacturing and engineering services, outsourcing solutions to companies worldwide. A key factor in Kemco’s success was the implementation of JobBOSS, business management software for contract manufacturers, coupled with Amplify Technologies Partner Synchronization Services (APSS), an integrated supply chain analytics tool that integrates directly to JobBOSS. JobBOSS vaulted Kemco into the world of lean manufacturing, providing discipline, speed, efficiency, and visibility into all aspects of the production process. With management software in place, the next step for Kemco was optimizing their procurement process and customer interactions. Kemco chose APSS from Amplify Technologies, a Web-based system that synched data directly from JobBOSS, to optimize its order status and supplier alignment process.
Operational Impact
Quantitative Benefit
Related Case Studies.
Case Study
Airbus Soars with Wearable Technology
Building an Airbus aircraft involves complex manufacturing processes consisting of thousands of moving parts. Speed and accuracy are critical to business and competitive advantage. Improvements in both would have high impact on Airbus’ bottom line. Airbus wanted to help operators reduce the complexity of assembling cabin seats and decrease the time required to complete this task.
Case Study
Aircraft Predictive Maintenance and Workflow Optimization
First, aircraft manufacturer have trouble monitoring the health of aircraft systems with health prognostics and deliver predictive maintenance insights. Second, aircraft manufacturer wants a solution that can provide an in-context advisory and align job assignments to match technician experience and expertise.
Case Study
Aerospace & Defense Case Study Airbus
For the development of its new wide-body aircraft, Airbus needed to ensure quality and consistency across all internal and external stakeholders. Airbus had many challenges including a very aggressive development schedule and the need to ramp up production quickly to satisfy their delivery commitments. The lack of communication extended design time and introduced errors that drove up costs.
Case Study
Developing Smart Tools for the Airbus Factory
Manufacturing and assembly of aircraft, which involves tens of thousands of steps that must be followed by the operators, and a single mistake in the process could cost hundreds of thousands of dollars to fix, makes the room for error very small.
Case Study
Accelerate Production for Spirit AeroSystems
The manufacture and assembly of massive fuselage assemblies and other large structures generates a river of data. In fact, the bill of materials for a single fuselage alone can be millions of rows of data. In-house production processes and testing, as well as other manufacturers and customers created data flows that overwhelmed previous processes and information systems. Spirit’s customer base had grown substantially since their 2005 divestiture from Boeing, resulting in a $41 billion backlog of orders to fill. To address this backlog, meet increased customer demands and minimize additional capital investment, the company needed a way to improve throughput in the existing operational footprint. Spirit had a requirement from customers to increase fuselage production by 30%. To accomplish this goal, Spirit needed real-time information on its value chain and workflow. However, the two terabytes of data being pulled from their SAP ECC was unmanageable and overloaded their business warehouse. It had become time-consuming and difficult to pull aggregate data, disaggregate it for the needed information and then reassemble to create a report. During the 6-8 hours it took to build a report, another work shift (they run three per day) would have already taken place, thus the report content was out-of-date before it was ever delivered. As a result, supervisors often had to rely on manual efforts to provide charts, reports and analysis.
