Orizon simplifies plant floor and inventory operations

Headquarters
Kansas City, MO

Industry
Aerospace & Defense

Employees
570

Infor product
Infor SyteLine®
Infor Factory Track®

Website
orizonaero.com

Number of users
Infor® SyteLine: 250 users
Infor Factory Track: 76 time clocks, 23 handheld/mobility, and 60 supervisor licenses

CASE STUDY

Orizon manufactures, processes, and supplies large complex, monolithic metal, structural components, and major sub-assemblies for leading airframe manufacturers in commercial aviation, defense, space and business/ general aviation industries. The company invested more than $220 million in property, plants, equipment, and systems and processes with a vision of building something unique. Orizon’s definition of “unique” includes assembling the best talent, acquiring the most sophisticated CNC machine technology, innovative processes, and standardized systems to include on multi-site ERP.

Orizon has experienced rapid growth year after year since founding in 2015. As a company dedicated to innovation, it needed to invest in scalable technology that could grow with the business, and most importantly, provide the efficiency needed to better serve its customers. Consequently, very early on Orizon selected Infor SyteLine and Infor Factory Track to optimize and automate its processes, increase efficiency, and improve the quality of its products. Within one year, Orizon centralized five of its facilities under one robust, integrated system.

“One of the deciding factors in choosing SyteLine and Factory Track was the scalability of the products. We were confident that the system would support our business as we continue to grow,” said Justin Liles, Senior ERP Manager at Orizon.

One of the deciding factors in choosing SyteLine and Factory Track was the scalability of the products. We were confident that the system would support our business as we continue to grow.”

JUSTIN LILES

Senior ERP Project Manager, Orizon

Empower warehouse efficiency with accuracy

Before implementing this new system, one of the greatest challenges Orizon faced was maintaining accurate inventory uniquely growing the business at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 50%. “We had what I would call an inventory problem,” said Liles, “Our inventory numbers were frequently inaccurate, which often resulted in purchasing materials that we didn’t need. Factory Track mobility helped turn that corner for us.” Orizon transitioned from a manual, human error-prone process to an automated, accurate, and mobile one using Factory Track, which increased inventory accuracy from 80% to 98%.

But the improvements didn’t end there. Having accurate inventory had positive impacts across Orizon’s shop floor. Not only did the mobile capabilities improve employee efficiency by 30%, but fewer adjustments were needed, and excess inventory was reduced, which ultimately saved Orizon money. Now that the inventory is accurate, so are the schedules coming out of SyteLine, which has improved on-time delivery from 85% to 98%. “These improvements have made a huge impact on our business,” said Liles, “Our employees have confidence in the information in the system, and our customers are happier because our on-time delivery and overall customer service has improved.”

Intelligent planning and scheduling

In the competitive aerospace and defense industry, accurately planning and scheduling jobs is crucial for success, which is why Orizon finds the flexibility of SyteLine’s Advanced Planning and Scheduling (APS) module so essential. “You know, I’ve dealt with many ERP systems in the past, and the fact that APS will display long lead times based off plan markers and doesn’t require you to cut and release a job if you’re not going to be working on it for months is a huge advantage,” said Liles. APS allows Orizon to cut and release a job when it makes sense for them, so its teams aren’t bogged down with resources and capacity that they aren’t going to use. “It’s a really big win for our organization because it allows us to leave jobs untouched until we actually need the materials. We typically try to cut jobs no earlier than a week before, that way we get the resources when we need them and can put them directly on the shop floor,” said Liles.

Business challenges

Inventory and tool difficulties held the company from reaching its full potential in a competitive market

Inaccurate inventory
Manual processes negatively impacted productivity
Inability to predict tool failure leads to costly scrapped projects
Inconsistent ability to deliver products on time

We had what I would call an inventory problem. Our inventory numbers were frequently inaccurate, which often resulted in purchasing materials that we didn’t need. Factory Track mobility helped turn that corner for us.”

JUSTIN LILES

Senior ERP Project Manager, Orizon

Improving quality while reducing costs

Prior to implementing Infor solutions, Orizon’s quality management process was manual and inefficient, and required Monthly Recurring Revenue (MRR) tags, measurements, and lead approvals to be handwritten and manually uploaded to the system. Now, Orizon creates MRR tags from the shop floor through Factory Track, and workers use Bluetooth devices to create quality control test records to track quality measurements in SyteLine. “We can now pass the tool name and measurement wirelessly. If the light displays green, we know that the measurement has passed. If the light displays red, we know the measurement is out of spec and needs to be retested.

If the second measurement fails, the system will automatically send an email to the quality lead to validate what needs to be done with that part. The process is seamless and has greatly improved our quality management process,” said Liles.

These Infor solutions equip Orizon with the information it needs to prevent the costly consequences that come with tool failure. Before, there were no preventative measures in place, and Orizon would have to scrap costly projects because it wouldn’t know a tool needed to be fixed until it broke. “Our titanium parts are expensive to replace, and the lead time to get a new one is incredibly long. We simply can’t afford to not have preventive measures in place.” The Infor solutions provide the information Orizon needs to be proactive about fixing tools.

The system notifies workers when a feature is starting to go out so they can proactively look at the tool and understand why that tolerance is going out. “Factory Track tells us when a part has several jobs trending close to the scrap level or out of spec, and we can go to that machine and validate the issue before it becomes a scrap part. Over the course of a year, this can save us millions of dollars,” said Liles.

Looking ahead

Orizon has seen significant improvements from the technology investments it has made so far. The company plans to continue that momentum with the implementation of Infor PLM Discrete.

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Business results

Two Infor solutions made it easier for Orizon to deliver impeccable customer service

98% inventory accuracy
30% increase in employee efficiency
100% job costing accuracy

Factory Track tells us when a part has several jobs trending close to the scrap level or out of spec, and we can go to that machine and validate the issue before it becomes a scrap part. Over the course of a year, this saves us millions of dollars.”

JUSTIN LILES

Senior ERP Project Manager, Orizon