Decreasing system lead time by 58 percent while increasing on-time deliveries by 40 percent

Continuing to innovate in the agribusiness industry

Fockink is a leading provider of technological solutions for agribusiness, focusing on artificial irrigation systems and integrated electrical systems for grain processing, in addition to generating electricity. Headquartered in Panambi, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil and with two business units in Sorriso, Mato Grosso and Luiz Eduardo Magalhães, Bahia, the company employs a workforce of 700 employees. Besides its manufacturing units, Fockink also has a network of commercial representatives and external assembly teams spread throughout Brazil, ensuring the quality and efficiency of its service delivery.

Fockink’s main products include innovative irrigation systems, photovoltaic energy generation, digital thermometry and grain aeration, biogas, electric charging stations, substations, electrical panels, automation, electromechanical installations and empty metal boxes. The company has developed each of these solutions to meet specific market needs, promoting efficiency and sustainability. With a strong commitment to innovation and quality, Fockink positions itself as a strategic partner for its clients, driving the development of agribusiness and contributing to a more sustainable future.

To keep up with this commitment, Fockink teamed up with Lean Scheduling Brazil (LSB), a Siemens Digital Industries Software expert partner, and leveraged Opcenter™ software to solve various challenges across its enterprise. Opcenter is part of the Siemens Xcelerator business platform of software, hardware and services.

Solving production, material availability and process challenges

Fockink faced several challenges in its production chain, including materials management and synchronization between production operations. Additionally, the company struggled with a significant lack of standardization in enterprise resource planning (ERP) data and production planning and control (PPC) processes. At times, this limitation compromised communication between processes, causing communication issues with support areas, especially logistics and commercial, which are the communication channels within the market.

In the electronics division, the biggest challenge was material availability. The manufactured products heavily relied on components and materials from dozens of suppliers located in various supply chain parts. This built up production orders that were started and stopped shortly after due to material shortages. The scenario caused work-in-process (WIP) to increase and eventually led to improper use of materials in incomplete orders.

In the mechanical products division, the most significant challenge was managing the bottleneck process and synchronizing auxiliary materials to supply the main production flow of tubes. In this steel forming process, the company has a predetermined production pace, setups, date criteria and synchronization it must follow for making the materials available that feed the line, which are sometimes dynamic bottlenecks.

Implementing Opcenter APS

To address these challenges, Fockink chose to adopt advanced PPC tools. The solution involved implementing two Opcenter Advanced Planning and Scheduling (APS) software models – one for each factory – with interlinked supplies between them.

This provided an early view of which orders to prioritize and their restrictions in the supply chain, as well as managing each material’s delivery dates automatically. With this solution, internal and external service levels better aligned with the company’s strategic goals.

In the electronics division, using this Siemens solution allowed Fockink to prioritize and synchronize materials, orchestrating purchases and internal distributions with the support of Opcenter reports, automatic material requisitions in the ERP and management according to the global scheduling priority. Additionally, it was possible to reduce WIP and use materials more efficiently, avoiding delays and waste.

Alternatively, in the irrigation division, the solution focused on managing the bottleneck process and synchronizing accessory materials to supply the tube production flow. This implementation enabled pull scheduling driven by the bottleneck process, creating links and prioritizing subsequent and previous processes. Thanks to these prioritizations, all related operations and orders follow the necessary sequence to supply the continuous welding flow of the tube line. A key aspect of this solution is the ability to manage critical chain resources (CCRs), which are sometimes a significant issue for ensuring the production flow’s supply. Thus, in addition to the main flow, the accessory welding cells now follow an ideal sequence aligned with consumption for tube production.

Another benefit of the solution was the demand fulfillment report, which made it possible to detail the impact of each internal or external supply on production orders (and each sales order) in both factories, showing the real-world service level of the scheduling according to supplies. By correlating the volume of products and revenue that each scheduling scenario can provide, it is possible to classify and decide on releasable/invoiceable orders, considering customer and company needs.

This early visibility of restrictions and their impacts bring elements for PPC and procurement to improve material synchronization, maximizing scheduling results and improving overall communication between operations and logistics/commercial departments.

Improving production and processes

By implementing APS solutions and initially focusing on the mechanical products division, Fockink significantly improved its production chain. It reduced system lead time, increased on-time deliveries and optimized PPC performance.

Focusing initially on the irrigation business division, reducing system lead time was significant, reaching 58 percent. This progress resulted from several programming initiatives, particularly those related to the pull scheduling method by the bottleneck processes and the synchronization of auxiliary production lines. These changes made the production system more agile and transparent, including the dynamic production bottlenecks.

By focusing efforts on the production flow of irrigation pivots, Fockink increased on-time deliveries for its main product by 40 percent. This significant gain is directly related to previous improvements in reducing and informing production lead time, as well as to the increased maturity and intelligence in the allocation and distribution processes. The new scheduling tools allowed the company to integrate information about orders, materials, restrictions and productivity, enabling these elements to work in harmony. This maximized service and information levels and increased overall production chain efficiency.

A major gain for PPC was significantly reducing the effort for scheduling the irrigation pivot flow, which decreased by an average of 56 percent. Previously, PPC struggled to encompass all production processes, and the lack of tools prevented effective synchronization. This meant factory leadership had to make minor decisions daily, often without a holistic view, resulting in low service levels. By substantially reducing the time necessary for creating a feasible schedule, using Opcenter APS helped PPC eliminate 25 overtime hours per month, allowing analysts to work more strategically and efficiently, increasing their impact on the production system.

“Using Siemens solutions also had nonmeasurable results and gains obtained by cleansing master data,” says Fábio Ghidini, chief information officer (CIO) at Fockink. “With Opcenter APS, we gained assertiveness and accuracy in registering routings, operations, work centers, purchase orders and data update flows.”

Finally, the company gained greater visibility and control over material synchronization in its processes, improving WIP management, service between production operations and the efficient use of these materials. This provided greater transparency over the entire production chain. Additionally, PPC could manage assertively and plan production more effectively in the mechanical products division, via early visibility into production bottlenecks and delivery delays.