Plex Manufacturing Cloud enables storage equipment manufacturer to automate shop floor and inform top floor

Client background

The largest U.S. manufacturer of above-ground storage tanks and processing equipment for the oil and natural gas exploration and production industry with more than 40 years of operating experience with two well-known industry brands. They have eight manufacturing plants and two distribution centers across Texas, Oklahoma and South Dakota, where the newest plant services the Bakken, Niobrara and Powder River shale plays.

The business challenge

For the past six years, the client has leveraged the Plex Manufacturing Cloud to enable true end-to-end visibility across its entire organization. They benefited from full control over user and security administration with four manufacturing facilities on a single instance of Plex.

However, their Fiberglass facility was still relying on legacy systems to track manufacturing productivity. As a result, they were losing visibility within the organization making it difficult to integrate people, technologies and machines to provide a complete and connected view of its manufacturing business. Business leaders knew that current software would not provide the client the opportunity to scale as its business needs changed. They chose to partner with Baker Tilly, relying on the firm’s years of cross-industry and Plex experience, to help implement the Plex Manufacturing Cloud at the Fiberglass facility with a timeline of less than two months.

The Baker Tilly approach

Baker Tilly collaborated with the client’s experienced implementation core team to develop a unique project plan, process documentation, test scripts, and PCN configuration that met the needs and timeline of their Fiberglass facility. Additionally, cross schemas were established to alleviate production data integrity issues from the legacy system and increase financial traceability during data migration. With Baker Tilly’s structured implementation methodology and combined 30 years of Plex implementation experience, the client’s key business process areas were correctly sequenced for a successful go-live.

The business impact

The Plex Manufacturing Cloud now enables the client’s Fiberglass facility to automate the plant floor and inform the top floor. The client’s core team and Baker Tilly consultants configured a PCN environment allowing for production control and inventory management. As a result, they can be more competitive, efficient and responsive to its internal and external needs. Key benefits and improvements included:

• Improved financial visibility with a consolidated view of actionable data, across all facilities
• Increased manufacturing and inventory traceability through Plex’s unique serialized inventory design
• Optimized fabrication sequencing through Lean Six Sigma methodology
• Enhanced “fiberglass cutting” operations by leveraging statistical analysis to reduced excessive labor non-value add
• Implemented Fiberglass PCN with shop floor capabilities in under four weeks

For more information on this topic or to learn how Baker Tilly specialists can help, contact our team.