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Powerway® Case Study Birkby’s Plastics
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Powerway’s entire solution suite brought to bear at |
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Birkby’s Plastics specialises in the design, manufacture and
assembly of plastic components for automotive and specialist industries
worldwide using state-of-the-art technology. By offering cost-effective
technical solutions with best practice quality systems, Birkby’s is well
placed to take on the toughest competition and ensure complete customer
satisfaction, and is set to break the mould, taking the plastics industry
into a high tech future.
The decision to use software to help automate their Quality
Management System (QMS) came through Birkby’s being faced with a number of
different quality issues. Poor
visibility had led to quality objectives and targets not being met, and a lack
of understanding about the current business practice meant that existing
Quality procedures had inconsistent content, and were therefore no longer
valid. Their manual Non-conformance process meant that a large number of
Corrective Actions were outstanding, and their internal audits lacked
credibility. Poor scheduling of
Audits, a lack of process maps and poor communication between the different
Business Units only served to complicate the issues further. Birkby’s first purchased their Powerway Suite 2000 solution at
the end of 2001. Since then, a
programme of implementation has been running involving an extensive project
team. Whilst some companies take the
decision to implement a portion of what is available in Powerway Suite 2000,
Birkby’s took the approach of implementing as much as possible to gain
maximum benefit.
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“The quality issues we faced affected all elements of the
business,” says Steve Harrison, “from the customer enquiry process through to
despatch, as well as the supporting services and systems. The effects were noticed by Birkby’s in
terms of quality, delivery and, significantly, cost.” Birkby’s therefore began looking at software solutions that would
help them overcome these quality issues, and drive the organisation
forward. With the QS9000 requirement including
Advanced Product Quality Planning (APQP), they therefore looked at solutions
that would help them not just with document control and quality management,
but also to help create and control the processes and documents required for
APQP. A Quality Engineer at Birkby’s
had some knowledge of Powerway’s Suite 2000 solution from a previous
employer, and so Harrison began investigating the modules available,
comparing them to other solutions, including Proquis. The ability to index documents, and then bring these documents
back in customised binders, coupled with the document routing and approval
functionality were features of the Powerway Document Control solution that
stood out to Birkby’s. With QS9000
being a customer requirement from the Premier Automotive Group, the ability
to hold multiple documents within one project file, and thereby avoiding
having many Production Part Approval Process (PPAP) documents being saved in
multiple directories of a variety of users within Birkby’s was another, highly
attractive feature: “We chose Powerway mainly due to the Quality Planner
functionality. Nothing came close in
terms of the APQP and PPAP functionality provided by the Quality Planner
module.” Powerway has also increased the visibility of audits and the
resulting corrective and preventative actions, and eased the access of
documentation during the internal and external audit process. With manual processes internal audits would
take Birkby’s around 1.5 man days, but On the APQP side, Powerway has also helped Birkby’s employees with
the creation and control of documentation for PPAP submission. With the workforce’s view to, and
perception of QS9000 having changed considerably over the last 6 months,
their understanding of the implications to their processes and controls have
been heightened. “With a fairly good understanding of the benefits of a robust
QMS,” says |
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With input from Powerway’s Customer Program Management ( With a nominated champion from the senior management team taking
charge of the project and managing the implementation from start to finish,
Birkby’s were able to build on the initial implementation plan provided by
Powerway. In-house training facilities
were create to ensure that large numbers of personnel could be trained effectively
in a classroom style, and a unique training program was developed using
extensive and tailored training materials to suite the needs of Birkby’s and
their employees. As things stand today, Birkby’s have around 60 employees set up
with access to a variety of Powerway modules.
The next stage of their roll-out is scheduled to increase this number
to over 60% of their employees in the first quarter of 2005. With Powerway in place at Birkby’s, the quality issues that Currently, Birkby’s have the full Environmental Management
System, and 90% of the QMS documentation on Powerway. They are now starting to put their People
Management System and Health and Safety Management System on Powerway as
well, with the intent being to combine all of these into a fully integrated
Business Management System. They are also looking to use Powerway’s ‘binders’ to manage other
areas of their business. One example
of this is to use the binders as part of the induction process where a new
starter selects their job role and is presented with the full set of
procedures, instructions and documents required for their job role. Powerway is now helping Birkby’s plastics perform a complete
system rewrite to improve their business, and through the increased
visibility this provides. Birkby’s are
aiming for ISO/TS 16949 certification by the end of 2005, and improve their
customer relationships through the ability to hit the quality, cost and
delivery performance that is expected of them. “The fresh approach, with the system rewrite,” says Birkby’s Plastics is a leading specialist
in the design, manufacture and assembly of plastic components for automotive
and specialist industries. Based in
Liversedge, |
“The use of Quality Planner reduces the PSW considerably. It allows engineers to concentrate on the
document content as apposed to its format.
“Additionally, it reduces the time taken to generate a PPAP
document set considerably, particularly if one uses a previous project file
on which to base the new project. I
would guess the time taken is reduced to up to 80%.” The APQP process at Birkby’s is under constant review due to the
wide customer base. All engineers are
involved in the process are utilities Powerway to implement the process, with
best practices and lessons learned being communicated throughout the supply
chain. Birkby’s have also generated a number of generic, ‘base’
documents which are copied and individually tailored to suit the
product. In this way, the documents
reflect ‘real life’, enabling the real issues to be focused upon. Powerway Powerway SPC is one of the modules that make up Powerway Suite 2000.
From design through production, Powerway Suite 2000 automates paper intensive
engineering, quality and manufacturing processes, helping you reduce costs,
improve quality and speed time to market. Powerway software is designed to work together to provide complete
paperless document and data control, advanced quality planning, integrated
quality management, and real-time factory floor data collection for optimum business
process performance. Using Powerway supports its industry-leading software solutions with a full
range of professional services including training consulting, deployment and
integration. For more details about how Powerway software and professional
services can help your organisation streamline and control business standards
and regulatory compliance programs. Visit our website at www.powerwayinc.com, email us at enquiries@syncronology.co.uk,
or call +44 (0) 1344 742809. |
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Syncronology’s solutions drive
business performance by connecting people
to processes through the simultaneous application of technology,
integration and learning
Syncronology Limited: Venture House, |
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