About Heinzen Manufacturing International
Heinzen Manufacturing International (HMI) is a full-service engineering and fabrication company specializing in the design, production, and installation of food processing equipment. Heinzen draws on its breadth and depth of experience, from custom-built fruit processing lines to complete heavy construction projects. For over 25 years, Heinzen has been satisfying customers with its commitment to their customers, R&D, and the development process to ensure the equipment built is easy to operate cleanly and efficiently.
Industry
Food Processing Equipment
Location
Gilroy, California
CAD
SOLIDWORKS
Accounting
Sage 100
Business Challenge
Heinzen was looking for an Engineer To Order system which allowed partial Bill of Materials (BOM) releases, and that would grow with them in the future.
Solution
Total ETO has provided Heinzen with a highly configurable solution that meets the unique needs of their Engineer To Order company, and helps them run their business smoothly and seamlessly.
Dynamic Benefits and Results
- Multiple releases to purchasing
- Seamless integration to SolidWorks
- Truly Engineer To Order software
- Ability to track work orders easily
- Highly configurable solution
Business Challenge
As a custom design manufacturer, about 95% of Heinzen’s projects are engineered to order or modification designs. Most projects have a 6-12 week cycle. In the first weeks after the order, engineering builds the Bill of Materials (BOM), partial releasing long delivery parts to purchasing. Engineering then goes on to other jobs, coming back to do a full release of the BOM when the time is right.
Heinzen needed a solution that allowed partial BOM releases in order to keep projects moving. They also needed a system and vendor that understood their business process and who would provide exemplary customer service and work with Heinzen to grow their business.
Solution
Heinzen initially purchased Total ETO as their solution of choice back in 2000. A few years later, while undergoing an expansion, the decision was made to move to a larger ERP solution instead. However, after spending $500,000 on the new system, they realized it was unable to deal with multiple BOM releases and took about 12 hours to release the engineering module to purchasing. The larger system over promised and under delivered. Heinzen quickly returned to Total ETO, updated to the latest version of the software and invested in some custom modules to grow their business.
Dynamic Benefits and Results
Multiple releases to purchasing
Total ETO allows engineers the confidence to create BOMs quickly and release data frequently to purchasing with the integrated document hold and release system. Heinzen can, at any moment track open items within the system. Once engineering releases a BOM, the items hit the procurement screen within seconds and in five to ten minutes the items are purchased and scheduled for delivery. Everything happens in real-time and all departments have access to this information.
Seamless Integration with SOLIDWORKS
The seamless integration of the BOM from SolidWorks into Total ETO ensures Heinzen can link BOMs to specific projects and adjust them as designed change, prior to, during, or even after its release to purchasing and manufacturing.
Truly Engineer To Order software
Total ETO uniquely mirrors the workflow and processes of custom design manufacturers. After purchasing a much larger ERP solution, Rudi Groppe admits that “they pulled the plug realizing that Total ETO was actually the right solution after all”.
Ability to track work orders easily
To run a business smoothly, management needs to know the status of a project at all times. Within Total ETO, managers can see the entire project sequence, even at the part level. There are a number of check-ins at different stages so managers know the status of a project, when it is complete, and at what cost.
Highly configurable solution
Every Engineer To Order company is unique and Total ETO’s specialists recognize that. They worked with Heinzen to configure the solution just right for them, adding new modules such as process scheduling, office-shop, and job processing. The result is a solution perfectly suited for Heinzen and its growing needs.
