A Market Leader
An ISO 9001:2000-certified facility, Hi-Life Tools has been manufacturing and supplying tooling to the fastener and precision component industries for more than 40 years.
Hi-Life Tools has five sites in three countries: US, India and Ireland. The Irish facility is located in Shannon, County Clare, since the 1960’s and employs 120 staff. Hi-Life’s product portfolio includes flat thread rolling dies, cylindrical thread rolling dies, planetary thread rolling dies, form roll dies/ form plates and medical punches in a variety of coated; and uncoated materials and shapes.
Hi-Life Tools is a division of the world’s leading supplier of thread rolling and header tooling, the US-based PCC Precision Tool Group (NYSE:PCP) which provides a comprehensive range of products and services to fastener and special formed parts manufacturers in the aerospace, automotive and general industrial market sectors.
In November 2005, Hi-Life Tools facility in Shannon was the first of the group to implement Infor’s ERP SyteLine software, replacing the company’s IBM mainframe-based system. Although the incumbent system was reliable, it lacked integration, contained lots of bespoke code and numerous sub systems, resulting in a system that was not very easy-to-use and required significant training for new users.
Following a successful deployment in the Irish site, Hi-Life Tool implemented Infor ERP SyteLine in its sites located in the US and India, in 2006.
As a member of an international manufacturing operation such as PCC, Hi-Life Tools needed a system that would allow the company to operate locally and internationally. SyteLine was chosen for its ability to provide local control on a separate server and database whilst also enabling Hi-Life Tools to be connected to a global network.
The Benefits
Two years on, Brian O’Brien, Customer Service Manager with Hi-Life Tools, highlights how the implementation of Infor ERP SyteLine in the Shannon facility has radically improved the manufacturing process.
"The system is Windows-based and very easy to understand. This makes the training of new employees in the new system much faster and easier," he explains.
Infor ERP SyteLine also provides Hi-Life Tools with access to a much higher level of information on the manufacturing process, accurately and within a shorter period of time. Hi-Life Tools facility in Shannon is currently processing 17,000 customer orders, easily managed thanks to the SyteLine solution.
"With the new software we can get more accurate information on the status of each job going through production and we can easily check stock," he adds. "We can also build our own reports and get the specific information that we require quickly and more accurately. With our previous system, it took 24 hours to find out some information we can now get instantly."
Rick Traeger, a director within the parent company PCC who managed the group implementation of SyteLine, commented: "Hi Life Tools operates in a complex make-to-order environment and handles thousands of part numbers. Infor ERP SyteLine provides us with far greater visibility of real time information which helps our production scheduling significantly and our ability to promise (ATP) delivery with confidence to our customers. It provides very effective multi site planning and helps to improve our on-time delivery performance".
Aidan Keogh, country manager for Infor, based in Dublin, adds:
"We work with a growing number of successful Irish businesses from stand-alone local manufacturers to international brands. There are a large number of Irish companies who, like Hi-Life Tools, are integral parts of hugely successful global supply chains. Enterprise software like Infor ERP SyteLine plays a significant role in assisting companies to make strategic business decisions in their supply chain processes. It is very satisfying to see how our software solutions are helping customers effectively plan their global manufacturing requirements and ultimately stay competitive on this vast stage."
About Infor
Infor acquires and develops functionally rich software backed by thousands of domain experts and then makes it better through continuous innovation, faster implementation, global enablement, and flexible buying options. In a few short years, Infor has become one of the largest providers of business software in the world. For additional information, visit www.infor.ie
Richard Moore
Infor Public Relations, EMEA
richard.moore@infor.com
+44 121 615 8189
