Tharstern Schedules the way for Ratcliff & Roper - 11/02/2005 - Tharstern Limited

11/02/2005 Tharstern Schedules the way for Ratcliff & Roper

It has been almost two years since Ratcliff & Roper installed the TharsternSQL Management Information System and through using the Production Scheduling module has witnessed a major increase in their delivery strike rate.

The Nottinghamshire based printers have a reputation for outstanding customer service and quality print work and are amongst one of the longest established commercial printing companies in the UK, with their roots stretching back to the 1920’s.

Despite the company’s age the nationwide printer has kept ahead of the pace by achieving ISO9000 Quality Assurance and, by embracing state-of-the-art equipment, has established a reputation for outstanding customer service and quality print work. Through using the most up-to-date technology Ratcliff & Roper provide customers with the complete printing service offering Graphic design, sheet fed printing to B2, In-house print finishing as well as stock management and direct mail.

Prior to a software scheduling solution a manual system was in place but due to the fast turnaround of work jobs were out of the door before a manual board could be updated. The first attempt at electronic scheduling failed due to the inability to link to real time events on the shop floor and so didn’t offer much more value than the manual system.

Darren of Ratcliff & Roper explained. “There was no integrity between the systems and it was too time consuming. The information was only as up to date as when you last refreshed the system, which had to be manually done.”

Ratcliff & Roper now have the TharsternSQL Production Scheduling module which neatly integrates into the rest of their MIS suite. The solution is designed to replace the traditional planning board and provides real time information on the utilisation of the plant and equipment, thereby providing users greater control and the ability to create plans and achieve optimum use of their resources.

Darren of Ratcliff & Roper added. “We now have a system that is in real time and is also linked to rest of the Tharstern MIS including our estimating module. It is a user friendly program and is a rich source of information as well as providing a clear illustration of what is happening.”

Tharstern’s Production Scheduling module employs drag and drop technology so jobs can be easily moved around on the virtual schedule board and also uses a colour coded system to represent the operation status of a job. There is also the ability to lock whole jobs, sections or even individual operations which allow the production planner even greater control over job completion times. In addition, jobs that are running late will be automatically flagged and running a capacity analysis will highlight any bottlenecks in the workflow system.

A software based scheduling system can sometimes be seen as inflexible and unable to cope with the changing demands faced by printers. However, the package can only be as good as the initial set-up and does require a degree of effort during implementation e.g. creating the shift patterns, job sequences and other required information but once the data is all in place it will provide measurable results from your investment.

Darren of Ratcliff & Roper agrees. “There is no real negative with the Tharstern program itself and I’d say any issues we experience are mainly related to high volume workloads. I think a common misconception is that once you’ve got the scheduling package in place that it will run itself, but it doesn’t. In a print plant there is a lot of activity and, as with a manual production planning board, it requires a lot of updating so ideally you do need to have someone who can administer and pay attention to the system. In this context a computerised scheduling package is similar as it needs someone to watch over it, but the difference is that it takes a lot of the hard work away and streamlines communication between departments. Again, similar to a manual system it also needs a disciplined approach to encourage people to use the system but we quickly reached a level where we are getting all the information we needed. Overall, the system is very easy to use although it does require a lot of initial work to get the system running to its full potential.”

The main benefit of the Tharstern Production scheduling module is that it works in real time and updates as soon as something changes.

Darren of Ratcliff & Roper explains. “Compared to before, our scheduling board is now continuously up-to-date and it really is adding value with features such as our capacity report which helps us to identify any bottlenecks or even suggest equivalent alternative machines to optimise the use of our equipment.”

Ratcliff & Roper also have the Tharstern Intranet Data Capture module (IDC - Tharstern’s shop floor data capture) which Darren admits is a key factor to their effective production management.
“It integrates with the rest of the system and updates the progress of the job as quickly as it happens, so we can visually see what is happening. Furthermore, it also allows operators to comment on job production or any problems which are then linked to the original estimate and they can be accounted for on any similar quotes in the future. “

Darren concludes. “The whole system makes our operation very fluid, providing us with information that a modern day production room requires. For Ratcliff & Roper it has been an important time saving tool to be equipped with, facilitating us to quickly change direction when required, and giving us measurable positive results.”