Case study Saarschmiede GmbH

Improved by 15% with MES On-Time Delivery

To sustainably increase its competitiveness, Saarschmiede uses the PROXIA MES control room to manufacture its sophisticated forged products. Fine-grained planning has increased on-time delivery by 15% to as much as 95%. Thanks to the high performance in detailed planning, the effects of changes in order processing can now be predicted quickly with a high degree of accuracy.

“We were able to deeply integrate PROXIA into our existing IT infrastructure without having to challenge it.”

Patrick Müller
Head of department of Saarschmiede GmbH

Highlights and benefits at a glance:

Improvement of on-time delivery by 15% points
Successfully support business transformation for improved competitiveness
Day-definite delivery also of long runs
Fast simulation of changes in detailed planning
High system integration with smooth ERP-MES data exchange
Improved forecast planning for sales use

Digital detailed planning for one-offs weighing several tons – PROXIA MES for the Saarschmiede

Industry

Saarschmiede GmbH is one of the world's leading manufacturers of open-die forgings for energy machine construction, aerospace, mechanical engineering and other high-tech industries. In heavy industry, workpieces weighing up to 100 tons and over 30 meters long are produced here - each of them unique. The forging process requires maximum precision, documented quality and smooth processes over months of throughput times.

Problem

Coordinating the complex production processes presented Saarschmiede with major challenges. Long throughput times, many different processing steps and varying inspection processes made reliable detailed planning difficult. Bottlenecks remained undetected for too long, capacities were not optimally utilized and manual planning tools such as Excel reached their limits. The lack of transparency led to unnecessary idle times, deviations from deadlines and a high workload in sales.

Solution

The use of the PROXIA MES control station has introduced end-to-end digital detailed planning that integrates seamlessly into the existing ERP system. The control center offers a dynamic and simulation-capable planning board with which different scenarios can be calculated in seconds. Bottlenecks are identified at an early stage, capacities are distributed efficiently and free time slots are used optimally. The end-to-end transparency not only enables improved planning, but also faster and more informed communication with sales and customers.

Result

Thanks to PROXIA, Saarschmiede's on-time delivery has been increased to up to 95% - the highest value in the company's history. Lead times have been significantly reduced, planning errors minimized and capacity utilization improved. Today, the company works with a digital planning system that flexibly absorbs even short-term changes and enables reliable production control over months. Saarschmiede has thus taken a decisive step towards digital transformation and sustainably strengthened its competitiveness.