TimeLine Surface: Optimization through new software generation

The industry software TimeLine Surface has served the Solingen-based surface specialist Willy Remscheid Galvanische Anstalt GmbH for several years as an efficient planning, control and information system for business, production and industry-specific challenges. Now the introduction of a new generation expands the possibilities.

Requirementssuch as incoming goods, external production, production planning and costing, evaluations of coating quality or complex customer specifications from the automotive sector can only be managed economically in a modern industrial company with the support of professional IT," says Thomas Linke, Managing Director of Willy Remscheid Galvanische Anstalt GmbH. The company therefore relies on the ERP/PPS software TimeLine Surface. With the switch to the latest TimeLine generation, work can be further optimized with the integrated and audit-proof document management system, an integrated e-mail client and calendar as well as task and workflow management.

Willy Remscheid - Solutions for surfaces

Founded in 1911, the electroplating company focuses on high-quality surface technology from a single source, from customer consultation to tool production, casting, grinding and polishing to electroplating - the Solingen-based family business relies on its many years of experience in the areas of zinc die casting and aluminum as well as modern, fully automated machinery. In over 100 years of company history, the name Willy Remscheid has established itself as a competent partner and system supplier for the automotive, sanitary and furniture industries.

Tailored to surface technology

Professional IT is essential for modern commercial, production and electroplating requirements. "Market-driven business software is the basis for transparent, integrated and consistent mapping of the workflow and therefore an essential prerequisite for the efficiency and effectiveness of business processes and structures," says Willy Remscheid Managing Director Thomas Linke: TimeLine Surface from the TimeLine Business Solutions Group has therefore been in use at the surface specialist since 2010. The software is tailored to surface and electroplating technology and already covers all administration and production requirements in an integrated system as standard. In addition to the wide range of functions, another advantage of TimeLine is its high level of flexibility and therefore its great adaptability to the company's processes - from ordering and goods receipt to production process requirements, goods issue and invoicing. Willy Remscheid now has around 15,000 master data articles stored in TimeLine.

Transport trolleys each with a goods carrier unit

Joint development

The day-to-day practical requirements in electroplating were the reason for Boris Gebauer, Managing Director of the Solingen-based TimeLine Business Solutions Group, to develop the TimeLine Surface industry solution together with companies from the surface technology sector in order to be able to solve the problems that all users face in roughly the same way from an IT perspective. "The Surface module is based on the ERP/PPS solution TimeLine ERP, which is already in use more than 1,200 times, and supports the operational focal points of the industry, especially in goods receipt, rack and scrap management, external production, document management, production planning and costing, by mapping them precisely to user requirements."

Central module - incoming and outgoing goods

The fully TimeLine-integrated incoming and outgoing goods module, which can contain several items with different articles, delivery dates and quantities and generates the required follow-up documents such as order confirmations or operating orders or the finished delivery bill or the completion notification for the operating order, enables a shortened process flow. Changes in the goods receipt lead to automatic internal correction postings in the linked order items and company orders.

Creation of an error collection card

Via an interface, TimeLine Surface accesses data from the system software such as electroplating-specific parameters from the production process such as product carrier, quantity or article-specific information such as color, design, weight, layer thickness structure, etc.. Possible defect types - differentiated by barcode into raw material or casting defects and processing defects - can be created in a separate data record. The rejects are automatically recorded and the causes stored on a defect collection card in TimeLine. The defect collection card is an important tool for pre- and post-calculation and serves as an indicator of galvanic production quality at Willy Remscheid. Defect proportions can be analyzed promptly by article, order or originator and defect patterns can be examined, thus achieving complete transparency with regard to both the type and frequency of defects.

Rack management

In the area of rack park optimization, manual activities have been replaced by the use of RFID (Radio Frequency Identification). RFID tags, so-called transponders, on which the corresponding rack data is stored, identify the production racks. By linking to the TimeLine article master, the ERP system automatically compares newly created or changed articles so that the transponders are always kept up to date.

The new TimeLine version

The ERP/PPS solution TimeLine has received the "TOP 100 Innovation Award 2017" and has been named "ERP System of the Year 2021". The latest generation has, for example, an info center that provides a quick and transparent overview. Projects, workstation-specific tasks or cross-departmental workflows, scheduling, purchase requisitions, status of work orders, change management - the flow of information for the 100 or so employees at Willy Remscheid GmbH is characterized by heterogeneity and complexity. "It used to take several meetings and a lot of manual effort using Word or Excel to update employees on the current status of projects or articles. Today, the Info-Center integrated in TimeLine enables us to facilitate the flow of information across employees and departments by standardizing and accelerating or automating processes and thus also improving the management's control function," says Managing Director Thomas Linke. In doing so, he sets out the direction and future-oriented design at Willy Remscheid, also with regard to TimeLine, so that innovative solutions can be found and implemented together.

Document management system (DMS) in TimeLine

The new TimeLine generation offers integrated document management in the ERP/PPS system. In addition to linking files with objects in the ERP system, TimeLine DMS also allows documents to be stored on the DMS server. On the user side, clients are available for the Windows File Explorer and for the Outlook and Tobit mail systems. Thomas Linke: "True to the motto 'find instead of search', the automatic keywording and simplified or extended search functions in the new version have also led to a higher hit rate and significant time savings when searching for articles, data or documents."

The Managing Director continues: "By switching to the new version, we have succeeded in further optimizing the added value of our company across departments by increasing data and control transparency and increasing the degree of automation."

FMEA and equipment control

At Willy Remscheid, inventory and equipment as well as all inspection dates and maintenance intervals are stored in the software - TimeLine automatically provides the relevant information to ensure monitoring and compliance with laws, regulations or guidelines regarding environmental protection, occupational safety or accident prevention. With a view to increasing production quality, the Failure Mode and Effects Analysis (FMEA) was also integrated into TimeLine as part of quality management to detect and prevent errors.

Throughput times improved, complaints reduced

Willy Remscheid Managing Director Thomas Linke "The decision made many years ago in favor of TimeLine Surface has also manifested itself in retrospect through the changeover to the new version," concludes Thomas Linke. "TimeLine is an efficient planning, control and information system for our company in particular, but also for surface technology companies in general, and is also flexible enough to grow with a company and its requirements.

Industry and company-specific challenges are implemented by the software in a practical, market-oriented and user-oriented manner, and the cost structures are appropriate and transparent. In addition, the employees of the TimeLine Business Solutions Group are very familiar with the processes in electroplating. This also has an impact on the commercial side: "With TimeLine Surface, we have been able to improve throughput times by around 30% and reduce the number of complaints by around 40%," summarizes Thomas Linke.