Effective integration of IT systems for a manufacturing company

The challenge

Our client, a European manufacturing company, aimed to optimize their warehouse management. They had multiple systems that operated separately without exchanging data, which created a series of problems for their operations, such as:

• The need for manual data entry from one system to another.
• Lack of automation capabilities.
• Interruption to the flow of information.
• Poor transparency of the company's condition and processes.
• An additional cost of maintaining multiple IT tools.

The current systems also lacked a capacity for keeping track of incoming deliveries or a function for the identification of raw materials. This caused discrepancies between the amount of raw materials on-site and in the registry.

The client was looking for a solution that could be integrated with their existing data. To avoid the potential data loss caused by incorrect data connections and system implementation. The client chose VirtusLab for the job as we have expertise in integrating multiple systems for the manufacturing sector.

The solution

VirtusLab implemented our ready-made production management system of ready-made functional modules, such as:

• Manufacturing Execution System (MES) 
• Warehouse Management System (WMS
• Advanced Planning and Scheduling (APS) 

This solution is more time-effective than building a custom tool from scratch. 

VirtusLab focused on integrating existing IT solutions, to minimise tedious manual data transferring within those systems and ensure the highest possible data consistency. Our engineers also addressed the following tasks:

• Establishing a connector. We created it as a means to exchange data between new and existing IT systems. Our engineers had to first understand what kind of data and workflows the client needs and why they need them.
• Integrating our production management system. It allows for preserving the existing systems and data without disrupting the client’s business.

The results

Integrating our custom production management tool with the existing systems allowed the client to use resources from their internal software, and simultaneously take advantage of new functionalities:

• An additional layer of data that allows the client to accurately monitor the number of raw materials in production. This helps, e.g. when considering complaints or stocktaking of the warehouse.
• Increased data consistency between systems and minimized data gaps.
• Effective data reuse, enhanced data analysis, and faster reporting.
• Better informed decisions thanks to data exchange between systems.

Tech-stack

Framework: Play Framework

Programming language: Scala 

Database: PostgreSQL