Orchestrate planning and scheduling software at Steelite International

Although to some it would appear that the potteries is yet another industry sector that has been all but lost to overseas production, Steelite is one company that is not only thriving, but is also successfully developing its Stoke-on-Trent based production premises to cope with increasing global demand.

Upon recognising that in order to meet growth, better utilisation of existing facilities is required, the firm's latest action has been to replace it’s complicated, traditional spreadsheet based production planning, and invest in the Orchestrate planning and scheduling software system from Production Modelling.

It is fairly obvious that most UK manufacturers of ceramic tableware are facing a ferociously competitive business climate. All over the world, retail sales of china and earthenware is pretty much static, and the UK market has experienced a major decline over the last few years. The UK has previously enjoyed a far more favourable trade balance in china and earthenware but this has been waning steadily since 1998, and this decline is now being compounded as more of the remaining major UK sellers outsource their production overseas in an attempt to cut costs.

However, one section of the worldwide tableware market sector remains resilient, the hospitality sector. One UK company in a strong position in this sector is Steelite International. This company is an exclusive production and supply business, of tabletop products to the hospitality industry, and via a consistent programme of product innovation, together with exceptional product quality, the company is not only able to continually set high standards for strength and style, but has also managed to turn this into respectable sales growth.

This growing success has also delivered its share of challenges. In particular, this level of success has put extreme pressure on the company’s Stoke on Trent manufacturing facility to meet these demands. Yet, rather than simply aiming to outsource production, the company has addressed its manufacturing shortcomings and is now working towards eliminating any recognised manufacturing inefficiencies, and raise its performance.

One major area Steelite International is enjoying great success in tackling, is production planning and control. Up until just a few years ago, this was considered to be something of a black art. In fact, the manual system used at that time was so ineffective that it was accepted that any plans created were not realistically achievable; 'people just rolled their sleeves up and did the best they could.'

However, with a brand new management team who acknowledged that any future growth could be stalled by the lack of ability to plan products effectively through production, Steelite International has managed to rapidly advance in overcoming this problem. Read more…..