"Monarch Data Pump is delivering Rimex custom data, without programming, that helps drive efficient manufacturing activity."

Rimex Supply Ltd., headquartered in British Columbia, Canada, is an international custom manufacturer of wheels and rims for heavy equipment, including haul trucks and loaders; some of which require tires that are more than six feet tall. Darren Kennedy, IT Administrator for Rimex, recently explained to Datawatch how Rimex uses Monarch Data Pump Server to automatically transform the company's ERP reports into data that helps drive its manufacturing activity.

"We are running the SyteLine ERP system offered by MAPICS (formerly FrontStep)," says Darren. "SyteLine includes a wide variety of standard reports. Some reports are very highly detailed, with as many as three different data fields appearing in the same report column, and are very difficult to read. Other reports are much less detailed, but as a result, may not have all of the data we need. Monarch Data Pump really shines as an easy yet powerful solution to easily mine data from our reports and produce the specific data we need, without any need for complex programming. Monarch Data Pump lets us easily derive business value from our ERP reports."

After reading about another SyteLine user's success in mining data from SyteLine reports using Monarch, Darren joined the ever-growing ranks of Monarch users and also attended Monarch training offered by Datawatch's in-house training team. "The quality and content of Datawatch's training was excellent," Darren says. "It was clear that Monarch technology could accomplish much of our data access and analysis needs." Darren then added Monarch Data Pump Server for automated Monarch data processing and data delivery.

One of the first, and most important, data projects in which Rimex utilized Monarch Data Pump, called for combining three different manufacturing reports into one combined dataset, which would help efficiently drive manufacturing floor production for the day.

"We have over 5,000 possible items we can manufacture," explains Lindsey Ireland, Rimex Manufacturing. "After much effort, we established reliable estimated 'set up times,' also known as 'run times,' for most of our items; in other words, how long it should take us to make that item. This helps us plan what work our manufacturing floor will be able to accomplish for the day and will also aid in establishing Activity Based Costing (ABC) in the future."

"We needed to combine these 'set up times' per item with our 'Routers' (also known as Bill of Materials [BOM]), which defines all of the parts for an item, as well as our Order Action Report, which tells us on a daily basis what orders need to be filled for the day," says Leanne Magey, also in Rimex Manufacturing. "Between these three reports - the Set Up Times report, Bill of Materials report, and Order Action Report, we have all of the data we need to determine what jobs we can and should be able to complete for the day."

"That's where Monarch Data Pump came in," adds Darren. "After running our SyteLine MRP module overnight, we run each of these three reports to print files, directing the output into a common file folder on our network. Monarch Data Pump then automatically 'mines' the data from each report, performs a 'lookup' of data within one report with the next report, using the item number as the 'common key' of data.

"Lindsey and Leanne then receive this combined single table of data, exported as an Excel file. They use this combined, customized data to determine what jobs will be produced for the day and enter those jobs into the SyteLine system." Monarch Data Pump also serves Rimex as a very simple way to bridge multiple databases. "Our SyteLine ERP system is run on a multi-site basis to reflect two different Rimex entities: 'Rimex Wheel' and 'Rimex Supply,'" explains Darren. "Monarch Data Pump combines reports produced for both of these entities, quickly and easily. Otherwise, it would be extremely difficult to bridge directly between our two databases.

"We use Monarch Data Pump for a wide variety of data acquisition and delivery tasks, including a multi-site sales report each morning for the sales department, and a complete inventory valuation several times a year, for our accounting department. But we are especially proud of our manufacturing project, combining three separate reports into one." "In addition to other successful projects," Darren says, "Monarch Data Pump is delivering Rimex custom data, without programming, that helps drive efficient manufacturing activity."

Rimex Drives its ERP Data with Monarch Data Pump (PDF)