MCT ReMan Ltd, located in Weston-super-Mare, specialises in remanufacturing high-performance components. Their core services include disassembly, inspection, reconditioning and assembly. Emphasising quality and sustainability to extend the lifecycle of critical machinery parts.
For over 40 years, MCT ReMan has remanufactured complex automotive assemblies, such as transmissions and engines, in the Somerset town of Weston-super-Mare. Today, explains Matt Gosling, MCT ReMan’s IT Manager, the business rebuilds around 10,000 units a year for automotive OEMs such as Jaguar, Ford, Land Rover and VW Heritage.
A major customer contract win in 2021 prompted a significant rethink of the company’s approach to remanufacturing – a process in which failed engines and transmissions are returned from the field to be stripped, their components inspected, cleaned and finally combined with brand-new parts to form a remanufactured unit.
Hitherto, the approach to the rebuild process had been workstation-based, with a single operative rebuilding an entire unit from start to finish. But the scale of the major contract win, which would see manufacturing volumes more than double, called for a different approach. The company duly set in motion a move to significantly larger and more modern premises and set about developing a production line approach to remanufacturing.
Central to this production line approach: exploiting the extensive modern manufacturing capabilities contained within the company’s EFACS E/8 ERP system. In particular, says Gosling, there would be a need for the EFACS E/8 system’s Mobile Workforce shop-floor data capture (SFDC) capabilities, in order to efficiently and accurately track Works Orders from station to station along production lines.
Once, the challenge of doing that would have been considerable, he relates. Although MCT ReMan had been a customer of Exel Computer Systems since 1999, for many years EFACS E/8 had largely been used for its finance and accounting capabilities. Another system, a bespoke one, developed specially for the company, handled manufacturing.
There had been some justification for this: MCT ReMan’s business and Bills-of-Material are out of the ordinary, with parts stripped from incoming engines and gearboxes, then re-used, or not, depending on their condition. Some new parts would always be incorporated in a remanufactured unit, but predicting the proportion of components that would pass the re-use inspection was challenging.
This was the prime purpose of the bespoke manufacturing system: maintaining and updating a forecast, contract by contract, of the proportion of new components that would be required – the ‘injection rate’, in MCT ReMan’s in-house terminology.
On joining the business in 2010, Gosling had worked with Exel Computer Systems to replicate this injection-rate logic within EFACS E/8. Gradually, over an 18-month period, it then proved possible to move the business completely away from the bespoke system, with its use eventually being discontinued altogether.
And crucially, he relates, the goal had been to have in place a version of EFACS E/8 that was as standard as possible, with the minimum amount of customisation.
“It was very clear to me that the more the system was tweaked and customised, the more difficult it was to move to newer versions as they became available – with the risk being that the business would remain locked in the past, not moving with the times as new capabilities found their way into EFACS E/8.”
A further evolution of the company’s EFACS infrastructure took place in 2017-18, when the business made the decision to move from its 12-year-old EFACS 8.2 version to E/8. As part of this project, optional EFACS modules including Document Management and Workflow were also implemented to improve access to information and automate processes. The enhanced functionality of E/8 set the foundations for what the business would go on to achieve.
The business’s move to new premises was fairly straightforward, as the new site was very close by. In parallel with planning for the move itself, Gosling and his small team were planning the necessary changes to the way that the business used EFACS E/8. In this, they were considerably aided by a conscious effort over the previous three years to learn as much as possible about EFACS E/8’s advanced capabilities.
“Exel – in the form of our account manager and other Exel contacts, were very forthcoming about how other customers were using EFACS E/8, and we could see a lot of potential value in what these other customers were doing. Active participation in the online customer forum then built on this: without doubt, we learned a lot, and it only increased our resolve to keep our EFACS E/8 system up to date,” explains Gosling.
Crucial to the changes to EFACS E/8 was some bespoke work, carried out by Exel Computer Systems, to adapt EFACS E/8’s Mobile Workforce module, so as to update the MRP logic’s new component injection rate.
While the changes made proved perfectly adequate for the move to production line manufacturing, experience with the new mode of manufacturing opened the door to further efficiencies, again driven by EFACS E/8.
“We have an existing process for replenishing line side component bins, but it could be slicker, and it could be more automated, so we’re talking to Exel about how best to achieve that within the Mobile Workforce module,” sums up Gosling. “Traditionally, too, we’ve always inspected components for re-use at the beginning of the manufacturing process, but it makes sense to have that ability all the way through the remanufacturing process. Again, discussions with Exel are ongoing.”
Almost two years on, it is clear that the move to a production line approach in more modern premises and the use of EFACS E/8’s more advanced capabilities, has been a complete success.
As expected, volumes have indeed more than doubled, says Gosling. “It’s highly doubtful that we could have achieved this without EFACS E/8,” he sums up.
But the business isn’t resting on its laurels. Gosling has further ambitions for EFACS E/8’s Mobile Workforce SFDC capabilities, including improved inventory management and links to some of MCT ReMan’s other systems. Integration with MCT ReMan’s system for managing specialist tooling such as precision torque wrenches is especially exciting, he adds.
“In theory, we’ll be able to use EFACS E/8 Mobile Workforce SFDC to not only issue and control torque wrenches, but also use the known link to the job-in-hand in order to specify to the operative the exact number of turns required, improving quality and productivity.”
To do this, the business plans to first move to Exel Computer Systems’ very latest version – EFACS E/8 release 8.71 – attracted by still-further improvements in its Mobile Workforce SFDC capabilities.
“The transformation is remarkable,” sums up Gosling. “In a few short years, we’ve transitioned to volume production, supported by a state-of-the-art EFACS E/8 system that’s as up-to-date as it can be. We’re already using a lot of EFACS E/8’s advanced functionality, but we know there’s still more to discover and deploy.”
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