Wabash Technologies Improves Manufacturing and Engineering Change Requests with BizFlow
Automotive Parts Supplier Now Lowering Administrative Costs and Getting New Products to Market Faster
VIENNA, Va., Feb. 14 -- HandySoft Global Corporation, a leading provider of business process management (BPM) solutions, today announced that Wabash Technologies is using BizFlow(R) to manage manufacturing and engineering change requests in ways that decrease costs and introduce new products faster. This global supplier of parts for the automotive and related industries also employs HandySoft's award-winning BPM enterprise platform to increase product development visibility at any of its four facilities around the world.
According to Eric Austvold, Research Director, AMR Research, Boston, MA, "It's not a question of whether your company should use BPM technology, but when your company will use BPM. BPM technology measures and manages business process variability, which in turn highlights opportunities to cut costs, improve cycle times, and innovate new ways to delight customers. Furthermore, BPM technology is easy to implement, has rapid ROI, and can be purchased cost effectively on a project-by-project basis."
Wabash Technologies, which is based in Huntington, Indiana, manufactures more than 20 million sensors and over five million fuel injector stators and actuators annually for the automotive, heavy vehicle, agriculture, construction, and small-engine markets. The company employs more than 1,200 people at manufacturing plants in the United States, England, Mexico, and Slovakia.
"Of all the BPM technologies we reviewed, BizFlow was the most advanced, took the least time to install and implement, has an excellent reporting ability, and was priced right," said Greg Butcher, Wabash Technologies' Manager, Computer-Aided Design and Document Control. "We've been using BizFlow for about one year, and engineers in our four plants have grabbed hold of it easily, they like it, and it has given us much greater visibility for change request forms and attachments," Mr. Butcher stated.
When Wabash Technologies used a manual system, change requests got lost when routed from desk to desk, and time was wasted looking for them. Worse, some change requests were never found, so engineers created new requests, which started the entire process over again. "Now the BizFlow system enables each user to see where the change requests are in the process," Mr. Butcher said. "Another benefit is that we can quickly identify bottlenecks by running reports and reviewing the data."
BizFlow also helps Wabash Technologies keep quality records. "This is absolutely essential because we're certified to TS16949, which is mandated by the automotive industry. In addition, BizFlow keeps the archive automatically, whether the quality changes are for manufacturing or engineering," Mr. Butcher stated. Visibility of documents is also key to business process management at Wabash Technologies. "All documents now are easy to find and view by all users, and they are easily retrieved to meet customer demands for revised or released documents. BizFlow enables us to see exactly where changes are and see who needs to review or approve them," Mr. Butcher concluded.
"Manufacturers that want to improve customer support, increase sales, get new products to market faster while decreasing operational and administrative costs are using BizFlow to supplant inefficient, nonintegrated manual workflow processes," said Stuart Claggett, Chief Operating Officer of HandySoft Global. "BizFlow replaces manual systems and works in concert with existing legacy systems to significantly improve operational and administrative processes. Through business process automation and management, BizFlow streamlines processes and significantly reduces administrative and operation costs."
About Wabash Technologies, Inc.
Founded in 1946, Wabash Technologies, employs over 1,200 people in more than 220,000 sq. ft. of manufacturing space. Wabash produces over 20 million sensors and 5 million fuel injection stators/actuators per year from two units: the Custom Designed Products Division and the Specialty Products Division. The former serves a variety of markets through production of Pedal Position Sensors, Throttle/ETC Position Sensors, Engine Timing Sensors, Transmission Speed Sensors, ABS Sensors, and related products for customers that include all major OEM's, along with other Tier I and Tier II systems suppliers. The latter unit serves the heavy truck, agricultural, construction and industrial markets.
About HandySoft Global Corporation
HandySoft Global Corporation is the premier provider of configurable software solutions that simplify and automate business processes; capture and enforce best practices; improve productivity and quality while reducing costs; integrate information technology; and foster collaboration among employees, customers, and partners.
The foundation for HandySoft's industry and departmental solutions is BizFlow(R), the award-winning platform for business process management, automated workflow, and collaboration. BizFlow offers complete capabilities for building and managing automated business processes, including tools for designing and monitoring the processes, presenting and accessing work, integrating existing IT systems, and administering the platform itself. As a global solutions provider, HandySoft Global is headquartered in Vienna, VA, with offices in Australia, Japan, London, and Korea, with strategic partner representation throughout the world. HandySoft has implemented process management solutions at hundreds of sites worldwide. For more information call +1-703-442-5600, email info@handysoft.com or visit http://www.handysoft.com/.
HandySoft, the HandySoft logo, BizFlow, and BizFlow Accelerator Suites are trademarks of HandySoft Global Corporation. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.
For more information, please contact: Dennis O'Connor Peter Arnold Associates (for HandySoft) 781.239.1030; cell: (781) 883-5109 doconnor@parnold.com