Location: 73432 Aalen-Ebnat, Germany · Industry: Plastics processing, foams, wood-based materials, aerospace, insulation materials · Products: Lightweight foam boards, sandwich panels, technical foams, packaging, insulation and lightweight construction components · ERP: Sage 100 · Website: https://www.gaugler-lutz.de · S4P modules: 4APS, 4MDE
Initial situation
Manufacturing at Gaugler & Lutz GmbH & Co. KG is characterised by variant-rich products and demanding quality requirements in lightweight and sandwich construction. The ERP system Sage 100 covers commercial and order-related processes. Standard tools were insufficient for realistic planning and transparent control of around 150 employees across the various processing lines. Lightweight foam boards, sandwich panels and technical foams for aerospace and insulation applications require precise coordination of cutting, bonding and finishing processes.
Challenge
Variant-rich orders, fluctuating workloads and high quality requirements across different sectors placed high demands on production planning. Without end-to-end fine planning and shop-floor data collection, bottlenecks and scheduling conflicts were difficult to identify and manage early. Short-notice order changes or machine faults could not be incorporated into planning quickly enough, leading to delays and unnecessary setup effort. In addition, a reliable data basis for utilisation evaluations and the assessment of on-time delivery and machine efficiency was missing.
Solution
To optimise production planning, Gaugler & Lutz GmbH & Co. KG relies on the solutions from S4P. Through integration with the ERP system Sage 100, order, production and feedback data are used end-to-end to enable realistic and transparent production control. Modules in use: 4APS — graphical fine planning with bottleneck detection and sequence optimisation; 4BDE — shop-floor data collection with order, quantity and time feedback directly at the shop-floor terminal; 4MDE — automatic machine data collection and OEE evaluation. Planners and shift supervisors always have a current overview of capacity utilisation and order progress.
Results and benefits
With the S4P solutions, Gaugler & Lutz GmbH & Co. KG achieves greater planning reliability and transparency in manufacturing. Bottlenecks are detected early, capacities are better utilised and deadlines are met more reliably — delivering higher on-time delivery performance and efficiency. Machine KPIs such as OEE, availability and performance are available for evaluations and provide the foundation for data-driven optimisation of processing operations in lightweight construction manufacturing.