The Glassworks Hrastnik last year launched a major renovation business information ERP system, which is one of the major milestones on the path to transformation of the company into a smart factory. The renovations – the first ERP system was used in the company back in 1994 – were undertaken in cooperation with the consulting company for the digitalization of the business of small and medium-sized manufacturing companies MIT informatika.
“The goal of the renovation of the ERP business information system is to connect all systems and resources to a common denominator and thus increase our efficiency (by eliminating redundant manual work of our employees) and consequently customer satisfaction. The renewed ERP system will enable us integrated connections between various business departments, while simultaneously optimizing processes. In parallel with the renovation of the ERP system, we will introduce a new document system and thus speed up our processes, because there will be no more manual storage – important documents are stored only on the local disk of one of the employees” explained Ivan Papič. Director of the Human Resources and General Affairs Sector, and Tomaž Skaza, Head of Business Automation and Digitization at Steklarna Hrastnik.
A milestone on the way to a smart factory
According to the interlocutor, today we can no longer imagine modern production without mastering big data. “It is important to be able to extract from the data offered by new technologies through appropriate systems and also use the information needed for our work, as they can achieve greater process stability, reduce unwanted variability and the possibility of human error. At the same time, these systems ensure transparency between processes and employee empowerment. In this way, they can focus on their activities, specialize, and thus perform their work even better. “
The renovation of the ERP system represents one of the main milestones on the way to the realization of part of the strategy for the transformation of Steklarna Hrastnik into a smart factory, which the company prepared in 2018 together with the international company Siemens.
“By upgrading and connecting our systems, this renovation is the basis for reaping the benefits of artificial intelligence (AI). In this area, we expect the possibility of replaying various scenarios, such as predicting the purchasing behavior of our customers, we will also make it easier to plan our production, determine what are the optimal (with the least emissions) parameters for machine settings. We also want to build a focus on the experience of our customers and employees with AI in the future. This will make it easier for employees and customers to adapt. The profession calls such data X DATA. The ERP system itself will give us access to operational data about DATA” explain Ivan Papič and Tomaž Skaza.
When asked what advantages the renovation of the ERP system has already brought to the company, Ivan Papič and Tomaž Skaza answer: “With each, even minimal renovation, the organization gains efficiency. In the case of partial renovations, perhaps in the beginning only in certain areas, but when in the end we put the whole together, we get what we want – faster and more efficient organization of production at all stages.”