IFS Applications for Industrial Manufacturing is used today by more than 600 companies involved in complex order-driven and mixed-mode manufacturing. IFS offers flexible, component-based, project-driven business solutions that manage the entire lifecycle of products, projects, assets and services. Users chose from a mix of functionally rich modules – fully integrated with financials and human resources.
At IFS, we have more industrial manufacturing customers than any other kind. Like you, they know that integration of major business functions delivers significant benefits. Moreover, our users have a vision for achieving contextual integration with supply chain partners, and for integration with product lifecycle management (PLM), customer relationship management (CRM), and enterprise asset management (EAM).
You’re tackling a mix of standard, custom and project jobs. IFS Applications handles engineering requirements found in to-order industries and the planning and detail scheduling requirements of make-to-stock. Multiple production environments can run simultaneously or alternate.
Profits associated with servicing field equipment are more generous than for most product sales. Yet OEMs and suppliers must compete against nimble third-party providers of parts and services. To command a price premium, you need a system of record that persists through design, engineering, manufacture, installation and service.
To manage it all, you’ve become more project-driven. With IFS Applications, projects can be the principle around which work is organised and profit or loss assigned. Project management co-ordinates the engineering functions, and engineering with operations and the business. It’s at the core of the asset lifecycle and services provider processes by which IFS extends the enterprise.
Real-time management of procurement, inventory and vendors ensures availability of goods and services associated with forecasts of planned and unplanned work. IFS Applications supports the supply chain – from global sourcing to lean manufacturing. Goods makers with far-flung operations benefit from multi-site agreements and common purchasing. Less capital is tied up in inventory. Global spare-parts availability supports customers’ efforts in a meaningful way.
A system of record for product design, planning, data management and engineering change furnishes stakeholders with consistent, accurate information regarding products and projects. Engineering components make it easier to specify and configure design elements, assemblies and products. By streamlining document administration, everyone within the ever-widening circle of collaboration sees the latest information.
Bristan Group is the parent company for two of the UK's largest bathroom brands: Bristan, a leading supplier of taps, showers and accessories, and Heritage Bathrooms, specialising in exclusive quality bathroom suites. Products are designed, developed and distributed from the company's headquarters in Tamworth, Staffordshire. Sales to end-user customers are normally through builders' merchants, DIY chains and independent specialist retail outlets.
Because of our positive experiences with IFS, we were comfortable rolling the solution out to a wider user base and it has proved easy to get to grips with at all levels. The IFS infrastructure has underpinned, and will continue to support, our long-term plans for growth.Wes Mason, IT Services Manager
Coba Plastics specialises in manufacturing thermoplastic extrusions in accordance with QS 9000 standards. Much of Coba’s output is supplied to the automotive industry. As a key supplier, Coba manufactures the largest selection of trim retainers in Europe. Other products include a range of standard and bespoke components used for seating, sealing systems, airbags and windscreen-wiper mechanisms.
With its open architecture and advanced technology, IFS Applications provides a system which Coba Plastics can grow into rather than grow out of.Mark Goodwin, IT Manager
LINPAC Allibert design and manufacture Returnable Transit Packaging (RTP), such as plastic pallets and containers, for the retail, automotive and general industry sectors across the UK & Europe.
In the context of a looming global economic slowdown, maintaining an agile business is more important than ever. You can only react if you have reliable information to act on. IFS gives us this in real time, every timeAndre Ertel, Project Manager
Portsmouth Aviation, a leading mechanical and aeronautical engineering company with 80 years of experience, successfully diversified its business to include not only mass manufacturing, but also bespoke manufacturing projects. Upgrading its ERP solution provided by IFS has been central to this business transformation and a key element of the company’s growth strategy.
IFS is the place where our 150 users go to for all information and forms the core of every business function on site. Its flexibility, and the way it has been implemented, will allow us to improve and control our business as we need going forward. This, combined with the continued development of Business Dashboards, will help us make the right decisions and keep us competitive. Andy Burton, IFS Manager at Portsmouth Aviation
Star Refrigeration is the UK’s largest independent industrial refrigeration engineering company. Established in Glasgow in 1970, with ten strategically placed depots across the UK and two subsidiary companies, Star Refrigeration has approximately 350 employees and a current sales turnover in excess of £40 million. In addition to the provision of individual services including training, consultancy and ground-breaking refrigeration technology, Star Refrigeration offers complete solutions, working in partnership with customers, from design through to commissioning and maintenance.
As well as greater visibility, the IFS system has provided the discipline we needed to make sure everything is done properly and in a completely standard wayGraham Stuart, Operations Managing Director
Ultra Electronics Precision Air and Land Systems is the leading manufacturer of compact on-board gas solutions, including compact gas compressors for the aerospace and defence industry worldwide.
In addition to tighter control of our project based orders, IFS Applications allows us clearer visibility across the financial and business processes. Reporting can now be produced in a more efficient, simpler and standardised way, enabling us to track costs, produce more accurate forecasts and ultimately protect the bottom line. Ian Bradley, Head of Customer Service & Management Systems, Ultra Electronics Precision Air and Land Systems
Vitec Group serves worldwide customers in the media sector with products and services for the broadcast, entertainment and photographic industries. Vitec is based on multiple, well known, premium brands that professionals rely on. Vitec is organised in three divisions: Imaging & Staging, Videocom and Services.
This was a very important project for our business and has set us up for future cost and time efficiency. In addition, IFS Applications 7.5 was implemented across 11 locations in 6 countries at the same time within budget and on time. Chris Beveridge, IT Director Broadcast Systems Division, Vitec Group
The Wandsworth Group is the UK’s oldest manufacturer of electrical switches and accessories. Products are specified by architects, consulting engineers and contractors, and can be found in Windsor Castle as well as prestigious hotels, airport terminals and large commercial buildings, in the UK and the Middle East.
The project was relatively painless. IFS consultants kept an eye on things and were readily available to provide support on site during the implementation. John Williams, Associate Director
Worldmark International manufactures identification products, and its business has grown globally with the demand for high quality products, particularly in the electronics and telecommunications sectors where identification, branding and security are important. In some cases, such as the keys for mobile phone handsets, Worldmark products are an integral part of the product design. Labels are also supplied into the automotive and pharmaceuticals sectors.
Worldmark now has a predefined cost/benefit target and we know that IFS will contribute to better informed decisions, improved productivity from the workforce and making the best possible use out of our working capital.Alan Martin, Worldmark’s Business Systems Director
Founded in 1961, Stolle Machinery designs, engineers, and assembles complex production machinery. The company is the worldwide market leader in the can machinery industry, offering a complete line of equipment for manufacturing can ends and can bodies. In addition, with its Didde web press product line, Stolle Machinery is a leader in the web offset printing industry, having the largest installed base in North America.
In IFS Applications 7 there is complete integration to finance out of the project module. This lends itself very well to companies that do equipment building.Michael Kalkman, Project Manager
With manufacturing and R&D facilities in Straubing, Germany, Völkl Sports produces about 500,000 pairs of skis, 30,000 snowboards and 120,000 tennis rackets per year. Its products are available in more than 50 countries. Founded in 1923, Völkl is now part of the Marker Völkl Group headquartered in Baar/Zug, Switzerland, and has about 1,000 employees.
Without IFS Applications, our team couldn't satisfy the growing, mainly short-term, demands on the IT department. The old system took about three weeks to develop certain functionality. Now similar tasks take one to three days.Gerold Fath, IT Manager, Völkl Sports GmbH, Straubing
PartnerTech develops and manufactures products on behalf of leading businesses in the market areas of Defence and Maritime Industry, Information Technology, MedTech & Instrumentation, CleanTech and Point of Sale Applications. PartnerTech has approximately 1,300 employees at plants in Sweden, Norway, Finland, Poland,the UK, the United States and China. PartnerTech AB, the parent company, is headquartered in Vellinge, Sweden and listed on the Nasdaq OMX Stockholm Exchange.
Without IFS Applications, we wouldn’t be able to optimise our operations—and those of our customers – as we do today. Richard Skogh, VP, Supply Chain Planning & IT at PartnerTech
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Implementing IFS Applications has allowed Portsmouth Aviation to take a fresh look at its business processes. Watch this and other videos in our Media Centre.