After implementing OnRamp, Formex gained:
This manufacturing ERP case study shows how Formex Metal Industries implemented ERP in three months while improving quality control, reducing scrap, and increasing shop productivity.
Formex Metal Industries is a full service, high volume, contract parts manufacturing company located in the heart of the Southern Ontario automotive manufacturing corridor.
Industry: Precision Metal Manufacturing
Products: Precision machined components, formed tubular products, assemblies, secondary operations
Manufacturing Process: Machining
Markets Served: Automotive
Website: Formex Metal Industries
Formex Metal Industries produces precision metal components for demanding customers, including automotive manufacturers. The company operates in a highly disciplined manufacturing environment where production consistency, traceability, and quality performance directly affect customer relationships.
As the business grew, Formex needed stronger systems to support production planning, quality management, and day to day shop coordination. Spreadsheets and disconnected processes made it harder to maintain control across operations. Teams needed better visibility into production performance and quality results.
Formex began evaluating manufacturing ERP solutions that could support high volume contract precision production without disrupting daily operations.
ERP implementation often becomes the biggest risk in an ERP project. Long deployments disrupt production and delay operational benefits.
Formex approached the project with two priorities:
The OnRamp manufacturing ERP implementation delivered both.
Jeff Collis, Operations Manager at Formex and project manager for the rollout, described the experience:
“The cost entry point caught our attention, but the turnaround time for implementation made the real difference. Ian and his team got us up and running in three months and on budget.”
An efficient ERP implementation allowed Formex to start improving production processes and realizing ROI within the same fiscal year.
Quality performance is critical for manufacturers supplying the automotive industry. Process control and traceability must be built directly into daily operations. Following implementation, Formex began using OnRamp’s Quality Management (QMS) capabilities to strengthen quality management and reduce waste.
New operational capabilities included:
These new organizational capabilities allowed the team to identify scrap patterns earlier and respond quickly to quality issues. Collis says OnRamp, “Has allowed us to decrease scrap and improve our processes to where they are now, thanks to SPC and the return and reject tracking in the software.” As quality improved, productivity improvements followed.
Manufacturing operations evolve over time. ERP software must adapt to real shop floor processes. One factor that stood out to the Formex team was how quickly OnRamp responded when improvements were requested.
“The system had a lot of useful tools when we signed on, but what impressed me most was how quickly they responded when we asked for improvements,” said Collis.
“As soon as we identified something we wanted that OnRamp did not have, they moved quickly to add it. They are always willing to listen to our feedback and enhance the software to help us improve performance.”
This collaboration allowed Formex to continue improving processes after the initial ERP implementation.
Since implementing ERP, Formex has continued improving operational performance. Production teams gained better visibility into work in progress. Scrap and rework decreased. Managers gained clearer insight into production performance.
Formex even discovered unexpected gains with features they discovered during implementation. Collis detailed “incredible cost savings” in labour planning with OnRamp, saying, “Our favourite part of the solution is the Detailed Capacity Planning (DCP) module, which is the best we have ever used and ever want to use.”
With the OnRamp DCP module, Formex plans capacity out over a 10 week horizon using integrated customer demand and resource requirements data to plan manpower on a work center basis for each individual day. They estimate it now saves them hundreds of thousands of dollars per year.
These improvements strengthened productivity and quality across the shop while supporting consistent delivery to automotive customers. For manufacturers evaluating ERP, the Formex story shows how a well executed manufacturing ERP implementation can improve both quality management and operational performance.
Manufacturers need visibility across purchasing, production, inventory, and finance.
OnRamp connects these functions in one integrated solution designed for manufacturing businesses.
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Our efforts began as an internal project of Mancor Industries when we identified the need for a more cohesive ERP system to manage the complexity of multiple plants, multiple products, multiple customers and multiple functions.
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