AIMCO

The Company: About AIMCO

AIMCO was established in 1970 and offers a comprehensive range of critical fastening solutions to meet the needs of customers in the automotive, aerospace, electronics, off-road, energy services, and general assembly industries. The company also provides custom engineering and aftermarket support. The founder, who worked in the tire and retread business, was introduced to Uryu Saisaku Limited, a Japanese power tool manufacturer. 

The Situation: Streamlining Procedures

AIMCO moved to VAI S2K ERP from a previous ERP provider with numerous modules, multiple firms executing various tasks, and a great deal of integration. AIMCO has decreased a portion of that since implementing VAI’s ERP and is streamlining its procedures as it integrates more VAI ERP software.

The Solution: VAI ERP

AIMCO utilizes the VAI software to run both distribution and manufacturing in one warehouse in Portland, Oregon. The company leverages VAI’s Demand Planning application to enhance and support its buying for both distribution and manufacturing. On the distribution side, AIMCO purchases from various companies internationally. 

When the shipments are made over to AIMCO, they’re on various numbers of purchase orders, which would take its warehouse numerous hours to enter through the receiving portion of those entries. With cargo entry, AIMCO consolidates that at the purchasing level when they know the shipment is leaving the supplier. They enter a cargo and when it enters AIMCO’s receiving area, they have the cargo number. From there it’s a one-click receipt for them after pulling up the cargo and they can print out all the documentation, which is updated in VAI’s S2K ERP. 

On their manufacturing side, AIMCO uses Material Requirements Planning (MRP) from VAI weekly. This enables the planner to efficiently reduce manufacturing work orders to the production floor by combining orders that are entered into AIMCO’s customer side.

The routing instructions and the bill of materials list associated with each manufacturing work order are included when they are released to the production floor. The assemblers go to S2K after receiving the manufacturing work order. The operating system of the AIMCO team is used for data collection. They can record the precise times by logging into their routing steps. Since they use standard cost and standards are in their routes, they measure the actual times out of data collection to their standard cost for efficiencies as well as capacity planning. Within the actual item entry of that item that they’re building, they’re able to access drawings, work instructions, and additional bill of material information right there at their fingertips without exiting the S2K software application.

Utilization of the reporting for actuals versus standards is utilized mostly in AIMCO’s accounting arena for their cost accounting. Cost accounting looks at that report monthly. They utilize that report to validate not only capacity but also efficiency. They also utilize that reporting for the ability to determine if costs are accurate in the system versus if they need to review those sooner than they roll standards. AIMCO currently roll standards twice a year. With the ever-changing market and supply chain right now, that has been a vital piece for their cost accounting department to evaluate in real-time that change or adjust accordingly.

The support that AIMCO receives from their ERP system is key especially at crucial times. ​“VAI is with us 24 – 7 and that is key to a partnership and why we’ve been with VAI for so long,” said Karen Ackley, Materials Manager at AIMCO. ​“That’s why we continue to grow our business with VAI – it’s the support that they provide, and their willingness to enhance the product to our needs or show us different avenues or ways that we can continue to grow our business daily.”

The Results: VAI ERP Implementation Benefits

AIMCO has been using VAI’s ERP software to:

• Enhance and support buying for both distribution and manufacturing
• Reduce manufacturing work orders to the production floor by combining orders that are entered into AIMCO’s customer side
• Access drawings, work instructions, and additional bill of material information without exiting the S2K software application
• Achieve accurate, real-time reporting

“Part of the challenge that we have is that we are competing with very big public companies,” continued Hall. ​“Product is only one part of the equation. It’s the after-sales service. What can we do to exceed the expectations of our customer? That’s where we must focus because everybody has a product, everybody has tools, but service is the key. Anything that will help us be a better company and provide better service, quicker answers, and anticipation of need is something that is invaluable to us. That’s what VAI provides us with is the product and the support. VAI is a very strong partner for us, and it is needed in the future.”