Plex, the leader in cloud ERP for manufacturing, today announced that American Axle & Manufacturing (AAM), a tier 1 supplier to the automotive industry, implemented the Plex Manufacturing Cloud across all seven facilities in its metal formed products division.

TROY, MICH., August 19, 2015 – Plex, the leader in cloud ERP for manufacturing, today announced that American Axle & Manufacturing (AAM), a tier 1 supplier to the automotive industry, implemented the Plex Manufacturing Cloud across all seven facilities in its metal formed products division.

• AAM supplies the top automotive OEMs with driveline systems, chassis and steering components, crankshafts, transmission parts and metal-formed products for trucks, SUVs, passenger cars and crossover vehicles.
• AAM sought a software solution to manage operations and achieve better insight into the performance and capacity of the metal formed division across its seven locations, quickly and accurately.
• The company turned to global business and consulting firm Baker Tilly Virchow Krause, LLP (Baker Tilly) to deploy the Plex ERP software system across the entire metal forming division to formalize business processes, maintain optimal production rates and quality management, and gain real-time visibility into operations. 
• AAM automated production of the metal formed unit with Plex modules for the shop floor as well as business administration: Engineering, Quality, Inventory, Production, Accounting and Supply Chain.
• AAM and Baker Tilly achieved a seamless go-live process, essential to avoid downtime for this high-output division.
• Since implementing Plex, AAM has achieved up to 10 percent improvement in inventory turns, a five percent increase in manufacturing output, and improved the accuracy and speed in financial and operational data management, reporting and periodic audits for its metal formed products division.
• The Plex ERP software system helped AAM achieve BSI quality standards and earn high ratings from auditors.

Comments on the News

“AAM’s commitment to continuous improvement has helped it build a roster of more than 100 customers that includes the world’s top automakers, such as General Motors, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, Ford Motor Company and Honda,” said Plex CEO Jason Blessing. “At Plex, we are proud of the opportunity to work with companies like AAM and Baker Tilly to improve operations on the shop floor that drive business performance and ultimately improve the cars we drive every day.”

“Baker Tilly’s Plex manufacturing cloud implementation pre-configured industry models, methods, and manufacturing operational experience allowing AAM to achieve their desired operating goals and objectives. With our approach to configuration and concurrent validation and testing, we helped AAM achieve their implementation objectives quicker, nearing a 33% reduction in the implementation lifecycle,” said Peter Pearce, principal in Baker Tilly’s business and technology growth strategies’ Plex practice.