Fort Recovery Industries Moves Toward Perpetual Inventory, Gaining Visibility and Streamlining

Results

• Decreased month-end close from 2 weeks to 3-4 days
• Decreased lead times and increased accuracy due to operating from a single source of truth
• Digitized formally paper-based processes
• Shifted from reaction problem-solving to proactive planning with real-time data

Lacking Insight, Facing Challenges

Founded in 1945, Fort Recovery Industries Inc. is known as one of the few fully integrated zinc and aluminum die casters with expertise from design to assembly. With frequent investment into their processes, facilities, and designs, the team is consistently improving and growing to meet the demands of a wide range of industries served and solutions offered.

Despite improving processes by implementing an ERP solution with an Excel-based data tracking system in late 2020, FRI faced challenges in maintaining operational efficiency across its three U.S. plants and its sister company in China. A lack of visibility made it difficult to streamline processes from assembly to distribution and beyond. The company also struggled to uphold reliability given that their ERP system lacked serialized inventory tracking. Items were only serialized once they became finished goods, decreasing visibility throughout much of the manufacturing process.

Under the leadership of new President & Chief Executive Officer Eric Showalter, who brought prior experience with Plex, by Rockwell Automation, Fort Recovery Industries undertook a transformative move to implement Plex in 2023. This shift aimed to achieve perpetual inventory, which would allow the team to continuously track inventory levels. Additionally, FRI set out to streamline quality processes, enhance plant-level profitability insights, and increase overall operational visibility.

A Six-Point Plex Migration

Fort Recovery Industries Inc. began its Plex implementation in early 2023. The company’s primary objective was to transition to real-time production reporting and perpetual inventory tracking, both of which were critical to increasing visibility. The team began the transition with the help of Plex and a three-phased approach. They ultimately shifted to a more floor-centric strategy that focused on key processes with the help of Plex System Integrator (SI), Plante Moran. This shift allowed for a holistic focus on process rather than a more staged learning approach, proving to be the best strategy for FRI.

While some team members dismayed and skeptical due to challenges with their prior system rollout during the pandemic, Plante Moran’s tailored implementation strategy ensured a smooth adoption. By focusing on the core manufacturing processes and providing serialized data at every step, FRI was able to improve visibility and increase accountability, thus increasing confidence for employees across the board.

Notably, the team worked off a six-point definition of success as they transitioned to Plex:

1. Drive accurate real-time production reporting
2. Obtain accurate, real-time perpetual inventory
3. Implement real-time in-process checks
4. Provide accurate and timely financial reporting
5. Drive paper and outside system processes as close to zero as possible
6. Go live in October 2023

“If you don’t have good information, you can’t make good decisions,” Fort Recovery Industries Inc. President and CEO Eric Showalter said. “Those six things were very important to me from a management perspective to get to where we could be data driven.” Despite delaying their go live to April of 2024, Fort Recovery Industries Inc. was able to stick to these goals and successfully implement Plex using the team’s combined experience, the help of Plante Moran, and the desire to become better for its customers.

A Shift from Reaction to Proactive

The Plex implementation has transformed operations at Fort Recovery Industries Inc., delivering measurable improvements and paving the way for future advancements. Once a nearly two-week endeavor, the team has improved upon its month-end close process, reducing it to just three to four days. Additionally, the team is actively working towards achieving a daily “soft close," which will actualize soon as FRI comes closer to achieving their goal of 100% perpetual inventory.

The transition to Plex also helped the company eliminate inefficiencies in paperwork and manual reporting. Before, internal communications often involved physical documents, delaying essential approvals and tracking by up to two weeks. With Plex, all data now flows through a single, accessible system, dramatically reducing lead times and increasing accuracy. The ability to view real-time data across plants has allowed for a shift from reactive problem solving to proactive planning. Plex has also enhanced visibility at FRI by enabling detailed breakdowns at the plant level, allowing teams to make data-driven decisions with more precision.

While the integration of all quality documentation into Plex remains a work in progress, the system’s potential for traceability has already shown significant promise. Adam May, FRI Plex Implementation Manager, stated, “In terms of traceability, I think we can get down to a level that we haven’t had before, in a matter of minutes.” Team members have also made note of streamlined workflows, including the consolidation of part numbers and bill of materials (BOMs), helping to simplify purchasing and inventory management across departments.

“From a floor perspective, [Plex] is so much more intuitive,” said Information Systems Specialist, Valarie Knapke. “I’m impressed at how well everyone adapted to [Plex] – the shipping process is so much easier.”

With baseline metrics beginning to form, Fort Recovery Industries Inc. is now better positioned to track performance and set future goals. The team is preparing to expand Plex’s capabilities with the launch of MES A&O, maintenance, and tooling, marking the next phase of their journey. FRI’s transition to Plex exemplifies the opportunity to lay a strong foundation for continuous improvement and innovation while achieving goals in the process. In closing, May stated, “There’s still things we have to learn, but we’re getting to a level now where we can ask questions. [Plex] has brought our level of awareness up from inventory to production to quality – there’s a lot more data at our fingertips than we had in the past.”