“Opcenter APS stood out for its out-of-the-box options and functionality. We also liked the fact that Opcenter had been used more widely in the industry than the other products we evaluated.”
– Eric Schultz, Master Scheduling Manager, Trek Bicycle
Business challenges:
- Conduct longer-term capacity analysis when supply chain issues arise
- Find a scheduling solution that scales to the firm’s needs
- Test scenarios prior to manufacturing
- Automate previously manual processes
Keys to success:
- Leverage Opcenter APS out-of-the-box options and functionality
- Spend more time on scheduling and less time changing dates
- Created custom logic solution
Results:
- Achieved more than double the amount of scheduling with the same size team
- Avoided countless production shutdowns, keeping employees gainfully employed
- Used prioritization capabilities to speed up customer deliveries
- Enhanced flexibility to adapt build schedule to availability of components
Digital Transformation Made Possible with Opcenter APS
The Trek Bicycle Corporation began in 1976 in Waterloo, Wisconsin in a rural red barn. Now Trek designs and manufactures high-end bikes such as mountain, road, trail, downhill, children’s, fat, electric-assist, and eco-designed bikes in a world-class R&D facility. They even go above and beyond also to sell technical gear and clothing.
Trek has a program in place called “Project One,” which enables its customers to take control of designing their own bikes. However, when there are parts shortages a challenge arises. After doing everything it could to minimize lead times and streamline its processes for customers, it still wasn’t enough. That’s when they started looking for outside resources and found Opcenter APS.
Opcenter APS Enabled
Opcenter Advanced Planning and Scheduling (APS) is a software from Siemens Digital Industries Software that gave Trek the ability to see the full picture of their production floor. As well as prioritize components and allocate parts for the build. It enabled them to see in advance if they would have the parts available that were needed, allowing them to build twice as much as previously possible.