How To Keep Medical Supplies Moving With ERP Remote Access
Global Interconnect Inc. (GII) is a worldwide provider of custom-engineered cable assemblies, connectors, and components often used in medical supplies. Based in Massachusetts with offices and facilities in Hong Kong and China, GII’s products are used extensively in electrosurgical tools, critical patient monitoring devices, and other products for medical applications, and medical supplies with zero-failure requirements. Today’s GII’s products are helping to equip medical professionals with the tools they need to battle COVID-19 and save lives.
Long before the COVID-19 pandemic, GII replaced its legacy manufacturing resource planning (MRP) software with a DELMIAWORKS manufacturing ERP system in order to avoid the time-consuming and error-prone manual processes that resulted from using two different systems to manage the company.
Now, having a single integrated ERP system capable of delivering more precise supplier, multi-factory and distribution control, track and traceability and quality data is one of the most potent, proven business continuity strategies for supporting a global manufacturing operation. For GII, it has facilitated the agility to maintain continuity during the COVID-19 pandemic in several ways.
Initially, it was difficult to anticipate the scale of the pandemic. However, GII began contingency planning as early as December 2019 when COVID-19 infections were just beginning in China. Relying on its DELMIAWORKS ERP system, the company began planning for a potential disruption in its supply chains and accelerated shipments.
As the COVID-19 virus ran its course in China, GII used DELMIAWORKS to monitor production efficiency and resource loading in each plant. Having this data, GII was able to get one factory back to 90% production efficiency while others hovered at 60%.
GII was ready to have most of its US-based employees quickly shift to working from home while maintaining a very small group in the warehouse for shipping and receiving. Employees are accessing DELMIAWORKS from off-site/remote locations to handle purchasing raw materials, outsourcing items, and setting up bills of materials.
Today, GII is reducing the risk of the pandemic impacting its operations by providing its teams in Hong Kong and China with real-time, always-on access to DELMIAWORKS. This gives the entire company greater agility in dealing with the pandemic’s rapid changes to supply chains and shipping services’ availability.
