GENIO Bikes Inc.

GENIO, with almost two decades of experience, excels in the manufacturing of carbon fiber, aluminum front forks, and bicycle frames. Located in Taichung, the core city of high-end bicycle manufacturing in the world, GENIO possesses the most advanced bicycle frame supply chain, encompassing components such as tubing, forged parts, CNC parts, and baking paint. The world's top suppliers gather here to create the dream frames for bicycles.

After experiencing strong demand for aluminum alloy production and recognizing the shifts in the high-end suspension market, GENIO decided to establish a carbon fiber manufacturing facility. Presently, GENIO possesses both aluminum alloy and carbon fiber production equipment, allowing them to offer high-end, specialized frames for various bicycle models using these two materials.

The essence of every bicycle lies in its frame. Leveraging their extensive experience in mountain biking and frame manufacturing, combined with a steadfast commitment to quality, GENIO has emerged as one of the world's premier bicycle frame manufacturers.

Before implementing iTEC ERP, Jie Rui relied on manual production daily reports, where on-site personnel would handwrite the reports, and the production management personnel would collect them, often taking up to 2 days before manually inputting the data into the system. This process led to delayed information feedback and increased the risk of human errors in data entry and documentation. Additionally, it inadvertently raised production costs and administrative expenses. It takes the production management team nearly a day to do the manual data verification and entry tasks, leaving them unable to focus on more critical tasks, such as optimizing scheduling efficiency.

Additionally, the actual product costs cannot be accurately settled. Previously, the finance personnel handled the cost calculations through Excel on their own. However, the cost distortion rate has been quite high due to the high complexity and lack of consistency in data sources across different Excel files. When costs are distorted, it poses a significant risk in providing accurate information for managerial decision-making and creating a reliable basis for business quotations by sales personnel.

When production capacity cannot be accurately controlled, and scheduling fails to meet delivery deadlines, it leads to delays in order fulfillment, and the need to request extended delivery dates from customers. This, in turn, may result in customer complaints, creating a negative perception of the company. Although it might not directly impact the company's revenue, it can have a detrimental effect on the company's future business development and operations due to the inability to accurately determine product pricing and profitability.

In recent years, with the government's implementation of labor laws like "one fixed day off and one flexible rest day," wages and overtime expenses have increased. Improving production efficiency has become a top priority. GENIO's General Manager, Mr. Lin, has been contemplating how to make changes and enhancements. Through iTEC's consulting diagnosis, GENIO was able to identify blind spots in its operations and receive recommendations and improvement strategies. Alongside data analysis provided by the iTEC ERP system, these combined efforts resulted in sweetened outcomes in terms of cost improvement.

Currently issues

❌Time-consuming document input: Employees spend a lot of time processing ERP document input. (e.g., material requisitions, work orders)

❌Production costs not integrated: Production costs have not been integrated, and financial reports are generated manually.

Improvement Goals

✅Enhance the timeliness of real-time document creation and provide immediate feedback on production status, offering accurate information for relevant department personnel.

✅Implement a cost system to enhance the ability to perform monthly cost reconciliation and expedite the speed of financial account closing.

1. Poor timelines in inputting production documents such as material requisition and completion forms have resulted in production management spending excessive time on printing documents, data entry, and verifying/correcting errors made by on-site personnel while filling out forms.
2. Manual scheduling by production management occurs approximately twice a week, but due to the lack of real-time production feedback, they are unable to grasp the capacity load at each workstation accurately. Consequently, on-site production personnel do not always follow the schedules set by production management. Additionally, the lengthy planning process and unexpected customer order changes further diminish the relevance of the schedules.

After presenting the data through the iTEC ERP system, further specific recommendations and solutions are proposed:

ERP Management Challenges

• ❌Production unit scheduling does not reflect real-time production status, leading to frequent delays in meeting delivery deadlines.
• ❌On-site production information takes 3 to 5 days to be feedback, and documents are entered on the following day. This delay often hinders timely processing and accurate monitoring of production status at various workstations. The lack of transparency in capacity allocation makes it difficult to provide clear scheduling to on-site personnel, who then have to schedule based on the actual on-site situation.
• ❌Production costs are frequently settled using Excel, resulting in a high distortion rate of cost. The settlement process takes nearly a month, and if errors occur, overtime is required to reconcile accounts, consuming both time and effort.

Benefits of ERP Application

• ✅Integration of the iTEC system with daily processes, enabling better control over operations such as order management, procurement, production, inventory, and finance, leading to increased efficiency.
• ✅At each workstation, the control over inputting material requisition forms and completion-related documents is completed on the same day. The system displays real-time progress, serving as an audit reference
• ✅Production management can utilize the MPS scheduling function to efficiently plan reliable production schedules, reducing inventory management costs and minimizing delays.
• ✅After reorganizing the correct document flow with the help of consultants, anomalies in monthly inventory quantity and cost calculations have significantly decreased. Auditing documents and the implementation of the cost system have resulted in higher accuracy in cost settlement.
• ✅Financial personnel only need to use iTEC's production cost allocation to settle all product costs, enabling them to quickly provide financial reports and performance-related statements to management, thus enhancing decision-making accuracy and shortening decision-making timelines.

Currently, GENIO has fully implemented all modules, and production certificates, documents, and reports are all generated using the ERP system. The previous production manufacturing delays in form input have been effectively improved through the use of the system and management processes. Currently, the front-end document feedback achieves accurate responsiveness, enabling effective evaluation of production scheduling calculations and reducing errors. Through the iTEC functionality, even the back-end cost settlement can be precisely and rapidly achieved on a monthly basis. This enhances the accuracy of business quotations and decision-making. The team has successfully achieved the phased ERP project goals together.

General Manager Lin of GENIO believes that the iTEC management diagnosis service has been of great assistance to the company. He hopes to have regular diagnoses and receive management recommendations to help the company correct any deviations. This assistance will aid the company in setting annual improvement goals and overcoming blind spots in its management, ultimately leading to better business outcomes.