IQMS, the IQMS logo and EnterpriseIQ are registered trademarks.docx

IQMS, the IQMS logo and EnterpriseIQ are registered
trademarks of IQMS. All other company names are trademarks
of their respective owners. The information herein is subject to
change without notice. © 2015 IQMS. All rights reserved.
If someone gave you a week of time, what would you
do with it? A whole seven days is exactly what Nicolet
Plastics, Inc. is delivering its customers with its innovative
Quick Response Manufacturing (QRM) program. Through
an enterprise-wide initiative that relentlessly emphasizes
lead time reduction, Nicolet Plastics is revolutionizing
time-based competition and make-to-order strategies
to ensure manufacturing excellence.
Nicolet Plastics credits a large portion of its QRM success
to the flexibility, depth, user-defined fields and forms,
process and workflow design and database integrity of
its manufacturing ERP and MES system, EnterpriseIQ
from IQMS. Without it, the QRM strategy would be very
difficult to deploy on a day-to-day basis. Read below
to learn more about Nicolet Plastics’ innovative quick
response manufacturing initiative and the results its
customers are experiencing.
Why Quick Response Manufacturing?
Nicolet Plastics is a total solutions provider of parts
and components for a wide array of customers, from
disposable packaging to high-end medical parts for MRI
equipment. The company specializes in low to moderate
volume, highly complex custom parts in a wide variety
of materials. Despite the diverse industries Nicolet
Plastics produces for, the one commonality between its

customers is the need for consistent products that drive
down costs and meet volume needs.
Observing the marketplace, Nicolet Plastics knew it
needed to make a change. Nicolet Plastics watched as
the major multi-national firms were increasingly moving
their high volume, minimally complex molded business
offshore to avoid rising costs at home. The company also
observed that although the high volume business was
leaving, the low to moderate volume business was not,
as these companies were not able to take advantage of
the offshore workforce.
Nicolet Plastics realized that the marketplace’s focus on
long-run production optimization offered an untapped
Nicolet Plastics’ Quick Response Manufacturing Strategy
www.iqms.com 1.866.367.3772 [email protected]
Nicolet Plastics, Inc. has
accomplished more over the
past 25 years than many of its
top competitors have in more
than 50—and they’re just getting
started. Originally established in
1986 in Mountain, Wis., a small
community located in the middle
of the Chequamegon-Nicolet
National Forest, it’s easy to see
that Nicolet Plastics has come
a long way since those humble
beginnings. Today, Nicolet Plastics,
an ISO certified company, serves
its ever-growing customer
base from a 41,000 square foot
production facility and focuses on

complex industrial and medical
components and assemblies.
In the beginning, Nicolet Plastics
was a company that made
parts. However, thanks to the
development of its Total
Solution
s
approach, Nicolet Plastics is doing
much more than simply making
parts. Today, they’re solving
problems.
http://www.iqms.com
http://www.iqms.com/
mailto:sales%40iqms.com?subject=

opportunity in the low to moderate volume market. To thrive in
the economic landscape,
stay ahead of the curve and remain competitive, Nicolet Plastics
decided to exploit its
strength in excellence at complexity and turn market
weaknesses into opportunities. It
began looking for manufacturing philosophies that supported
the needs of short-run,
complex part customers.
That is when Nicolet Plastics discovered a solution right in its
own backyard. Quick
Response Manufacturing is a consortium between the
manufacturing industry and the
engineering school at the University of Wisconsin. It was
developed and published by
founding director, Rajan Suri, who defines the program as the
pursuit of the reduction of
lead time in all aspects of a company’s operation, embracing a
relentless emphasis on time
reduction that has a long-term impact on every aspect of the
company.
For Nicolet Plastics, the key to making the QRM program work
was two-fold: Company-

wide embracement of operational change and the business and
manufacturing tools
found in EnterpriseIQ. Before embarking on this new initiative,
Nicolet Plastics established
a few goals:
• Reduce total order to delivery time of parts by 14 days (from
21 days to 7 days)
• Reduce finished goods inventory
• Be able to respond to unexpected changes in demand without a
degradation of service
• Develop a cross-trained workforce for flexibility, including
the creation of a cross
functional quick response office cell
• Reduce last shot (last good piece) to first shot time (first good
piece) by 50 percent
Beginning the QRM Process
When implementation of QRM began, Nicolet Plastics started
by addressing its workforce
and creating more flexibility with its personnel by ditching the
old way of looking at
production staffing. For example, traditional floor management
would have required a
mold hanger, materials handler, production and process

technicians, a supervisor and a
manager for each shift. Nicolet Plastics decided to ignore job
titles and employee categories
by defining the talents and skills required for an ideal shift on
the production floor.
Nicolet Plastics built a skills matrix, including both
soft skills (interpersonal, ability to succeed in a team
environment) and hard skills (technical abilities,
intelligence), including gaps between the target skills
mix and the actual. With this thought process in
mind, Nicolet Plastics immediately saw crossover. An
employee previously defined as an operator might also
be able to clean out a hopper, a skill that crossed over
into materials handling. Once defined, Nicolet Plastics
evaluated its employees in terms of skill levels through
written and practical testing to determine competency
levels and establish training necessary to create an ideal
shift.
For Nicolet Plastics, the
key to making the QRM
program work was
two-fold: Company-
wide embracement of
operational change

and the business and
manufacturing tools
found in EnterpriseIQ.
http://www.iqms.com
A credentialing program was established in-house and
employees were rewarded for
technical abilities and willingness to learn new production and
process-related skills.
New pay ranges were defined for each skill level, so as

employees progressed in their
ability to handle more complex issues, value to the company
increased and so did wages.
120-plus hours per employee were logged over a three year
period, equivalent to a week
of training for every employee since the initiative began.
Once the new employee roles were defined and established,
Nicolet began tackling
the individual QRM initiatives. The first was to change its
accounting mindset: Because
standard costing is not a key tenet of lean accounting, Nicolet
Plastics decided to track
actual costs instead. The challenge was to get employees
thinking in terms of time and
not in terms of overhead absorption. It is not reasonable to
assume that all of a company’s
costs will increase as production volume increases, but that is
exactly what standard cost
accounting assumes. Nicolet Plastics now tracks actual costs
through the proactive tools
in IQMS’ RealTime™ Process Monitoring system, as well as
detailed exception reporting,
for a proactive value add/value stream approach.

The second initiative was to reduce batch sizes. Due to the
nature of low volume customers,
Nicolet Plastics typically handles as many as 90 to 100 mold
changes per week. QRM
practices slicing time by sharing resources (in this case,
presses) with competing target
market segments (long and short runs) without creating
backlogs and queues. In order
to cut time, Nicolet Plastics schedules its long jobs that can run
unattended over the
weekend in what is referred to as a “swim lane.” This prevents
short jobs from getting
backlogged or delayed behind a long-running job (we all
understand how frustrating it
is to wait in the express lane behind someone at the grocery
store who clearly has more
than 10 items in his cart!).
Nicolet Plastics achieves this unattended, lights out weekend
production with the help
of IQMS’ RealTime™ Production Monitoring system that
supports machine management
in real time. All aspects of Nicolet Plastics’ production (total
parts created, production
time, downtime, rejects and parts remaining) are tracked

immediately and applied to the
order, while simultaneously updating the schedule.
Work center performance can be viewed from any
computer on the network and even remotely, for
improved efficiency, visibility and productivity.
If RealTime detects that there is a problem with an
unattended swim lane, like a press has stopped running,
Nicolet Plastics uses the EnterpriseIQ business activity
monitoring feature, IQAlert, to generate an automated
message (text, email or voice message) to the on-call
press technician. The technician only needs to come to work if
an exception occurs.
Nicolet Plastics achieves
this unattended, lights
out weekend production
with the help of IQMS’
RealTime™ Production
Monitoring system...
http://www.iqms.com

Addressing Scheduling Complexity and Improving Customer
Service
With the critical component of properly handling customers’
needs top of mind, Nicolet
Plastics next focused on managing job complexity. Nicolet
Plastics was previously
supporting hundreds of different materials and thousands of
mold/insert combinations.
Variability is the essence of complexity, so Nicolet Plastics had
to focus on eliminating
dysfunctional variability, such as excessive inventory,
ineffective systems and rework.
Using the rich data in EnterpriseIQ, Nicolet Plastics evaluated
the top 80 percent of
its customers, items and materials to identify target groups. The
tools in EnterpriseIQ
allowed Nicolet Plastics to “weed the garden” (eliminate non-
strategic variability) and

come up with a resulting mix that remains very complex, but
more focused.
Following the initiative above, Nicolet Plastics addressed its
wide variety of custom
resins and materials required to run jobs, specifically the
challenge: How do you reduce
lead times when the material lead time may be longer than your
total desired time for
the whole order? Using its new data about key materials from
the step above, Nicolet
Plastics was able to designate “house” materials. Using
EnterpriseIQ’s user-defined
fields and rich MRP reporting tools, Nicolet Plastics identified
daily usage, appropriate
reorder points and established a purchasing plan to ensure
sufficient stocks of key
house materials.
With staff, materials and batch size improvements addressed,
Nicolet Plastics could
focus on scheduling. QRM requires dynamic and fluid
adaptation at any minute, so
Nicolet’s master scheduler uses EnterpriseIQ’s rough-cut
capacity planning tools and

robust scheduling engine (that takes into account complete
materials, capacity and
labor requirements in a matter of minutes) to create the daily
plan.
Nicolet also uses EnterpriseIQ’s auto-load feature that uses
must-start dates to establish
a priority sequence for jobs. If a job has a must-start date in the
next seven days, it is
authorized for work. This prevents “stealing” of necessary
materials or labor from one
job for another that is not yet due. Combine this with just-in-
time principals, and Nicolet
Plastics can easily see where there will be spikes and
constraints to manage.
Despite the accurate schedule, Nicolet Plastics needed
additional flexibility. So in
combination with the auto-loaded schedule, Nicolet Plastics
uses EnterpriseIQ’s press
and labor capacity whiteboards to ensure they have spare
capacity for flexibility. In
addition, Nicolet Plastics uses EnterpriseIQ’s Runs Best feature
(an establishment of
which job runs best on which work center) to define which

presses are capable and
qualified to run any item. This is also included on the schedule
to offer operators the
flexibility to adjust as needed to prevent potential bottlenecks
and flow resources where
needed.
Finally, Nicolet Plastics moved its focus from the production
floor to the front office
to make sure that customer service was also done the QRM way.
All support staff
http://www.iqms.com

that touched an order were organized into one team and cross-
trained to improve
responsiveness to customers. Nicolet Plastics uses
EnterpriseIQ’s Customer Relationship
Management (CRM) system to extensively track customer and
order status. With the
ability to accurately check capable to promise, access external
documents and initiate
workflows to facilitate communication, Nicolet Plastics’
employees can quickly and
easily assess what has transpired, the particular status of an
order, etc., for accurate and
timely customer service.
Nicolet Plastics’ Hard Work Yields Impressive Results
Time is money in manufacturing. A quicker responsiveness to
the customer gives them
not only what they want, when they want it, but at quantities
that allow them to lower
inventories and improve cash flow. Despite the benefits of time-
based competition and
make-to-order strategies, injection molding has been very slow

to adopt a time-based
model.
QRM has clearly differentiated Nicolet Plastics from other
molders. Nicolet Plastics has
added many clients because it has been able to develop
partnerships based on the
value it delivers, not the price it charges. By saving its
customers an invaluable week of
time in production, Nicolet Plastics’ clients can get projects to
market faster and gain
market share ahead of the competition.
In addition to the new business, Nicolet Plastics has achieved:
• Improved velocity: 2.3 times at the start of the project to an
estimated velocity of
6.3 times. The financial results—margins, cash flow and
revenue have all followed
• A reduction of total finished goods inventory from a high of
$500,000 to an average
of $200,000 (while doubling total sales)
• Increased finished goods inventory turns from 11 to 25
• Reduced lead time by seven days (halfway to goal)
• Reduced time spent making scrap parts (scrap

hours) by 45 percent in the first year
• An improved working capital position
(from lower inventory) has enabled debt pay
down
With QRM and EnterpriseIQ in place, the company
had its best year in history from an income standpoint.
Two years later the company again had its best year,
both in terms of revenue and earnings.
But the most impressive return on investment realized
by Nicolet Plastics is its earnings before interest,
taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA).
Time is money in
m a n u f a c t u r i n g
... Despite the
benefits of time-
based competition
and make-to-order
strategies, injection
molding has been
very slow to adopt a
time-based model.

http://www.iqms.com
Nicolet Plastics’ EBITDA quadrupled over a three year period,
exceeding EBITDA for the
preceding 10 years combined!
Nicolet Plastics’ significant and forward-focused achievements
since the project began
have garnered attention throughout the manufacturing industry:
Nicolet Plastics has been
honored with a Manufacturing Leadership (ML) 100 award for
Operational Excellence,
was the recipient of the Workplace Excellence Award from the
New North and was a
finalist in two categories—Workplace Development and
Manufacturing Excellence–for

the Wisconsin Manufacturer of the Year award. Despite these
accomplishments, quick
response manufacturing is a journey, and Nicolet Plastics is
happy to say that it is not
done yet!
http://www.iqms.com
To: Executives of This Company
From: I.T Employer
Date: 6th Feb, 2017
Re: PROPOSAL 1 - Implementing information system into the
organization
1. Regarding the organization’s decision to adopt a new
information technology system, the aforementioned decision is
designed to highlight major issues during the transition from the
current system and onto the infrastructure for the Information
System that we propose to implement. The purpose of
proposing this new system is our attempt to transform the
service delivery of this company to its’ ever-expanding market
size. Based on research that we conducted, it is necessary to
address the implementation strategy of the new infrastructure
and state the requirements and how the whole process will take

place. We are proposing that the process be implemented as
follows:
a. Our division will handle implementation; however, this is
contingent upon successful collaboration amongst (and between)
all divisions within the organization (Connelly et al, 2016).
Involving the entire organization in the implementation process
is key since the new info system will affect the entire
organization as well as its’ customers.
b. While the new info system will be capable of performing all
tasks currently being performed by humans in the organization,
the info system itself will be administered by a minimum of 12
individuals who will intercede and remedy any issues that arise
with the system. As such, it is necessary to ensure that system
requirements are met in terms of people, information, time,
money, and infrastructure (Kumar Basu, 2015).
2. The aforementioned system administrators will also be
responsible for creation and modification of policies that are
going to be implemented to successfully operate the new
system. Additionally, current call center managers will be
retrained so that they may be switched to the new system
management to directly interact with our customers.
3. Funding requirements for the first phase of the project total
$45,000.00 and these funds will incorporate purchase of the
equipment as well as installation and configuration. Due to the
extreme customization of the info system, total project time

from inception to completion will take approximately nine
months, and included in the design will be additional features
that are not found on the current system, and this will result in a
competitive advantage for our company, and it will negate the
requirement to include multiple add-ons and peripherals.
4. In order to ensure successful implementation of the new info
system as expressed in our proposal, a change management
strategy will be essential. As part of this change management
strategy, I am strongly recommending the following
infrastructure upgrades:
a. Switching from one server to two so that one may serve as
the primary and the additional server would be a backup in the
event of failure of the primary.
b. Implementation of a mixture of platforms to ensure that our
customers experience seamless access to the services (i.e;
implementing the use of Windows, derision, and Linux as well
as a storage box that is attached to each platform). Allowing
multiple platforms will protect the company form a shutdown
that might arise as a result of bad update, virus or hack attack.
Our intent is to eliminate the propensity for the company to
remain a monoculture.
c. Since speed is essential something that our entire system will
be gauged on, we will need to invest in high quality networking
equipment that can move data without high latency (Connelly et
al, 2016). My recommendation in this regard is the purchase of

a Dell PowerEdge VRTX so that the Gigabit switch may be
integrated with computing as well as storage functions for
higher network speeds and productivity.
d. Equally important to successful implementation of the new
system is determining how our customers will be accessing our
central information repository. Thus, the system will be
designed so that our customers may access the system using
their computers and mobile devices via the web browser, mobile
app or USSD services.
5. Once the system is ready, the transition will take place in a
series of activities to ensure that any problems are solved before
the company fully adopts the system. Hence, there will be the
testing phase whereby the information of 200 customers will be
securely and confidentially moved into the new system and all
the services be assigned to them for full access from which their
opinions about the rate of the services received will be reviewed
(Kumar Basu, 2015). It is at this point that the designated
system administrators will prepare the system to accept and be
compatible with all policies. In addition, the existing company
database will be merged with the new database so as to fully
switch to the new system after all the loopholes have been
adopted. The retrained staff will then be deployed in the new
customer service centers to begin working with the new system.
6. Finally, I am recommending that our organization
collaborates with and partners closely with the IT system

provider for a period of not less than one year to ensure that the
provider puts in place and maintains the system to make it
easier for the organization. The transition process will be based
on case study A: Business and Technology Transformation in
Utilities. In this case, it is discovered that the company was
considering exploring new ways to work with customers who
are new to the organization as they provide a commercial focus
that was greater and more flexible for necessary growth.
7. Point of contact for this memo is the undersigned at
(703)555-5555.
Very Respectfully
Analyst
References

Connelly, B., Dalton, T., Murphy, D., Rosales, D., Sudlow, D.,
Havelka, D. (2016). Too Much of a Good Thing: User
Leadership at TPAC. Information Systems Education
Journal, 14(2) pp 34-42. http://isedj.org/2016-14/ ISSN: 1545-
679X.
Kumar Basu, K. (2015). The Leader's Role in Managing
Change: Five Cases of Technology-Enabled Business
Transformation. Global Business And Organizational
Excellence, 34(3), 28-42. http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/joe.21602

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