America leading electroplating company increases efficiency by improving Quality Management with SoftExpert solutions

The company's operations and customer services are managed by the SoftExpert Suite, allowing more control and agility daily Dekalb Metal Finishing has improved operations and assures quality after implementing SoftExpert's solution, a provider of software and services for quality management and automation of business processes. For the last 70 years, DeKalb Metal Finishing of Auburn Indiana, has provided quality electroplating and metal finishing services to the automotive and general industry sectors. The company specializes in RoHS compliant electroplating and environmentally friendly passivates and sealers to add corrosion protection, wear resistance and aesthetic qualities to metal parts. According to Quality Manager, Matt Morris, the company's main challenges were consistently tracking process performance and managing the many responsibilities of team members to assure great results for their growing list of customers. “We had difficulties in tracking key process characteristics for the products we electroplated and the many action assignments we had each month” says Matt.

“The ability to better monitor our process lines and make real time adjustments using statistical analysis was a key factor in our selection of the SoftExpert Excellence Suite” he says. “Additionally, the ability to stay focused on our individual responsibilities and quickly respond to customer questions by immediately recalling the processing history of each lot also contributed to our decision”.

“Through the solution we are able to effectively and efficiently manage our many daily tasks such as outside lab testing and prototyping projects as well as individual continuous improvement assignments” Matt adds. Currently, the Quality, Engineering, Purchasing, Operations, and IT departments make use of the Statistical Process Control (SPC), Project Management, Document Control, Problem, Audit, Training, Kanban, Knowledgebase, Meeting, Requirement, Process, Workflow and Analytics modules. Another highlight pointed out by Matt is the possibility of monitoring their processes by using real-time analysis and metrics to assess the performance of both their shop floor equipment and their associates. With the electroplating process controls, business process automation and dynamic action assignment management, DeKalb’s daily operations are more efficient. “We are able to see the workload of our specialists to anticipate bottlenecks and adjust individual assignments. This visibility into our daily performance is enabling us to improve and accelerate our customer services,” Matt adds. For the future, the company plans to implement other SoftExpert modules so that all users can use standardized forms and workflows to capture key data and review and resolve open issues. "We continue to explore the rich features of the system to automate additional business processes and performance tracking," he concludes.