built for foundries

ERP SOFTWARE BUILT FOR FOUNDRIES.

Only foundries, and here’s why.

OUR STORY.We learned from experience that the only way to run ERP in a foundry is to design it for

the foundry environment. Since that revelation, it’s been our mission to be the ultimate ERP

problem solvers for foundry owners.

Every company with a distinct business focus has had a crystalizing moment that defined

their existence. Ours came while listening to clients. During the early years, every ERP

solution we offered to foundry clients was met with a request to customize. It wasn’t a

coincidence that foundries had similar, special requirements. It was a clear sign that a

general ERP solution wasn’t good enough for them.

When that clicked, we had a mission we all could rally around.

Our CEO had once worked in a foundry. One of our programmers worked in a foundry.

One of our support specialists worked in a foundry too. Looking back, it’s like a big sign

was being waved in front of our faces: Build ERP for Foundries.

Today, everyone at Guardian has some sort of connection to foundries, from walking plant

floors, to talking with workers and strategizing with management. Those things are vitally

important. Staying connected, actually seeing the challenges foundries face, keeps us in

continual improvement mode.

Customers are a part of our team. We work together, laugh together and seek

solutions together.

HOW OUR SOFTWARE AND SERVICES HELP YOU.

Markets

If you’re a metalcaster, if you support aerospace or defense industries, or if you serve commercial

businesses like automotive manufacturers, we understand the challenges your foundry faces. We

build ERP from a firsthand understanding of how foundries operate and never leave you feeling like

you’re implementing a second-rate solution.

Enterprise Software

Implement the most robust, feature-rich and fully integrated foundry ERP system available on the

market today. Our enterprise solution delivers exceptional functionality on the foundry floor. It

gives you remarkable capability to track and quantify costs for labor, materials and energy, and to

manage quality.

MES

The Guardian Manufacturing Execution System (MES) enables you to accurately track, collect and

analyze data to control all costs associated with manufacturing a casting. It gives you complete

visibility within each step of your routing. Your foundry becomes process-dependent rather than

people-dependent.

Professional Services

Implementing ERP for the first time, or improving your existing system, requires change, and

change can be challenging. We guide you through every step. Our implementation process is

proven to quickly address foundry business objectives. We help you optimize your people,

process and technology.

Plug us into your existing IT framework or have the Guardian ERP Solution hosted for you.

No matter how we support you, we help securely manage and monitor your investment.

THE DAY IT ALL JUST CLICKED.

Back at the office, the entire team

collaborates on solutions, product

design, and customer support.

We bring creativity to the business

of metalcasting, from ERP design

and development to implementation.

Your ERP system should be a celebration

of better things to come. If it doesn’t

feel like it, that’s another problem we

can solve.

GUARDIAN FOUNDRY SOFTWARE MODULES

www.guardiansoft.com

P: 262.567.0341

[email protected]

Customer Management

Cost Analysis Inventory Planning

Labor Tracking

Certifications Serialization

Quality Assurance

Tools and Gages

Quoting Financials

Engineering Scheduling Production

Tell us about the challenges you face to reduce costs and address quality demands.

We can show you how our foundry ERP can help you stay competitve.

Call 262.567.0341. Let’s set up a time to talk.

Thirteen modules comprise Guardian ERP for foundries, each developed and

improved over years of collaborating with our foundry customers.

073019GSS© 2019 Guardian Software Systems


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© 2019 Guardian Software Systems 073019GSS

Customer Management

HOW YOUR FOUNDRY BENEFITSCustomer management assists you in maintaining customer

master information for use throughout the Guardian System.

Its purpose is to help you quickly and efficiently meet the needs

of your customers by giving you a 360-degree view of customer

activity. This tool also enables you to identify which customers

are profitable as well as those that are less profitable or may

be costing you money.

KEY ADVANTAGES OF CUSTOMER MANAGEMENT • User-definable fields.

• Multiple ship-to addresses.

• Multiple contact records.

• Define over-ship and under-ship percentage.

• Material surcharge per part.

• Energy surcharge.

• Pricing information including current price, next price, price

review date, price effectivity date, last quote number, quantity

price breaks.

• Specific salesperson and commission percentage per part

with commission expiration date.

• History of price changes per part.

• Credit limit controls.

CUSTOMER MANAGEMENT


P: 262.567.0341

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Engineering

HOW YOUR FOUNDRY BENEFITSThe Guardian ERP engineering module supports every level of

your production process. It holds all data for parts, maintaining

an integrated database of materials, manufacturing methods,

work centers, resources and more. Engineering provides core

information for improved effectiveness, efficiency, and quality

of your end product.

KEY ADVANTAGES OF ENGINEERING • Allows details to be used to build quotes and create sales orders.

• Provides the shop floor with engineering information, processes,

operations, specifications, tools, gages and more for each part

produced – putting it all at your workers’ fingertips.

• Records changes to procedures and requirements via

engineering change notices, which document every detail.

• Defines certification requirements, specifications and

serialization within the part’s engineering file.

• Defines production standards for costs, quantity and time to

aid in identifying employee efficiencies.

• Contains the detailed information required for the production

of any given part.

For each part produced, engineering identifies and defines

everything from bills of material to process instructions, from

production operations to outside processing from a third-party

vendor, and from metallurgical specifications for the alloy to

quality checks and NDS testing.

ENGINEERING


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Scheduling

HOW YOUR FOUNDRY BENEFITSWe base scheduling on the Theory of Constraints, helping

production managers to identify the most important limiting

constraints and manage them to the point of improved accuracy.

With accurate scheduling, your customers can receive their orders

on time and for the price quoted.

KEY ADVANTAGES OF SCHEDULING • Production moves smoothly without “emergency” changes to

the production schedule due to overdue parts.

• Stress levels throughout the company decrease as the pressures

of producing beyond capacity decrease, reducing the number

of mistakes and scrapped parts.

• Labor efficiencies increase as employees are no longer

over-taxed and pressured to complete overdue parts.

• Production managers gain greater control over all aspects

of production with proper scheduling through identifying

constraints. Managers can schedule around the constraints and

quickly identify where additional manpower is required.

Often, production time can be reduced and additional capacity

can be revealed without any additional investment.

Scheduling makes production more efficient and profitable

by providing the means to improve on-time delivery, identify

constraints in production and reduce backlog.

SCHEDULING


P: 262.567.0341

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Production

HOW YOUR FOUNDRY BENEFITSGain the power to set realistic expectations and manage all

your requirements – from scheduling through production –

with confidence. Guardian gives you more control.

Get quick, accurate answers to vital production questions:

What are the design specifications? Do we have enough

material in inventory? Enough room in the schedule? Enough

available labor? Can we meet our margin requirements?

With firm control over production, you’re able to prevent

costly mistakes.

KEY ADVANTAGES OF PRODUCTION• Manage work orders more productively.

• Track production and labor efficiencies with

complete accuracy.

• Enable paper-lean workflow.

• Quantify the ramifications of a change order – scheduling,

costs for materials and man hours, feasibility, and profitability.

• Run a lean manufacturing environment.

• Increase employee productivity.

• Reduce indirect man hours, lead times, and inefficiencies.

• Improve workflow with visibility into work-order routing

at a granular level; lead people instead of reacting to

their demands.

PRODUCTION


P: 262.567.0341

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Cost Analysis

HOW YOUR FOUNDRY BENEFITSGuardian cost analysis provides users with the ability to apply

standard costing, creating a cost objective to evaluate

performance. Predetermining your cost of performing each

operation or producing any product under normal conditions

is essential to profitability.

KEY ADVANTAGES OF COST ANALYSIS • Pulls all appropriate data: materials, labor, setup, scrap, fixed

and variable overhead as well as outside processes together

to determine the best price for each part.

• Helps to prevent profit loss.

Prior to implementing Guardian ERP, a client had been using

its same method of costing on a part regularly produced for a

large customer of theirs – for more than 10 years. Months after

implementation, our client discovered that, through labor and

material reporting alone, they were losing money on the part.

Every factor must be considered to remain profitable. Guardian

cost analysis provides that data.

COST ANALYSIS


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Inventory Planning

HOW YOUR FOUNDRY BENEFITSInventory planning enables you to control movement and cost

of all your inventories, helping to keep costs down and prevent

interrupted production schedules.

KEY ADVANTAGES OF INVENTORY PLANNING• Provides information on MRP inventory as well as all

aggregate on-hand and/or detailed bin inventory items.

• Shows all on-hand, on-order and expected shipments of

inventory, allowing users to schedule accordingly.

• Provides detail on all inventory movement via a complete

audit trail.

• Enables easy tracking of physical inventory procedures.

• Can be performed as full inventory or as cycle counting

with ABC classifications.

INVENTORY PLANNING


P: 262.567.0341

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Labor Tracking

HOW YOUR FOUNDRY BENEFITSOne of your foundry’s largest variable components in the cost

of production is labor. Labor costs can substantially influence

how you invoice customers and ultimately your profitability.

It’s vitally important, then, to get control over labor costs.

Labor tracking facilitates timely and accurate reporting of

shop floor activities and gives management a complete

picture of both employee activities and labor operations.

Consistent reporting over time enables continuous

improvements in how, when and where labor gets applied

to customer jobs. Your leadership gains a valuable tool for

workforce management.

KEY ADVANTAGES OF LABOR TRACKING • Web-based Shop Floor MES

• Definable employee calendar.

• Attendance, direct and indirect labor reporting.

• Employee and machine reporting.

• Individual and team reporting.

• Overlapping job login.

• Manual labor ticket entry alternative.

• Serial number level reporting for labor and materials.

• Quality checks and reporting.

• Real-time scrap reporting by part number, reason code,

customer, work center, and employee.

• Real-time efficiency reporting by part number, department,

work center and employee.

LABOR TRACKING

(Manufacturing Execution System).


P: 262.567.0341

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Meeting AS9100 for Aerospace and Defense Industry

IS YOUR EXISTING SOFTWARE UP TO THE TASK?If you’re a supplier to A&D companies, you’re familiar with the challenges of helping them meet exacting standards. You recognize the need to have control over numerous financial and regulatory hurdles.

The big question, then, is can your existing ERP solution keep up with A&D requirements?

The answer has to be no – if your system doesn’t provide robust certification document capabilities and traceability.

Consider the comprehensive Guardian ERP Solution, a single source for all your data, from production through distribution and more.

KEY ADVANTAGES OF THE GUARDIAN ERP SOLUTION• Used extensively by companies with AS9100 Rev. C and D Requirements• Provides the documentation required for NADCAP Accreditation • Provides industry-standard certification documents

º Certificate of Conformance º Chemical certifications º Mechanical certifications º NDT Certifications

• Enables traceability to material lots, employee quality checks, serialization, supplier approvals, and more

• Allows detailed DDMRP and demand planning, including forecasting and part cost analysis, to help you better manage your global supply chain while still maintaining lean practices

• Offers powerful and flexible scheduling tools designed to handle your specific manufacturing processes and materials

• An integrated quality suite to manage nonconformance, corrective actions and document control for enterprise-wide visibility and accountability

• Complete supplier management features for open communication with suppliers through tools like two-way EDI exchange

AS9100


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HOW YOUR FOUNDRY BENEFITSCertification capability can open new markets to any foundry.

By creating clear and concise certifications with all required

information, Guardian enables you to help customers meet their

mandates for procedural as well as physical specifications.

KEY ADVANTAGES OF CERTIFICATIONS• Industry-standard certification documents provide clear and

concise certifications and required information.

• Developed within the production process, certification data

can be obtained via an interface with testing equipment such

as spectrometers.

• Identifies the certification needs of each part number and

provides a means of retaining the information and printing of

all applicable certifications at the point of shipment.

• Easily generated at the click of a button:

• Certificate of Conformance

• Chemical certifications

• Mechanical certifications

• NDT Certifications:

• Magnetic Particle

• Liquid Penetrant

• Ultrasonic

• Radiography

• Visual

• Eddy Current

• Welding

Certifications

CERTIFICATIONS


P: 262.567.0341

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Serialization

HOW YOUR FOUNDRY BENEFITSGuardian serialization allows the tracking of each part and

order as well as each employee who handled the part

throughout production. We tie it all together from inception

to shipment, providing vital traceability and detail for

your customers.

KEY ADVANTAGES OF SERIALIZATION • Enables capability for certification and NDT testing, increasing

marketability of product and ability to capture new customers.

• Allows shop floor workers to easily record which serial

numbered parts were worked on and passed through

Guardian MES.

• Allows shipping personnel to easily identify serial numbers

available for shipment.

• Allows sales personnel to review parts progress, leading to

better customer service.

Many industries today require serialization of manufactured

parts for traceability, from automotive, aerospace and defense

to heavy construction equipment and food processing.

SERIALIZATION


P: 262.567.0341

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Quality Assurance

HOW YOUR FOUNDRY BENEFITSGuardian quality assurance puts control of quality checks and

specifications into your hands, enabling you to maintain standards

and keep customers happy.

Guardian Quality Assurance provides the tools required to

produce top-quality parts with reduced scrap rates and increased

efficiency resulting happier customers and greater profitability.

KEY ADVANTAGES OF QUALITY ASSURANCE • Enables you to define the type of checks (quantitative or

qualitative) as well as the frequency determined by count,

percentage or on demand.

• Requires shop floor workers to perform quality checks before

recording quantities when Guardian MES is used.

• Requires serials numbers to be selected for the checked part

when serialization is used.

• Helps identify process and mold issues, resulting in corrective

action in engineering and less scrap.

QUALITY ASSURANCE


P: 262.567.0341

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Tools and Gages

HOW YOUR FOUNDRY BENEFITSUsed throughout the production process, tools and gages are

integral to quality. Guardian tracks the use, availability and

maintenance of tools and gages to help ensure proper calibration

and use. By automating procedures for calibration and tracking

of tools and gages, you can materially increase quality results and

create an electronic trail for compliance.

KEY ADVANTAGES OF TOOLS AND GAGES • Recording of last recalibration date.

• Multiple tools and gages per production process.

• Ownership information tracking.

• Where-used cross-reference.

• Status reporting.

• Storage location within plant.

• Recalibration alerts.

TOOLS & GAGES


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Quoting

HOW YOUR FOUNDRY BENEFITSThe Guardian quoting system enables you to estimate the

costs for new parts as well as develop detailed quotes for your

customers. Quotes can be as simple or as complex as you

require. By creating a quote based on parts you currently build,

all of the routing, labor and costing information can be pulled

into the quote, allowing you to better estimate costs and

determine the best price. The system removes guesswork from

the process by applying your own engineering data.

KEY ADVANTAGES OF QUOTING• Import “like” part data to build estimate and quote.

• Add per part items to the quote.

• Add per shipment or per order items to the quote.

• Hide specific line item charges, but include them in the total.

• Add pricing breakdowns for specified quantities.

• Calculate commission and markup percentages.

• Explore “what if” scenarios in estimating costs without effect

on the final quote.

• Keep track of quotes at various stages:

• in process

• active and sent to customer

• closed

QUOTING


P: 262.567.0341

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Financials

HOW YOUR FOUNDRY BENEFITSArm yourself with tools for complete and thorough visibility into

your cost structure, with Guardian financials. Track and quantify

your costs with complete accuracy. With up-to-the minute,

immediately accessible information on every cost in your

foundry, you can evaluate the true costs of labor, materials and

energy. Our financial solution addresses the unique needs of a

manufacturing finance leader.

KEY ADVANTAGES OF FINANCIALS• Gain full transparency into direct and indirect labor costs for

a firm grasp on productivity.

• Understand where and how your labor costs get applied

throughout your multi-faceted processes.

• See true material costs at all steps of an operation – know

what it really costs to make the product.

• Identify and track the many ways materials get consumed.

• Improve inventory management by connecting manufacturing

with supply and business operations.

• Improve purchasing.

• Gain a clear view of your fully connected enterprise for

planning and reporting.

FINANCIALS

built for foundries

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