Client Background:
Drum Workshop (DW), a renowned California-based manufacturer, has been a pioneer in the percussion industry for over 50 years. Known for their exceptional quality and craftsmanship in producing drums for musicians worldwide, DW has been expanding their product offerings to include electronic percussion instruments. This shift has introduced new challenges, particularly in managing complex data across their engineering and manufacturing processes.
The Challenge:
As DW evolved from a specialty drum manufacturer focusing on acoustic instruments to incorporating electronic sub-assemblies, their data management systems were pushed to their limits. Despite implementing the Arena PLM system, DW faced significant integration challenges with their existing ERP system. These inefficiencies were leading to prolonged product development cycles, increased tribal knowledge and costs, and a heightened risk of errors during the development and commercialization processes as well as increased scrap. To support their continued innovation and expansion, DW needed a comprehensive solution to streamline their PLM and ERP systems, as well as improve their change management process to reduce risks, and enhance operational efficiency.
The Solution:
PRG partnered with DW to conduct a Business Systems/Process Optimization Assessment, focusing on aligning DW’s business systems and processes with industry best practices and ensuring robust processes for future growth.
The project involved:
- Comprehensive System Assessment: PRG conducted an in-depth review of DW’s existing processes and systems, including stakeholder interviews and on-site evaluations. This helped to map current data flows and identify gaps in the integration between Arena PLM and Expandable ERP systems.
- Strategic Recommendations: Based on the assessment, PRG provided strategic recommendations to optimize data flow, enhance the functionality of Arena PLM, and implement a robust change management process. Key recommendations included:
- Improving Data Flow: Streamlining the integration of Arena PLM with their ERP system to ensure only essential data is transferred, reducing complexity and improving procurement and inventory management.
- Leveraging Arena’s Capabilities: Expanding the use of Arena across DW’s departments, ensuring it serves as the single source of truth for product data, and improving cross-functional communication.
- Implementing Change Management: Developing a clear change management process utilizing Arena to enhance collaboration and reduce the risk of errors in product development.
- Phased Implementation: PRG outlined a phased approach to implementing these improvements, starting with immediate fixes to the data flow and change management processes, followed by extending Arena’s usage to legacy product lines and implementing a gate process for project management.
The Impact:
Through PRG’s targeted recommendations and phased implementation strategy, DW was able to:
- Streamline Product Development: By optimizing the integration between Arena PLM and their ERP system, DW had a plan that could significantly reduce the risk of errors and inefficiencies in their product lifecycle management process.
- Enhance Collaboration: The expanded use of Arena PLM across departments and the implementation of a structured change management process had the potential to improve internal communication and external collaboration, ensuring all stakeholders had access to accurate and up-to-date product data and a single source of truth.
- Support Future Growth: With a more efficient and error-resistant strategic plan in-place, DW is better positioned to continue their expansion into electronic percussion products and meet the evolving demands and growth of their business.
Conclusion:
PRG’s collaboration with Drum Workshop highlights the importance of optimizing business systems to support innovation and growth. By addressing critical gaps in DW’s PLM and ERP integration, PRG not only helped streamline their operations but also laid the foundation for sustainable success in the competitive percussion industry.
“Our partnership with PRG was instrumental in gaining an outside expert perspective to help support the evolution of our product development processes. The improvements in our PLM and ERP systems have provided a plan to streamline our operations and reduce the risk of errors, allowing us to focus on what we do best—innovating and creating world-class percussion instruments. PRG’s expertise and commitment to our success have been invaluable.”
— David Coons, Vice President of Technology Development, Drum Workshop
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