The world’s largest manufacturer of vehicle shock absorbers is deploying the Asprova APS system – supplied by Aimtec, into its Czech branch.

Pardubice based manufacturer of vehicle shock absorbers, KYB Manufacturing Czech s.r.o. , will plan its production using an advanced production planning system Asprova . Aimtec is the exclusive supplier of this Japanese APS system for Czech and Slovak markets. The new APS system will allow for faster and more accurate planning, even with the planned increase in production.

KYB Manufacturing Czech s.r.o. was founded in August 2003 as a production plant of a Japanese company KYB. The company’s main production programme consists of production of shock absorbers for personal vehicles. Among significant customers of the Pardubice plant are companies such as TPCA, Suzuki and Renault. The KYB group also produces hydraulic and electronic equipment, for instance, power steering, automotive electronics or manufacturing and agricultural equipment.

Asprova APS system – fast and easy production planning

Fundamental part of KYB Manufacturing Czech’s operation is the production of parts for OEMs, with a share of 70-80% of total turnover. The remaining 20% of turnover is made up of spare parts production. In production planning, principles of Toyota Production System are used at a high-level. However, the existing Excel-based planning appeared too laborious given the prospective further production growth. The Czech plant, KYB Manufacturing Czech, has therefore sought a system for advanced production planning, which would enable faster and more accurate planning including verification of material availability and substitutability of planners. Another system requirement was ensured rapid response to changes in customer requirements and to unexpected production situations. The Japanese APS system Asprova was finally selected from several bids.

Easy integration with an ERP system

The Production Control Manager, Mr Milan Fuchs, gives the extensive and simple configurability of the system as the main reason for chosing Asprova. This means, that the system can be very precisely adapted to specific conditions of a production plant without the need for programme modifications. Another aspect he considers important is the easy further development of the system with progressive steps, again, without the need for programme modifications. Another important factor in chosing the Asprova system was the ease of linking it to the existing corporate system MFG and an extremely comfortable data management.

The expected time for implementation of the Asprova APS system is 3 months. The project was commenced at the end of June,with a live start planned for October 2010.  Part of the project is also an interface for barcode based production booking.