MPI Corporation
MPI Corporation is an investment holding company that has been dedicated to building businesses that enhance the quality of life. With a unique culture, long-term vision, and unwavering commitment to its subsidiaries, MPI Corp stands as a beacon of excellence in the world of investment.
At present, MPI Corp oversees several companies specializing in the manufacturing of metal formed components, catering to a wide range of industries including automotive, appliances, electrical distribution, and consumer electronics. Its subsidiaries are deeply involved in various aspects of the manufacturing process, from flat roll material servicing and distribution to precision metal stamping, heat treating, and other finishing processes.
The Challenge
MPI first updated its legacy ERP solution to a modern system in 2013. The new system worked great but also required a significant number of customizations due to the complexities and uniqueness of the business. The company sought ways to customize its cloud ERP without adding locally installed solutions, thin clients, and bolt-on applications.
MPI worked to build customer order entry, part creation/process routing/control plans, planning and scheduling, pricing and contracts, and shopping and certification modules on top of its ERP’s data scheme. MPI has an excellent IT team with deep development capabilities. They were achieving their objectives but believed there was a better toolset. When they discovered the Fuuz MES Platform, they saw a product that could truly meet their needs at a level beyond their expectations.
“If we’d had Fuuz initially, we would have built our solution in Fuuz,” commented McDonald.
“The team at MFGx/Fuuz has been one of those rare groups that does not just talk about being dedicated to our success, they demonstrate it consistently in their actions. And in solving our issues and needs, they keep in mind the bigger picture of how to evolve Fuuz in a fashion which improves the usability and functionality for the market and not just an individual client.”
- Mark McDonald, Executive Vice President of Information Technology at MPI Corporation
The Solution
Because the Fuuz MES Platform is integrated into its cloud ERP, the MPI team has found it’s now easier to use, manage, and maintain. Since implementing Fuuz, MPI has seen an improvement in productivity in developing custom applications and solutions, compared to .NET and Visual Studio.
“We took the Fuuz MES Platform and started building a number of other solutions. Little by little, it has moved every area of the business in MPI from the MES level and scheduling level to what we’re doing with financials in our ERP. We’re even running pricing algorithms and calculations. The Fuuz MES Platform has been a fantastic solution for us,” explains McDonald.
“What we found was that what was being developed and built at Fuuz was going to get us unstuck. Essentially, it was a solution that could address a number of pain points pretty quickly.”
Fuuz has allowed an already efficient team to operate at an even higher level and drastically reduce the time it takes to build the specific applications needed for their organization.
The Result
Fuuz has given the MPI team the toolset to integrate data into and out of its ERP while maintaining the system’s full data schema. Solutions are easily mapped out with Fuuz.
“Fuuz is like an on–ramp; our team doesn’t have to code or create something from scratch because the Fuuz MES Platform has those options already available,” commented McDonald.
Now MPI can accommodate changes to its UI and meet specific user requests faster and more efficiently. With improved performance and reliability, the team has found the cloud-based, multi-tenant Fuuz MES Platform extremely scalable and flexible.
MPI is in an advanced stage of its digital transformation and leadership sees additional potential for replacing or augmenting several components of their Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) architecture stack with Fuuz. Having the ability to consider these options is key to MPI’s future success in innovating and responding to its strategic objectives with speed and agility.
“I have great respect for Craig Scott and what he’s doing with Fuuz by MFGx. It’s a fantastic product that gave us a fully integrated solution. Craig and his group really helped us. Fuuz has the functionality we needed.”