Hendrickson

About Hendrickson

Qad develops innovative automation solutions to meet company’s needs

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Hendrickson is a leading global manufacturer and supplier for the commercial transportation industry. They produce medium and heavy-duty mechanical, elastomeric and air suspensions; integrated and non-integrated axle systems; auxiliary lift axle systems; parabolic and multi-leaf springs; stabilizers and bumper and trim components.

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With 25 manufacturing facilities employing more than 4,000 people globally, Hendrickson has four divisions: Truck and Trailer Suspension Groups, Special Products Group and the International Group. With an OEM and aftermarket customer base, Hendrickson realizes annual revenues in excess of $1.3 billion. Their tagline, “The World Rides On Us,” summarizes Hendrickson’s growing global position in the transportation industry.

The Challenge

How to achieve efficiency with specific needs when standard solutions are not the answer

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Hendrickson manages both manufacturing and distribution within the same four walls at each of their plants. As a result, they are required to store large amounts of raw materials and prepare, package and ship large amounts of various finished products to customers.

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“We were not as efficient as we wanted in the directed, put-away of the raw materials or finished products,” notes Scott Aselage, plant manager. “As inventory came in and products were completed, work-center and shipping requirements were not easily visible. This caused multiple moves of the same materials and waits for materials at the work-centers and shipping areas.”

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“Our picking and packing functions for sales order shipping were also not optimal. Paper-based pick-sheets quickly became outdated; material handlers were at a disadvantage not being able to easily see which locations had enough inventory to fill an order, and sales orders were being done one at a time causing multiple trips for the same parts in the same place for different orders,” continues Aselage. “It all caused long lead times, the need for more material handlers and equipment and time-wasting redundancies.”

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“We needed better materials management but we found standard Warehouse Management Systems (WMS) weren’t compatible with our company methods, and were also too narrowly focused on only warehousing of materials,” adds Murthy Mundrigi, IT project lead. “We needed a specific solution and working closely with QAD, we realized they could provide what we needed.”

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“For each challenge we had, QAD provided the tools to find a solution.”

The Solution

the solution, material handlers were covering multiple aisles and picking for one order at a time. Oftentimes, different material handlers were picking the same item in the same location for different orders or making multiple trips back to the same location for the same part but different orders. Now, with QAD Automation Solutions in place, Hendrickson has seen a 30 percent reduction in picking errors and a 50 percent reduction in picking lead time.

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“We have been very pleased with the success of our plant pilot program,” adds Aselage. “These two new modules are now part of our portfolio and will be used at subsequent plants as we roll it out across the company. QAD Automation Solutions scale up very well for easy application across our multiple facilities with their varying size and complexity.”

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“Working with QAD has been a good experience for us – we shared quite a few ideas and it was clear that QAD has an innovative vision for the future of its customers,” concludes Senthil Kannan, IT project lead.**

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“We are implementing QAD Automation Solutions in all of the plants where we are going to roll out QAD.”

The Benefits

Substantial improvements in time savings, error reduction and increased efficiency

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**Hendrickson has realized substantial improvements from