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Maryland MEP Supporting Manufacturers Through the Maryland Supply Chain Resiliency Program
With the help of: Maryland MEP
About
Better Engineering of Joppa, Maryland, develops innovative solutions to build critical automated cleaning systems. Better Engineering's line of industrial parts washers and cleaning/sanitizing systems includes turntable style cleaning systems, conveyor washers, immersion and ultrasonic cleaning units, heavy duty degreasers, cellular parts cleaning units and sanitary systems. Better Engineering's cleaning systems use detergents that are water soluble and biodegradable, thereby making them safer for the user and the environment.
The Challenge
COVID-19 created many challenges for Better Engineering and negatively impacted their supply chains. Additionally there was direct impact on the business caused by disruptions to customer operations. Constant price changes created discrepancies in pricing models, leaving workers unable to accurately quote customers affecting both profits and customer relationships. Many of Better Engineering's challenges were pointing towards an opportunity to improve their ERP systems to allow for better management and access to information.
Supply chain resiliency is without a doubt the most important issue in manufacturing right now. The Maryland Supply Chain Resiliency Program is a generous and necessary program for the relief of manufacturers’ continued struggles with alternate suppliers, lead time variations, and price fluctuation. Being on a new version of an ERP system that makes each of these struggles a bit easier to overcome is a game-changer for an SMB like Better Engineering. Maryland MEP has made the process of navigating the Maryland Supply Chain Resiliency Program extremely simple and painless.
MEP's Role
The Maryland MEP team, part of the MEP National Network™, provided technical assistance and support through the Maryland Supply Chain Resiliency Program to upgrade Better Engineering’s current ERP system. The Maryland Manufacturing Extension Partnership and the Maryland Department of Commerce developed the Maryland Supply Chain Resiliency Program in partnership with the Economic Development Agency to provide opportunities for Maryland manufacturers to learn and share best practices for improving their supply chains, helping to manage through the current supply chain crisis, improve outcomes, and reduce risk. The program provides financial and technical assistance to help improve supply chain resiliency and facilitate recovery and growth.
These improvements were implemented with the goal of improving visibility into organizational data, creating efficiencies in the ordering and inventory management process and increasing communications across the organization. To ensure the process is scalable, the MEP team utilized an approach to address the root cause of each problem and empowered the workforce to perform real-time problem solving while also establishing a framework for continuous improvement.