Now firmly rooted in motor racing, Danielson Engineering was previously well known in a wide range of disciplines. Since 1966 however, the company has concentrated on work in the automotive industry, such as the design of engine parts, manufacture of prototypes, and road trials, where they can offer several different road circuits for example urban, motorway and mountain. All of this has been achieved whilst reorganising to reduce both delays and costs.

<< It is possible to make a detailed analysis of each process, according to the time taken, the type of component and the assembly, in just one hour per week with WorkPLAN! >>
Christophe Jeandot, Danielson Engineering.

The company is based at the science and technology park set up at the Nevers-Magny-Cours circuit, the home of Formula 1 racing in France.

With 130 employees, and a fully equipped, technologically advanced workshop, Danielson Engineering is a leader in its field. It has wide experience in analysis of flow and thermal distribution, design and manufacture of engine components, and foundry work. Its well equipped factory, has computer-aided design, drawing, manufacturing, project management, and rapid prototyping using sintered powder. It also has an assembly workshop and engine benches, enabling it to tackle complex projects linked to the automotive industry.

In 1998, in line with his expansion plans, Bernard Delaporte, company chairman, decided to purchase a production planning system. He soon settled on WorkPLAN, developed by the French company, Sescoi. For Bernard Delaporte there were two main advantages: it combined a variety of functions in one database – from the estimate to invoicing through design and manufacture; the storage capabilities of the system allows the recording of historic manufacturing data which is retained for later use, providing reliable reference material for future planning and costing.

Danielson Engineering now has 6 WorkPLAN seats. One is used by Bernard Delaporte's assistant to manage administration; another is devoted to accounts (invoicing, retrieval of data for Human Resources); 2 for the purchasing and management of stock; and 2 others for manufacture. Centralised bar code badges simplify data entry, enabling WorkPLAN to keep track of time and attendance, job tracking, shop loading, quality anomalies, purchasing, and cost.

For Christophe Jeandot who, with Jean-Marc Traull manages machinery and production, the arrival of the new software was most welcome. With a constant 60-90 jobs in progress at any one time, involving up to 500 operations, the real-time workshop data (workload on machines, operator availability) simplified the task of optimising the planning of the factory and the allocation of work.

Every week, Christophe Jeandot and Jean-Marc Traull prepare the required machining operations then transfer them to 18 operators for manufacture. Whilst this is in progress they then prepare the finishing operations, which will start once the first processes have been completed. They can also make a detailed analysis of each process, according to the time taken, the type of component and the assembly. All of this can be achieved in one hour per week!

Before Danielson Engineering had WorkPLAN, the software used was time consuming to programme. Now, with WorkPLAN, the company knows exactly how much everything costs, and any risk of errors is minimized. WorkPLAN is now an invaluable tool for the company.