Flint Subsea design and manufacture Emergency Quick Disconnect systems for the offshore oil and gas industry.
In this case study Gareth Blank, Technical Director of Flint Subsea describes how Flowlens cloud manufacturing CRM and MRP software has helped the business dramatically reduce lead times, win business from large global customers and implement continuous improvement through ISO9001.
For small manufacturing businesses or subsea engineering companies thinking about improving their software systems and processes, Black advises not to hold back.
“If you’re a company out there considering adopting these tools, then my recommendation is to have a go, to do it. It’s easy and intuitive. It’ll be a lot easier than you think.
Flint Subsea, a niche supplier of high-pressure, subsea emergency disconnect systems for the oil and gas industry, faced a common challenge: rapid growth outpaced their existing, fragmented operational systems.
Before implementing Flowlens MRP Software, the company relied on a patchwork of spreadsheets, word documents, and emails, a system that Technical Director Gareth Black described as an “ad hoc system.”
This approach, while initially manageable, began to hinder their ability to meet the increasing demands of their clients and demonstrate the necessary control required for growth.
The Pain Points of Disparate Systems
“Prior to implementing Flowlens, we were running a disparate group of spreadsheets, word documents, emails, and we got by using that documentation and using those systems,” Black explained.
However, the limitations of this system quickly became apparent. “Our clients need more and we needed more as we grow our business, and we need to demonstrate control.”
One critical factor driving the need for change was the requirement for ISO 9001 certification. “We decided that we can’t go on using our ad hoc systems, and our clients need us to have ISO 9001 certification,” Black stated.
Without a robust, integrated system, achieving and maintaining this certification would have been a significant challenge. The lack of a centralized system also impacted operational efficiency. “We’d have carried on as we were, we’d very little control over what we were doing and we’d have lost records,” Black admitted.
“We wouldn’t have been able to meet the demand of our clients. Our lead times would’ve continued to be 30 plus weeks, which was unacceptable and we’d have had very little control over everything we were doing.”
Finding the Right Solution with Flowlens
Flint Subsea needed a manufacturing system that could provide end-to-end control, from CRM to order delivery.
“We knew we needed a piece of software or a tool that provided end-to-end control of our manufacturing processes and our sales process,” Black explained.
“So we needed to go from CRM right through to order delivery and everything in between. And we needed to be able to demonstrate control of work on the workshop, job cards, job card creation, job card closure, we needed to improve our sales order, our dispatch notes, our commercial invoicing, everything that ran our business needed to be improved.”
Flowlens, recommended to Black, proved to be the ideal solution. “Flowlens was recommended to me. I had very little concerns about implementing Flowlens. The price was good. It clearly demonstrated everything that I needed from the manufacturing system. In actual fact, the CRM was an added benefit. We weren’t expecting it to be quite so good, and to be able to control the sales process. That was fantastic. There really wasn’t any concerns with pressing the button. It was a really easy purchase for us.”
The ease of implementation and the intuitive nature of the software were key factors in Flint Subsea’s successful adoption of Flowlens.
“The access to the Sandbox, in order to be able to play with the system, was excellent. Great idea. We got comfortable with it really quickly and really easily, so much so that I thought we were probably doing something wrong because I thought it should be more complicated than it was.”
Transforming Operations and Achieving ISO 9001
The impact of Flowlens on Flint Subsea’s operations was immediate and significant. “We’ve reduced wastage, if you class time as wastage. We’ve reduced that. We’ve reduced duplicated work in the workshop because we are now controlling our throughput with job cards. Whereas previously it was Excel and handwritten notes. We’ve also reduced purchasing multiples of components, where we had misordered stuff because the spreadsheet was incorrect.”
One of the most notable achievements was the drastic reduction in lead times.
“18 months ago, we delivered a major contract in about 30 weeks. Three months ago, we delivered a similar contract in seven and a half weeks,” Black revealed.
“Flowlens’ role in reducing from 30 weeks to seven and a half weeks, we were able to, first of all, issue a consistent set of purchase orders. We are able to see who’s not delivered yet. We’re able to make sure we’ve ordered everything.”
Moreover, Flowlens played a crucial role in achieving ISO 9001 certification. “Without Flowlens, I don’t think we could have got ISO 9001 certification easily. It would’ve taken us a lot longer. Flowlens gave us the foundation to put everything around it,” Black emphasized.
“Flowlens made it really easy for us to keep all the data and the tracking and the traceability of all of our projects. And we’re easily able to demonstrate to auditors that we’re keeping all the records we should be and that we can access them quickly. And it isn’t a burden on the business to be able to do it.”
Key Benefits and Favourite Features
Flowlens has delivered numerous benefits to Flint Subsea, including:
Improved Efficiency: “It just gives you the absolute overall visibility of everything within the project, including from right at the start of sales quotation to the customer. Everything, absolute transparency is what it gave us.”
Enhanced Control: “We are able to see who’s not delivered yet. We’re able to make sure we’ve ordered everything.”
Streamlined Processes: “We’re doing it as we go along now and it works for us. So, we’re probably saving a week every year just on having not to go back and create records where we haven’t done our jobs properly.”
Better Supplier Management: “We’re able to effectively manage that supplier, ultimately removing them from our vendor list. But without the use of Flowlens, we would never actually have seen that they were late and we would have never seen how late.” Black also highlighted his favorite Flowlens features:
CRM: “The ability to create sales leads and quotations and have records of those sales leads and who it was that we created the quotation for. That’s really useful.”
Forms Tool: “We can use forms of extremely flexible tool to… We create a contract review form. So every single cell that we do, we create a contract review.”
Job Card Creation: “Alan in the workshop loves the job cards. He tells him exactly what he has to do, and he’s got traceability and he can sign them off. And we’ve got the record that who did it and when they did it.”
Advice for Other Companies
Black’s advice to other companies considering Flowlens is clear: “If you’re a company out there considering adopting Flowlens, then my recommendation is to have a go, to do it. It’s easy and intuitive. It’ll be a lot easier than you think. And it will have massive benefits for your company.”
He particularly recommends Flowlens to small manufacturing companies. “Definitely, to small businesses, I would recommend it. It’s perfect. If I had my time again, I would’ve adopted this when it was just one of me, and built it up from there. It’s been that good for us.”
In conclusion, Flowlens has transformed Flint Subsea’s operations, enabling them to achieve ISO 9001 certification, significantly reduce lead times, and improve overall efficiency. 1 The intuitive nature of the software and the comprehensive support provided have made it an invaluable tool for the company’s continued growth and success.
