IRVINE, Calif.—Applied Medical Resources Corp. is implementing Arburg GmbH + Co.'s ALS host computer system to optimize resources in its Lake Forest, Calif., plant.
It took a year of concentrated steps to go forward with the project, explained polymer process engineers Alex Milewski and Ryan Lee at an Arburg Inc. seminar in Irvine.
Applied Medical has moved to the ALS system after six years using the Epicor Software Corp.'s Mattec production control program.
The 146,026-sq.-ft. plant employs about 230, produces 60 million components per month and operates 50 injection molding machines for liquid silicone rubber and metal injection molding.
Preparatory planning dealt with SAP software integration, validation of all processes to medical requirements and working on equipment connectivity.
Among the transitional steps, the firm purchased the ALS software in early 2018, made data entries over five months and held initial training sessions in May.
In weekly increments, the ALS rollout phase was implemented from June to September sequentially making the change for certain sizes of injection molding machines and secondary operations such as pad printers, assembly machines and sintering units.
Applied Medical removed the old plant management system on Oct. 1.
In the future, the firm wants to implement the ALS system for LSR, extrusion, subassembly and metal applications in its other nearby Orange County plants in Irvine and Rancho Santa Margarita, where the business is based.
Applied Medical Europe B.V. in Amersfoort, Netherlands, is one of four global regional distribution centers.