Practice Day at CAPAUL: “FELIOS makes planning possible at a scale we simply couldn’t manage otherwise.” 

The door to CAPAUL AG's lecture room must be closed. Loud machinery rattles from the workshop on the ground floor. Noise or music to the ears of the 25 participants of the on-site day? They have traveled to Eupen, Belgium, from eleven different companies to learn more about the use of the FELIOS Advanced Planning and Scheduling (APS) system at a high-precision machining company. The sounds will surely be familiar to them: "It's like a big class reunion for mechanical and plant engineering professionals from the Aachen area," says a delighted René Lauscher, Sales Manager in the Production division at INFORM. The Aachen-based company develops software for optimizing business processes using decision intelligence. 

At FELIOS on-site day, companies gain insights into how successful machine and plant manufacturers, as well as one-off and small-batch manufacturers, are preparing for the future with digital solutions. Thomas Marx, production planner at CAPAUL, is happy to give interested companies an insight into FELIOS – the tool without which he “would never be able to plan at this size of company”. CAPAUL is expanding rapidly, with machine capacity increasing by nearly 20 percent since 2022. They manufacture workpieces with the utmost efficiency and maximum reproducibility. Customers come from the aerospace, energy, and medical technology sectors, rail transport, and industrial applications. 

25 percent better adherence to deadlines thanks to FELIOS 

Before deciding on FELIOS, CAPAUL tested another APS system for a few months before successfully adopting FELIOS in September 2021. The data from the intelligent tool is fed back into the Silicon Master ERP system via an interface. "Now I can give customers reliable delivery dates early on. FELIOS gives us better foresight to counteract available capacity and bottlenecks," says Marx. On the planning board, the production planner can see: What is too late? Where do I need to react? "The information is thrown in your face. It's pretty brilliant." 

Even with optimal planning, external factors or capacity issues can still cause delays. In such cases, Marx must inform the customer that a part will be late. "The customers are certainly not happy about these four months in advance, but they are happier than they would be a week before." However, this is increasingly avoided because Marx and his team can react more quickly to problems. As a result, they have achieved 25 percent better adherence to deadlines since FELIOS was introduced. "The planner's job is to solve problems, not find problems. And FELIOS shows me these problems." He has been able to significantly reduce his personal planning time from eight to two hours per week. When Marx starts his workday at CAPAUL at 8 a.m., his team has already spent two hours turning, milling, and assembling. This is because they have the current list in FELIOS early in the morning every day. 

Constant inventory levels despite increased sales  

During the lunch break, attendees can first strengthen themselves with Belgian specialties (including Boulets à la Liégeoise) and then discuss the individual applications of FELIOS in their company. 

During the factory tour, CEO Tom Henkes and Ludwig Henkes, Chairman of the Board of Directors, lead the participants in two groups through their hallowed halls. Hooks hang from the ceiling, forklifts roam, and the smell of oil fills the air. "We have 350 items with up to 20 production stages and up to 200 subcomponents that need to be manufactured or procured. This wouldn't be possible without FELIOS," says Tom Henkes happily. "Our inventory levels remain constant compared to our sales growth. We need FELIOS to avoid creating huge warehouses." 

The "class reunion" ends in the late afternoon – but the next one is sure to come. Curious about our practice days? Discover how FELIOS works in real-world settings – learn more here.