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Louis Industries ERP Case Study

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Industry

Metal Fabrication

Challenge

Louis Industries, a third-generation, family-owned steel processor, encountered mounting complexity as they managed up to 300 daily work orders, short customer lead times and frequent emergency jobs. Manual systems - such as time cards, spreadsheets and paper files - created bottlenecks in production scheduling, inventory tracking and rapid responsiveness, hindering their ability to deliver lean, customer-driven manufacturing at scale.

Results

With Global Shop Solutions ERP, Louis Industries achieved a 600% increase in sales while only growing their workforce by 300%. The ERP system delivered real-time visibility, improved scheduling accuracy and enabled inventory to turn 13 times per year. Louis Industries transformed their production model to better adapt to customer demands, support continuous process improvement and make smarter, faster business decisions across the organization.

Key Applications

Inventory, Advanced Planning & Scheduling, Shop Floor Data Collection, Sales

www.louisind.com/
600%
Increase In Sales
13x
Inventory Turnover
100%
Data Entry Reduction

Any time we hear of someone in the area looking for an ERP system, I tell them to be sure to look at Global Shop Solutions. The software is easy to operate. It provides quick access to the data we need to make smart business decisions. And it’s flexible enough to keep up with our ever-evolving business model. We wouldn’t be where we are today without it.

Lance Louis

Chief Operating Officer

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About Louis Industries

Louis Industries is a third-generation, family-owned steel processing company based in Paynesville, Minnesota. With a history dating back to 1940, the company specializes in lean, rapid-response manufacturing, producing custom parts and components for OEM customers using advanced metalworking technologies. Louis Industries is ISO 9001:2008 certified.

The Challenge

Louis Industries faced a surge in operational complexity as demand increased. Handling up to 300 work orders per day, the company contended with short lead times and unpredictable, last-minute jobs from OEM customers. Reliance on manual methods - time cards, spreadsheets and paper documentation - made it difficult to efficiently schedule jobs, manage inventory and maintain the lean agility their customers required. These limitations impeded workflow visibility, slowed decision-making and made it challenging to meet the evolving needs of a fast-paced manufacturing environment.

The Solution

Seeking to modernize their operations and enable lean manufacturing, Louis Industries evaluated several ERP solutions before selecting Global Shop Solutions for its powerful, integrated manufacturing capabilities. The decision was driven by the flexibility and advanced features of the system. As COO Lance Louis shared: "We liked the functionality and the flexibility of the system, especially the powerful Advanced Planning & Scheduling (APS) application. To this day, efficient scheduling presents a challenge for us, but APS provides the visibility of data and scheduling features that allow us to respond quickly to short lead times and changing customer orders." Global Shop Solutions ERP replaced manual processes with a unified digital platform, delivering actionable insights, real-time production data and agile scheduling tools. This transformation enabled Louis Industries to evolve alongside industry demands, as Lance Louis noted: "Global Shop Solutions has helped us evolve as the thinking behind business evolves. Everything is faster, lead times are shorter and everyone wants just-in-time. We’ve learned to help our customers solve these and other problems by developing an agile, functional production system that can adapt to what each individual customer needs."

The Results

The impact of Global Shop Solutions ERP on Louis Industries was dramatic. Sales grew by 600%, while the workforce increased by only 300%, highlighting significant gains in productivity and efficiency. Inventory turns improved to 13 per year, supporting lean manufacturing and reducing carrying costs. The company maintained the ability to manage up to 300 work orders daily with greater precision and agility. The ERP system empowered smarter, faster decision-making and enabled continuous process improvement across all departments. 

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