CaseStudy.co.in » Inventory Management

Indian IT company fixed the supply chain loop holes of a US based Retail Chain

admin — Fri, 23 Mar 2012 11:40:09 +0000

This cases deals with how an Indian IT company helps a US based Retail Chain to analyze, measure and remove it's supply chain problems. The client had issues with inventory management as well as the service level. So, they wanted to reduce inventory and improve service levels throughout their supply chain network by improving forecast accuracy and enhancing supply chain planning...click here to read the case ahead

The Dirty Little Secrets of the Warehouse Management System Industry

maddy — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 23:40:03 +0000

As you evaluate systems to manage your distribution operations, you’ll want to know everything you can to make the search process better. It’s a small project to evaluate, select, and implement a warehouse management system (WMS). These tasks require diligence, time, and an understanding of your business goals. Uncover five secrets you should know before you purchase a WMS—for long-term success and competitive advantage. Read more...

Dealing with Chaos: 4 Steps to Manufacturing Success

maddy — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 23:40:05 +0000

Manufacturing today is fraught with uncertainties in the supply chain due to a variety of global issues, including weather and exchange rates. You can counter supply problems with “safety stock.” But this extra inventory goes against the rules of an efficient lean environment. How can you stay demand driven, without a supply snafu? Find out how an information management system can help forecast your supply chain needs. READ MORE...

Debunking the Top Eight Myths Surrounding Small-business Warehouse Management Systems

admin — Thu, 16 Dec 2010 08:06:37 +0000

The era of manual warehouse operations is drawing to a close—with good reason. No matter how efficient your employees are, managing space and maintaining inventory with adhoc spreadsheets or legacy systems doesn’t provide the accuracy or visibility into the supply chain that you need to succeed. A best-of-breed warehouse management system (WMS) can support your efforts to reduce costs and boost productivity. Learn how. For too long, leading warehouse management systems have seemingly been within the reach of only large third-party distributors, or national and international manufacturers and retailers. No more. To stay competitive, mid-sized and small businesses increasingly are turning to best-of-breed warehouse management systems that effectively reduce costs and streamline daily operations, enabling even the smallest companies to adapt quickly to changing market demands. In fact, research firm ARC Advisory Group’s recently published report, Warehouse Management Systems Worldwide Outlook1, predicts that the worldwide market for WMS is expected to grow at a 4.8% annual rate, while their projection for adoption of these systems among Tier 3 companies is anticipated to grow at a much brisker rate of 8.2%. Yet, the reality is that many small businesses still believe warehouse management systems are too expensive for their budgets or won’t provide the benefits they need to thrive. This may have been true as recently as a few years ago, but as this report will show, WMS for small distributors are now not only within reach and affordable, but they are also a competitive necessity.

Lean Procurement

admin — Sat, 27 Nov 2010 04:07:14 +0000

DEMAND-DRIVEN SUPPLY CHAINS AND LEAN PROCUREMENT In today’s demand-driven manufacturing and supply chain world, a company faces growing challenges around market volatility, long lead times and forecasting errors. The inventory management decisions can make or break the firm’s financial bottom line. Lean procurement principles combined with Oracle lets the company meet these daily challenges and protect the bottom line every day. THE CHALLENGES OF SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT IN A DEMAND DRIVEN WORLD In today’s volatile market, forecast accuracy is almost non-existent. Companies expect their procurement and supply chain organizations to provide purchased materials and assemblies on time, all the time, to meet their customer demands. Faced with these poor market forecasts buyers often over buy requirements. This creates excess inventories. Purchasing organizations cannot afford long material lead-times. And if suppliers cannot deliver consistently on time, they will be replaced. Although better than traditional procurement practices, today’s “pull” supply chain replenishment processes are not optimized, collaborative or effective. What is the bottom line for the company? Inventory management decisions can make or break the company’s return on assets (ROA), an increasingly important financial metric. THE OBJECTIVE: A DEMAND-DRIVEN SUPPLY NETWORK Today, the buyer’s responsibilities have changed dramatically. Beyond simply finding the right materials and services at the best price, buyers play a critical part in improving the flow of information and materials throughout the supply chain. Through these demand-driven supply networks (DDSN, aka demand-driven supply chains, (DDSC)) their goals are to accomplish the following: Preventing Shortages Supply chain deliveries must be flexible in order to meet the changing demands of the demand driven enterprise. In addition to the sheer cost of disrupting production, critical shortages can damage existing customer relationships and significantly weaken market credibility. Reducing Inventory Investment Inventory turns of 100 or more should be commonplace, not the exception. Companies are under increasing pressure to reduce inventory levels. In the demand-driven enterprise, inventories should ebb and flow with the changes in customer demand. For example, a Rs.500 crore firm can reduce inventory by Rs.34 crore and achieve a Rs.2.4 crore inventory carry cost savings. At the same time, the firm can lower administrative costs by about 10 percent (Rs.3.4 crore) by eliminating 70 percent of all invoices and 80 percent of discrete purchase orders after operating in an environment of 8 to 10 inventory turns. Trimming Supply Side Lead Times Long material lead-times should be eliminated. By utilizing postponement strategies, lean procurement solutions provide a more responsive supply chain. Obsolete Practices The old way of doing business consists of buyers managing MRP forecasts and communicating requirements to suppliers via phone, fax and e-mail. Spreadsheets and manual reports are passed between the trading partners. These manual processes are slow and cumbersome. They cannot support today’s demand-driven enterprises. Supply chain procurement professionals spend too much time “putting out fires” and reacting to daily problems. They cannot seem to find the time to develop strategic relationships with suppliers and deploy improved business processes that eliminate shortages. THE SOLUTION: SUPPLY CHAIN EVENT MANAGEMENT THROUGH LEAN PROCUREMENT Advances in technology and process are ushering in a new era in supply chain improvement. With lean procurement the company can proactively manage supply chain events using Supply Chain Event Management (SCEM) principles and lean procurement practices to achieve the following: • Remove the obstacles to the free flow of information to the supply chain; • Create real-time visibility into inventory in motion; • Transition the supply chain from “push” to “pull” consumption based replenishment models; • Manage by exception by providing the buyers and planners with proactive real-time, exception messages that strengthen their replenishment processes; • Eliminate the long lead-times for critical materials and assemblies; • “Cover the upside” of the material forecast; THE LEAN PROCUREMENT SOLUTION Lean procurement is based on three core principles that are derived from demand driven manufacturing and supply chain initiatives: 1) Migrate from “push” to “pull” Strengthen and improve the “pull” supply chain processes by deploying supply chain event management solutions that enhance collaboration with the suppliers. Operating in real-time mode there are collaboration portals that connect suppliers and partners – directly to their “pull” business processes anytime, anywhere. These collaboration portals allow buyers and their suppliers to communicate the following supply chain “exception based” signals in real-time. • Proactive Alerts: These alerts notify the trading partners of a potential stock-out. As an example, a proactive alert can notify a trading partner of a potential stock out, e.g., the Kanban Replenishment Capacity program allows you to track the production capacity of a Kanban and compare it to the demand pattern of the item. The system displays an alert for all items that cannot meet the new demand. • Reactive Alerts: Alerts that identify critical supply chain exceptions. For example, a reactive alert can identify critical supply chain exceptions, such as late shipments, past due Kanban acknowledgements and supplier “under-commits” to the MRP forecast. • Execution Alerts: These alerts provide updates on business process transactions. Consider the example where an execution alert is used to provide updates on business process transactions such as Advance Ship Notices (ASN). 2) Develop a flexible and responsive supply chain Help the procurement professionals eliminate long material lead-times by adopting postponement strategies. Buyer Workspace and Supplier Self-Service collaboration portals, buyers can: • Deploy a more responsive supply chain. When customer demand unexpectedly goes up, the supply chain can meet that increase. When forecasts go down you are not left with excessive levels of inventory; • Reduce the long lead-times normally associated with offshore procurement; • Proactively manage potential shortages through automated real-time forecast collaboration solutions; • Receive proactive alerts when suppliers cannot support requirements; 3) Eliminate all waste in the procurement cycle Without lean procurement, buyers spend the majority of their time on nonstrategic processes like tracking down order status, purchase order entry, and maintaining “private” spreadsheets for analysis. As a result, they miss opportunities for mutually beneficial supplier negotiations and process efficiencies. • Eliminate discrete purchase orders; • Use Self-Service to grant suppliers 24 x 7 x 365 access via the web so they can respond electronically with critical business process information. This ends over-reliance on phone, fax and e-mail; • Use enhanced workflow in the Purchase Order acknowledgement approval processes; • Develop “no touch” processes that automate and eliminate 50 percent of purchase orders and 70 percent of all invoices; By adopting these strategies, procurement professionals can spend 90 percent of their time on strategic activities. GETTING STARTED WITH A LEAN PROCUREMENT PARTNER An Oracle partner specialized in lean procurement can help in: • Setting up Buyer and Supplier Collaboration portals with the internal and external users; • Provide up-to-date training on consumption-based replenishment processes; • Train the internal and external users and suppliers; • Conduct business assessment reviews of the internal facility; Conclusion One of the main characteristics of lean procurement is benchmarking. Look at results from companies who have implemented Lean Procurement and their business results. One company reduced supplier lead times by 70 percent in ninety days. Another reduced WIP inventory by 25% while increasing throughput by 700 percent. Still another reduced manufacturing cycle time from 60 days to 5 days and sold a warehouse and the examples continue. By following practices of others and implementing own innovations, coupled with an Oracle partner will help in achieving excellence in lean procurement. Click here to Download the article

Distribution Management for spare parts- solving the problem with fluctuating demand

maddy — Fri, 11 Jun 2010 05:49:12 +0000

A general purpose of this thesis can be defined as to examine and evaluate the possibilities to solve the problem with fluctuating demand on spare parts from the local sales subsidiaries in the three big markets in Europe. A secondary, more specific, purpose of this thesis is to investigate what the possibilities are to implement direct distribution of spare parts to these countries and what the implications of such an action would be. Read more....

Collaborative materials management : A choosing between competitive and collaborative approaches to materials management in SCM

maddy — Fri, 11 Jun 2010 05:45:30 +0000

Supply Chain Management (SCM) presents the new paradigm in strategic and operational business management for the 21st century. By offering a cooperative and integrated model of the value-creation process in a cross-organizational perspective, it also places new challenges on business management methods and instruments used, in theory as in practice. In the field of materials management, the new SCM perspective led to major changes in the methods used and in the emphasis of the different process steps. This master thesis presents classical as well as supply-chain-based materials management methods, compares them and draws conclusion on their use in theory and practice. Read more...

Inventory Management at Pearl Polymers Limited

admin — Mon, 29 Mar 2010 10:41:54 +0000

Pearl Polymers Limited (PPL) is one of the most distinguished and reputed manufacturer and exporter of all types of PET (PolyEthylene Terephthalate), containers and bottles in India. The products are marketed under the renowned brand name of "PEARLPET". Realizing the potential of a food grade and recyclable polymer as versatile as PET, Pearl Polymers Limited successfully ventured in the field of manufacturing and exporting of all types of PET bottles, containers, jars etc using advanced Injection Stretch Blow Molding(ISBM) technology in 1984. From one machine in 1984, they have grown to over 65 machines in five locations. The PEARLPET brand is today looked as a mark of quality. All the units are ISO 9001 certified and are undergoing HACCP (Hazardous Analysis and Critical Control Points) certification. Pearl Polymers Limited has manufacturing plants at five locations (Gurgaon, Baddi, Pantnagar, Mahad and Jigni) and offices at six locations (Delhi, Gurgaon, Lucknow, Kolkata, Mumbai and Bangalore)...click here to refer the inventory management efforts by Pearl Polymers Limited

Zara Clothing : Setting Standards in Inventory Management

newuser — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 15:56:51 +0000

The middle aged mother buys cloths at Zara because they are cheap, while her daughter in the mid 20s buys Zara clothing because it is fashionable. Zara has truly been a case study that is setting benchmarks in the retail sector as well as in the fashion trends...click here to refer furthur

Inventory Management at McDonald

newuser — Sun, 03 Jan 2010 15:59:49 +0000

McDonald's sets an example of a successful implementation of a JIT system wherein it doesn't begin to cook its orders until a customer has placed an order ... click here to read ahead