Senior executives need to understand RFID’s growing importance for supply chain efficiency, inventory accuracy and reverse logistics throughout each product’s lifecycle.

One agricultural company, using RFID to enhance its retail replenishment strategy, can now track its products with unprecedented levels of granularity, utilizing item-level tagging across its enterprise.

The firm will share how it employs RFID to make the most efficient and effective use of existing resources, and how it developed this strategy

Datacraft Solutions’ Demand Driven Supply Chain Network was profiled in the recent issue of Accounting 411 magazine

“The central hallmark of demand driven supply chain is a digital kanban system which achieves savings in several key areas,” according to Stephen Parker, CEO of North Carolina-based Datacraft Solutions.

It reduces the need to build inventory. All production is initiated based on the immediate needs of customers. Inventory turns for digital kanban parts are optimized (a definition of lean accounting.)
Time spent by customer service communicating on expedited parts issues is practically been eliminated through a demand driven supply chain. Often customer service staff members spend 40% of their time expediting part orders prior to digital kanban implementation.
Sales have increased with the benefit of the e-kanban program because the copper manufacturer no longer uses capacity to build parts without an order to buy NOW. 100% of production capacity is utilized to build parts that are already sold as soon as they hit the shipping dock.

Parker insists, “Capacity is expensive and a demand driven supply chain via digital kanban provides lean accounting efficiency and elimination of waste.”

Business process efficiencies increase with digital kanban, since orders are no longer run through the scheduling department, cutting shop orders and batching them. Demand driven supply chain replaces a very long chain of events in the order entry and scheduling function. Customer needs are displayed in real time. Everyone, including the customer, can see the status of any digital kanban at all times.

This scorecard methodology along with digital kanban assists all manufacturing staff to understand the business and see the impact of their efforts manifested in better results. People want to know what they can do to make the business better, and link what they do to the financial results. Lean accounting provides a sense of ownership. Manufacturing staff now can understand what is occurring on the shop floor and make the appropriate changes.

Datacraft Solutions (www.datacraftsolutions.com) has experienced significant growth in the past twelve months by eliminating complicated, expensive, time-intensive software implementations as well as extensive training regiments and the need for internal support. The Datacraft Solutions’ replenishment supply chain digital kanban lean system allows customers access and fully utilize powerful lean benefits immediately for a low, predictable monthly fee. Services are scalable so manufacturers can design a Demand Driven Supply Chain Network.

Datacraft Solutions specializes in providing their clients with the tools they need to rapidly replace outdated manual systems with technology that speeds process flow and improves accuracy. Datacraft’s premier product, Signum has been developed around the Kanban concept of replenishment, and provides an invaluable tool for manufacturing companies to monitor process flow, lower administrative transaction costs, and improve decision-making ability.

Thomas Cutler
http://www.articlesbase.com/business-articles/datacraft-solutions-digital-kanban-profiled-in-accounting411-69728.html

Unipart Logistics has started its tracking of Jaguar auto parts while the same are transported in cargo containers from the United Kingdom to the United States. Said auto parts were tracked by SaviTrak™, a Radio Frequency Identification-based (RFID) information service from Savi Networks. This is in connection with the automaker’s ‘Jaguar Tradelane Project’ which uses Jaguar car parts from inland warehouse and distribution centers.

Jaguar Tradelane Project is aimed to evaluate the standing of Jaguar car parts in some areas. This project also endeavors to improve real-time visibility of container shipments, lessen lead-times and time variances involved in the delivery, reduce costs linked to urgent cargo transportation which causes delay, develop information accuracy, and improve overall supply chain as well as customer service performance. Automakers parts included in the shipment include Jaguar S Type parts and Jaguar XJ Series parts.

Carl Powell, director and general manager of USP, the Supply Chain Consultancy Division of Unipart Logistics said: “As a long-time, leading provider and innovator of logistics solutions, Unipart is looking to continuously improve services to our clients, and we expect the SaviTrak information service will help Jaguar and potentially other customers gain greater value through improved supply chain performance. Within Unipart Logistics we focus on providing industry-leading levels of customer service and product availability. Within the project we are creating targeted measurements to quantify SaviTrak benefits to improve supply chain visibility and performance, security status monitoring, and overall economics.”

In addition, Lani Fritts, chief operating officer of Savi Networks, said: “SaviTrak delivers new levels of performance measurement and execution capability for logistics companies such as Unipart and for their customers. Our customers are gaining better control and visibility over their supply chains, which allow them to make better and more timely decisions on their global shipments.”

Unipart in cooperation with Savi Networks provided superb services to monitor the location, condition and security status of Jaguar auto parts container shipments. The monitoring also involves factories, ports and other supply chain nodes.

Michelle Crimson
http://www.articlesbase.com/suvs-articles/unipart-logistics-tracking-down-jaguar-parts-from-uk-to-us-57923.html

Manufacturing journalist Thomas R. Cutler profiled Demand Driven Supply Chain Networks in the current issue of MetalForming Magazine.

According to Jeffrey Ball, Value Engineering and Information Services Manager with Luvata, “This presented a unique challenge for both plants. The two plants had separate planning, inventory, and scheduling systems and in order to ensure that the weld lines at Franklin never ran out of raw material, there was always a large amount of inventory “in the pipeline”. In order to prevent stock outs of a specific part number, a great deal of time was required by both the Buffalo and Franklin Scheduling Teams to avert disaster. It seemed as though, whichever parts were made, they were not the parts that were needed today at Franklin. Expediting of individual part numbers was the norm.”

What Luvata needed was a system that could integrate with both the Buffalo and Franklin Shop Floor Control Systems and provide a visual, easy to understand, and real time representation of the Total Supply Chain.

The Buffalo and Franklin Scheduling Groups went ahead and formed a team to address the need to reduce the amount of working capital tied up in the supply chain and improve delivery reliability. Jeffrey Ball noted, “There was plenty of candid conversation within the team that moved the two plants from a WIN/LOSE mentality, to group focused on developing a WIN/WIN result!”

During a visit to the Franklin plant, it was revealed that Franklin was using a new tool called digital kanban (also known as eKanban) from called Datacraft Solutions, a leading demand driven supply chain technology firm based in Durham, North Carolina. The Luvata team quickly decided that based upon the initial success of the digital kanban system at Franklin, that the Buffalo facility should take advantage of Franklin’s experience with digital kanban. In addition, both plants would now have a common Supply Chain Management Software that could be implemented easily, quickly, and affordably in Buffalo.

Over the next month, the Buffalo/Franklin Team worked closely with the Datacraft Solutions experts, to define the project costs, benefits and time schedule. The primary of objectives of reduced working capital (25% inventory reduction), improved delivery reliability (avoid stock outs), easy to use scheduling modules, and quick implementation time appear to be well within our budget and timeframes. Jeffrey Ball was pleased to report, “The Team is also highly confident that the large amount of time currently devoted to expediting material will be virtually eliminated from their daily routines.”

Datacraft Solutions specializes in providing their clients with the tools they need to rapidly replace outdated manual systems with technology that speeds process flow and improves accuracy. Datacraft’s premier product, Signum has been developed around the Kanban concept of replenishment, and provides an invaluable tool for manufacturing companies to monitor process flow, lower administrative transaction costs, and improve decision-making ability.

Thomas Cutler
http://www.articlesbase.com/business-articles/metalforming-magazine-profiles-datacraft-solutions-demand-driven-supply-chain-network-61811.html