Kanban, in its most simplifying role, is a visual signal (or cue) that something needs to be replenished. More specifically, lean manufacturers today use digital kanban by Datacraft Solutions (www.datacraftsolutions.com) to drive a process to make, move, or buy the appropriate parts. Thus, digital kanban becomes one of the fundamental building blocks of a pull (or consumption based) replenishment system.
According to Matthew Marotta, founder of Datacraft Solutions, “Follett has worked internally with pull systems for many years. One of the major objectives was to remove excess inventory from the work cells and drive them back to a central location where they would await demand. With the decrease in available floor space and internal success with pull, digital kanban seemed to be a natural progression.”
Senior Purchasing agent, Jeff Craig, with Follett Ice developed a “wish list” for the digital kanban system based on our years of experience in manufacturing, planning, and procurement. The selection of Datacraft Solutions’ Signum digital kanban product revealed a short evaluation process according to Craig: “The evaluation process took us about two and a half months in all. The components of evaluation were to first understand the product. What will the product do and just as important, what it won't do. Next, we asked the question, is this product useful to our organization? We then spoke an actual user. Seeing the system up and running was a major component to my recommendation. We then needed to evaluate our ability to support this implementation from a people resource perspective. And last, can we make a favorable business case for this product where Follett is able to achieve an acceptable return on our investment?”
Specific return-on-investment data by Follett Ice as a result of the Datacraft Solutions’ implementation include $150K inventory reduction = 57% IRR for three years and 71% IRR for five years.
Manufacturing journalist Thomas R. Cutler profiled the significant procurement technology variables for Food and Beverage Manufacturers at http://www.ifsqn.com/articles_detail.php?newsdesk_id=159&t=Food+Quality:+Ice+and+Cheese.
Datacraft Solutions specializes in providing their clients with the tools they need to rapidly replace outdated manual systems with technology that speeds process flow and improves accuracy.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. Datacraft Solutions has a vast client base including Pacific Scientific, Outokumpu, and Follett Ice. The Intelligent Supply Chain solution is growing exponentially.
Demand Driven Supply Chain Networks, by default it incorporates the kanban process. Datacraft Solutions enables companies to sign up using a “software as a service” (SaaS) model and gain immediate realized value and visibility to their supply chain. Clients are provided the most optimum platform to create and maintain their Demand Driven Supply Chain Networks.” This critical lean technology is all about the demand/pull which starts from the customer and drives the whole supply chain for the organization.
Datacraft Solutions
Matthew Marotta
mmarotta@datacraftsolutions.net
800-819-5326
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