Recently, Modern Materials Handling magazine published a case study of a pet supply company struggling with inventory. Warehouse workers had to physically bring the inventory to a computer to scan it, then send it on to the destination.  The process was “cumbersome and inefficient.” The problem was solved by adding mobile workstations with scanning capabilities. There was a definite, measureable ROI, productivity increased by 40%, with the added benefit of freeing up workers. Warehouse employees now dedicate less time to product movement.  Workers also use the mobile carts as label makers for pallets to save time instead of walking across the warehouse to the workstation to print. 

Mid-May was a busy time for Ultriva. In addition to connecting with our users at our annual Customer Conference, we were an exhibitor at NetSuite’s SuiteWorld 2014. SuiteWorld is Netsuite’s annual user conference for customers, partners, media, and industry analysts in San Jose, California. 

A cost-effective supply chain collaboration between manufacturer and suppliers is paramount.  Without that constraint addressed, all other benefits are pointless. Let us stipulate that cost-effective collaboration starts with electronic Kanban, or eKanban. 

All of Ultriva is excited that we will be exhibiting at SuiteWorld 2014 in San Jose, California from May 12-15, 2014. The SuiteWorld Conference is expected to attract more than 6,000 NetSuite customers, partners, and developers from around the world. SuiteWorld is NetSuite’s largest user conference and Ultriva representatives will be showcasing their supply chain management solution which will complement NetSuite Cloud ERP. Attendees can visit Ultriva at booth #818.

Ultriva’s Lean Suite provides a collaborative platform for manufacturers to establish Electronic Kanban with their customers and suppliers. All the Ultriva modules – Inventory Optimization Tool (IOT), Customer Kanban, Supplier Kanban and Lean Factory Management, will exchange data seamlessly with NetSuite ERP.

Ultriva will feature a live demonstration of the Ultriva Inventory Optimization Tool with direct connectivity to NetSuite. This demonstration illustrates precisely how Ultriva extracts historical data from NetSuite and simulates potential inventory savings.

Often overlooked in lean manufacturing initiatives is the supply chain; in particular supplier replenishment. Global multi-national manufacturers can use supplier replenishment as the ultimate tool in lean manufacturing best-practices. 

Multi-national management organizations usually turn to improved best-practice technology solutions when one of two circumstances occurs: rapid growth requiring improved throughput capacity or serious quality-control issues, often under the scrutiny of regulatory compliance or threat of litigation. Both these challenges produce lower customer satisfaction if the correct products are not received in a timely, safe, and accurate manner.

Once a technology solution has been tested and vetted by a multi-national, multi-plant operation, it is rolled out enterprise-wide.  There are many reasons why this approach, tiptoeing into solutions with obvious bottom-line improvements, takes time.

The medical technology industry employs over 500,000 workers according to the Medical Device Manufacturers Association (MDMA.)  The industry supports approximately 1.4 million additional jobs, for 1.9 million high-paying positions, and generated $113 billion in payroll, with an average salary over $84,000.  According to Ernst and Young, the average earning for public med-tech companies is 6%.

Continuing our blog posts on the End to End pull replenishment system, we will be tackling the most common of the eight requirements; the critical need for manufacturers to collaborate and integrate with their upstream supply chain. 

Last week we discussed the first requirement on why a collaborative transactional portal is a must have for establishing End to End (E2E) pull replenishment. Feel free to refer to the original blog that described E2E Pull and all the requirements.