Our last blog shared that Ultriva was the cover story in the manufacturing technology special edition issue of CIO Review. This feature article was authored by Raj Kumar and is titled, “Ultriva: Escalating Manufacturing Output Through Lean.”  The author interviewed Narayan Laksham, Ultriva’s founder and CEO. This second part of the story features Ultriva real-world success in the manufacturing space.  Here is part two of the article: 

Recently, Ultriva, the leader in collaborative supply chain solutions, was the cover story in the current October issue of CIO Review. This issue was the manufacturing technology special edition. The feature article was authored by Raj Kumar and is titled, “Ultriva: Escalating Manufacturing Output Through Lean.”  The author interviewed Narayan Laksham, Ultriva’s founder and CEO. During the course of the interview, Laksham explained how he applied lean principles to the supply chain processes and developed a solution that triumphs over the traditional Material Requirements Planning (MPR) systems and delivers more value.  Here is part one of the article: 

It is no secret that our SCM (supply chain management) software helps supply chain experts solve their pain points. In order to better serve our existing and prospective customers, we wanted to know specifically how Ultriva customers value the technology. This type of thinking is not new for Ultriva, we constantly incorporate customer feedback into our new enhancements and features, mostly recently in version 7.7.  Voice of the customer (VOC) is what drives the people and product at Ultriva. 

Being based in Cupertino, California, it is not uncommon to run into people who speak two, sometimes three different languages. My children are well-versed in explaining American idioms to classmates who might take “barking up a wrong tree” literally. Silicon Valley is its own little global microcosm.

Every business application needs to manage different roles. Each role has a defined set of actions to be performed to make the application successful within an organization.   Take a simple example of a procurement organization – it includes several roles like – planner, buyer, supplier, material handler, receiving dock person, purchasing manager, supply chain manager, inspector, and materials manager. Each of these human resources has defined roles and responsibilities. That is what role-based architecture brings to the business application.   

Friday, October 3^rd marks the third annual Manufacturing Day or MFG DAY in social media parlance. In case you have not previously heard of Manufacturing Day, it is the annual celebration of manufacturing in North America, particularly in the United States. This National Event was established to expand knowledge about manufacturing and improve the public’s perception of U.S. manufacturing. The special day emphasizes the importance of American manufacturing to the economy. It also stresses educating the public about the value of US manufacturing careers. (Much has been written lately about the US Manufacturing Skills gap and how it impacts manufacturing). 

Albert Einstein said intellectuals solve problems, geniuses prevent them. Built-in engineering rules allow customers to define rules on any event or action that occurs in the supply chain. 

Inventory health can be deeply impacted as day-to-day manufacturing operations involve thousands of transactions being processed. When system updates from enterprise resource planning (ERP) system do not happen on a real time basis the results often lead to inventory discrepancies. Even daily reconciliation of all transactions may allow for merely adequate results. 

Ultriva is pleased to announce an update to the company’s supply chain execution software. Ultriva is now offering version 7.7, which includes many enhancements and some new features. I am happy to report that most of the new features were driven by our customer requests.  Ultriva has its roots in promoting lean manufacturing, and is a pioneer of End-to-End Pull (E2E) throughout a supply chain.  This new release adds features and enhancements that keep improving manufacturing productivity and profitability.  

ERP (enterprise resource planning) systems provide built-in work flows to control different tasks within an organization. For years that was sufficient as many manufacturers operated a single plant within four walls with a finite number of suppliers. Confined to the factory floor is a constraint that renders many technology solutions impotent in a global supply chain.