In the current 2008 issue of Automation.com, leading manufacturing journalist, Thomas R. Cutler, describes the current nature of Demand Driven Supply Chain and the use of Electronic Kanban through industry leader Datacraft Solutions. The entire article can be read at http://www.automation.com/sitepages/pid3366.php.
According to Cutler, “Materials and Plant Managers improve productivity through automation of repetitive, time-consuming management functions as well as elimination of waste built into manual kanban card process. In a Demand Driven Supply Chain (DDSC) there is instant availability of real-time inventory data as well as an automatic calculation of proper replenishment levels.†Much has changed since first writing about Demand Driven Supply Chain issues and technology in the past two years since first authoring a feature for Automation.com.
Within the supply-chain: The lifecycle of a supply-chain has shortened and the need to economically and rapidly reconfigure a supply-chain has increased. ERP developers continue to add marginal pull oriented supply-chain functionality but still do not understand they are a “node†in a network. Some call this the Microsoft syndrome, “the desktop is the center of the universe, not the net.â€
Simplicity has more value today than at any point in history. A half decade of people buying both at the business and personal level
services such as broadband internet, IP phone service and web conferencing services has made SaaS an acceptable delivery vehicle for managing a demand driven supply-chain.
Off-shore out sourcing and rapid consolidation in manufacturing industry have made the ability to effective manage, or participate in a demand driven supply-chain the deference between survival or extinction.
There are dramatic difference about an on-demand digital kanban solution according to Stephen Parker, CEO of Datacraft Solutions who notes that Signum (their core DDSC Saas solution) is hosted on the company’s servers and backed by the company’s infrastructure, eliminate those cost to the enterprise as well as administrator to maintain the software and hardware. The SaaS (software as a solution) model establishes a DDSC with fixed monthly costs, paying only for what is needed and used. Cost of Ownership in a DDSC environment is easily calculated and contained.
Additional savings are derived in a DDSC environment by freeing up man-hours typically wasted in communication follow-up and manually managing the kanban cards on the floor. There are other savings realized in reduced telephone calls and faxes, but more importantly, clients see improved supplier response time and delivery performance that translates into fewer stock-outs and lost production time in the plant.
About Datacraft Solutions:
Datacraft Solutions (www.datacraftsolutions.com) delivers a revolutionary digital kanban process of automation solutions to lean manufacturers through a secure Internet gateway, eliminating the need to install and maintain a complex IT infrastructure. The company has experienced significant growth in the past two years 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 an appropriate digital kanban solution.
Datacraft Solutions
www.datacraftsolutions.com
Sonja Foust
[email protected]
800-819-5326
