e-Kanban by Datacraft Solutions Profiled in Copper Case Study
Outokumpu Copper Franklin, a leading producer of copper and
copper alloy sheet, strip and tubular products has been on the
lean journey for two years, working to reduce waste throughout
the metalworking organization. The firm's internal efforts to
reduce inventory and work towards production smoothing were
being hampered by a disconnection between the customers' needs
and the company's production efforts.
Metalworking Production and Purchasing September 2005 issue
features an article titled, "The Metalworking Lean initiative
and the Role of e-Kanban"; Thomas R. Cutler
(www.trcutlerinc.com) the leading manufacturing journalist in
North America authored the feature.
There are many variables that drive the goal of waste
elimination, none as keen as the need to be competitive in a
global economy. As metalworking organizations implement these
lean programs, no action item is providing the rapid benefits of
e-kanban. According to Cutler, estimates suggest that almost a
third of all metalworking manufacturers are presently engaged in
some type of Lean Manufacturing initiative.
Datacraft Solutions' e-kanban: Real Time Production for
Metalworking Manufacturers
The company recently implemented an e-kanban solution by
Datacraft Solutions (www.datacraftsolutions.com) and according
to Scott Stringer, Outokumpu Operations Manager, "The e-kanban
system linked us and our customer's production efforts real
time. We are now only producing what our customers are buying
NOW. There is no more "we need to build this just in case" due
the lack of linkage."
Datacraft Solutions' e-kanban: Savings for Metalworking
Manufactuers
The Datacraft Solutions' e-kanban system has achieved savings
for Outokumpu Franklin in several key areas:
* It has reduced to zero the need for Outokumpu to build
inventory. All production is now initiated based on the
immediate needs of our customers. Inventory turns for e-kanban
parts are now at 62 turns per year.
* Time spent by customer service communicating on expedited
parts issues has practically been eliminated. They estimated
that customer service staff was spending 40% of their time on
just expediting part orders, as well as the chaos that this
created on the shop floor.
* 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.
Datacraft Solutions www.datacraftsolutions.com Matthew Marotta
800-819-5326