Engineering Research Client Case Study

Challenge:

One Engineering research client had discovered their inventory management system was not providing real-time visibility into their actual inventory levels. This resulted in delays in the production process, higher lead times, as well as deterioration with supply-line relationships that spurred on a rise in both costs and delivery times for materials.

Action:

Supply Chain Solutions was then tasked with identifying and resolving these issues. An assessment was conducted where the team took steps to introduce a new and comprehensive inventory management system, consolidate their order fulfillment out of a single facility, and synced efforts between Domestic and Warehouse departments to deliver improved results.

Result:

After implementing the recommended solutions, the client saw significant improvements throughout their supply chain operation, highlighted by an “on-time pick up” rate of 98% and an “on-time delivery” rate of 100%. The real-time visibility enabled their team to reduce lead times, improve production scheduling and stabilize inbound material supply lines.

Benefits:

• Reduced risk of stock-outs and delays due to wrongly-allocated inventory.

• Improved operational efficiency, reduced costs and increased profitability margins.

Lesson Learned: 

The key takeaway is the importance of real-time visibility when optimizing supply chain operations. Accurate and updated information has an impact on decision making that can either make or break an operation.