Schmidt Technology chooses StockSAVER from WERMA – the new Kanban system without cards Who is SCHMIDT Technology? The company was set up in 1938 and is a family owned, medium sized technology leader in the fields of writing instrument technology, presses for forming and joining and advanced sensor technology.
The right amount of stock required
In order to provide manufacturing with exactly the right amount of material SCHMIDT Technology must have complete transparency of the amount of material held at any time in the FIFO racks. Only in this way can the replenishment process be optimised and excess stockholding minimised. The easy to install retrofit StockSAVER system provided the answers. StockSAVER makes sure that FIFO shelves never run dry, solves all of the traditional Kanban problems and renders previously required safety stocks unnecessary.
Typical Kanban problems solved
A well organised Kanban system brings many advantages but in reality leads to a lack of clarity regarding stock levels. Is there enough stock in place for the orders on hand?
Do Kanban cards get lost or damaged? Does the milk-round actually collect them in a timely fashion? Questions like this often lead to increasing safety stocks held locally in order to avoid production coming to a halt.
These questions have also been concerning SCHMIDT Technology. The company manufacturing process calls for sub-components to be manufactured according to a defined production plan resulting in the assembly of the finished product – “we don’t manufacture parts for stock” comments Production Manager Ulrich Heck. “The question of whether there was too much or too little stock of components in was fundamental in establishing the degree of transparency in the logistics process.”
StockSAVER – the solution from WERMA
Bins in the FIFO flow racks contain the refills which are awaiting the barrels coming in from the mould shop before being worked on further. Because there is no additional WIP stock it is important to have excellent transparency of the actual content of the FIFO flow racks to prevent too much or too little stock being held there and to allow production to run smoothly.
“To begin with we started looking at an E-Kanban system,” explains Steffen Moser, Lean Manager at SCHMIDT Technology. “However everybody involved with the process needs unequivocal transparency of the actual current status on the line.” SCHMIDT Technology established contact with WERMA very early on and began to learn about the StockSAVER system. Sensors monitor the number of bins on the FIFO flow racks and transfer this data wirelessly to the StockSAVER software.
StockSAVER offers a robust errorfree system as it is no longer necessary to scan withdrawals of stock neither is there a danger of duplicate bookings being made nor are arithmetically calculated stock level errors possible. The intelligent monitoring of the stock levels on the flow racks ensure full transparency of stock and the automatic issue of replenishment orders safeguards against stock-outs or incorrect items being replenished.
Test run with WERMA’s StockSAVER
SCHMIDT Technology fitted 17 shelves with three sensors per shelf and on one shelf installed 4 sensors. The sensors monitor the movement of the bins and transfer this data via the SmartBOX to the software wirelessly. In this way a digital version of the real-time status of the shelves is created which gives everybody a perfect overview of stock levels. In addition clear instructions are given automatically to Logistics and Planning on the replenishment requirements and priorities. Analyses and data export allow lasting improvement measures to be made.
Replenishment orders and lists are created not only by degree of urgency but also grouped together according to the type of material thus making picking and prepping an easier and less stressful process for staff.
Further applications planned for StockSAVER
Schmidt Technology is already planning to use StockSAVER in another division of the company. “We can already see real advantages in using StockSAVER as a transport Kanban system compared with other alternatives. The implementation was superb the system is so easy to use and understand.” concludes Steffen Moser.
WERMA UK LTD
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