Being LEAN has made Instruments For Industry (IFI) profitable.  They went from the red to the black, their through-put has doubled and their inventory was reduced by 86%.  Their inventory turns went from 3 to 20, all of which are still improving (read about their success story) but a new system constraint has emerged, the company’s administrative staff is now burdened with 6 times more work!

What happened was a logical result of successfully reducing inventory levels and increasing inventory turns.  In order to maintain their Kanban controlled inventory, they generated 6 times more transactions and paper work for the Purchasing, Receiving and Accounting professionals.  Since they are ordering Kanban replenishment material everyday, their Purchasing staff is creating up to 150 Purchase Order line items daily.  When those line items are delivered, our Receiving Professionals were buried with a backlog of goods to receive, and placing them in their perspective Point-Of-Use (POU) locations.  Shortly thereafter, the Accounting Department was buried with vendor invoices for the received material.  

They could have increased their staff to relieve this new system constraint, but they decided instead to take the LEAN concept to the next level.  IFI needed a LEAN Software designed to support their LEAN effort and to relieve the additional workload that was placed on their administration through automation.

Thanks to the Partnership with Weber Systems, Inc. (WSI), IFI developed a paperless Bar Code enabled procurement and receiving system for Kanban controlled inventory.  In addition WSI developed Lean Purchasing to convert and automate a visual Kanban reorder signal into Purchase Orders; which are electronically transmitted to the Vendor.  Lean Invoicing was developed to quickly reconcile invoices to receivables and post to Accounts Payable.

Features of Lean Enterprise System (LES):

Office LEAN Includes:

• LEAN Accounting – A stream lined free forum method of accounting practices
• LEAN Purchasing - Paperless procurement of Kanban controlled inventory
• LEAN Invoicing - A fast and efficient method to manage vendor invoices

• LEAN Manufacturing
  • Kanban (Bar Coded) Inventory Control – A paperless procurement/replenishment system
  • LEAN Receiving - Bar Coded process to receive Kanban replenishments
  • BOM Control - To control product configuration and provide cost reporting
  • Job Order Purchasing - To procure Customer Specific (non-Kanban controlled material) to a Job Order
  • Bill Of Materials (BOMs) Control – Full Multi-Level BOM Structure
  • Product Configuration – Revision control of product configuration with ECN history.
  • Maximizes Point of Use Practice (POI) – product is received and delivered to POI locations
  • Dynamic 2 Bin Kanban Control – The system manages the front/back bin quantities to maximize inventory control and minimize inventory levels.

For more information please contact:                                                    Robert W. F. Krause II                                                             Manufacturing/MRP/LEAN Specialist                                                     Weber Systems Inc. A Microsoft Certified Partner Since 1995

(631) 724-9400 x25 rkrause@webersystems.com http://www.AccessYourBiz.Com

What is Lean Manufacturing? -A Definition of LEAN Manufacturing.
A LEAN Company – An established LEAN Company needed a software solution.
The LEAN approach – An article to support your LEAN movement over MRP/ERP systems.
ROI – A Case Study of a LEAN company and their Return On Investment.
About Robert Krause – LEAN Enterprise System (LES) Software Developer.
Why Do You Need LES? – Rationale and a supporting article to use LEAN Manufacturing Practices.