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•Case Study: Inventory Management Helps Build A Bridge: Glidewell Laboratories

By WinWare

According to Glidewell Laboratories, having the right inventory on hand shouldn't be like pulling teeth. Admittedly though, it once was. As in any manufacturing facility, tracking indirect material is a challenge only the brave will attempt to take on. Problems with tracking indirect material can be considered the cavity and implementing a change is kind of like that dreaded trip to the dentist. The sound of that drill, the suction, the mouth rinse…it's a scary process, but when all the pieces are in place, the discomfort is gone and your mouth feels much better on a day to day basis.

Glidewell Laboratories is a manufacturer of dental prosthetics. Crowns, bridges, dentures, sports mouth guards, snore prevention, and night guards are the types of things Glidewell manufactures. Each of the prosthetics are unique to a specific patient. A dentist sends prescriptions directly to Glidewell and they fabricate the needed prosthetic from the patients' impressions and the dentists' prescriptions. Glidewell is one of the largest laboratories of its type having 4 US facilities, 3 international and employs over 2000 people. With an operation of this size and the need for fast turnaround times for everything manufactured, it is critical that inventory is on hand without carrying more inventory than would actually be utilized. Correctly managing inventory and establishing proper order points is critical.

In order to get things under tighter control and rise to the challenge, Glidewell looked to the CribMaster Inventory Management System from WinWare, Inc. in Marietta, GA. According to Dianne Spehar, Purchasing Manager, "We looked at purchasing software for nearly 2 years and couldn't find an application to do what we needed. Then we found CribMaster."

Spehar explains that the Glidewell needed to find a more accurate way to manage supply room inventory, establish bar code scanning and have a point-of-use distribution option. CribMaster answered all of these needs coupled to a mature, feature rich software backbone. Glidewell has reduced overstock, reduced stock outs, and increased inventory accuracy. "Our average inventory turn is every six weeks," states Spehar. For a facility that is so job specific and under such tight deadline requirements, this is incredibly lean. Spehar continues, "We've shown improvements in inventory accuracy - lots of them. Our stock-outs have gone down by 80%.

Click Here To Download:
•Case Study: Inventory Management Helps Build A Bridge: Glidewell Laboratories