Articles
Beyond Vending - More Than Tracking Inventory And Purchasing Parts
August 20, 2009
•Case Study: Beyond Vending - More Than Tracking Inventory And Purchasing Parts
By WinWare, Inc.
Die castings are among the highest volume, mass-produced items manufactured by the metalworking industry. J. L. French, headquartered in Sheboygan, Wisconsin, is a global supplier of quality aluminum die castings specializing in powertrain and automotive components having three manufacturing plants in the United States and one in Spain. It's not uncommon for large manufacturers such as J. L. French to spend millions of dollars every year on the MRO (Maintenance, Repair, and Operations) side of manufacturing. In 2005, J. L. French realized that controlling these types of costs on MRO, spare parts, tooling, and other indirect material used in the secondary machining operations should be a priority according to Warren Hacker, Manager of North American MRO Purchasing. Being naturally analytical, Hacker had numerous questions regarding asset management and inventory control. Questions such as - Where is all this material going? Why do we have so much of this and not enough of that? Why are so many of our invoices not matching our purchase orders? Bottom line - How much is it really costing us to manufacture these parts?
In a manufacturing environment like J. L. French, monitoring perishable tool wear in the machining process is an essential component to getting greater productivity and lower costs from a cutting tool. There are many factors that can quickly increase production costs just in perishable tooling alone. For example, randomly changing out tools drastically disrupts production, and using dull tools can produce scrap that can lead to serious failures. Additionally, communication between shift workers regarding which tools needed to be changed didn't always occur. If a change was done too soon, money was wasted because tools were being replaced prior to the end of their life expectancy.
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