Material Flow Replenishment™ is a comprehensive enterprise execution management solution that streamlines the entire replenishment process, providing manufacturing operations with the ability to centrally manage and control supplier collaboration, internal supply and facility-wide communication across multiple facilities or within a single location. Designed to support and automate lean replenishment techniques, Material Flow Replenishment eliminates disjointed, labor intensive processes, providing every member of the supply chain access to actionable, real-time data from the factory floor to internal and external supply, thereby enabling everyone to quickly respond to changes in inventory, production status, and customer requests. In addition, the Material Flow solution easily integrates with existing enterprise resource planning (ERP) solutions, such as SAP, Oracle, and QAD to enhance operational visibility, throughput and quality while reducing inventory and labor costs.
The Material Flow solution enhances ERP systems by leveraging their master data repository. The solution returns real-time execution level information back into the ERP system to improve their error proofing capabilities and data accuracy. In addition, Material Flow streamlines ERP’s demand-driven pull replenishment processes by reducing multiple steps into a single transaction, from start to finish. The solution provides real-time execution information that focuses on delivering the product from external supplier or internal storage to the point-of-use line side with actionable and easy-to-use instructions for plant floor associates.
As part of WhereNet’s wireless tracking solutions for enterprise assets, Material Flow Replenishment combines RFID technologies and software to optimize operational performance in one solution. Built on modern open standards, Material Flow easily integrates with AIDC technologies, and ERP software solutions without the added costs of multiple third party solutions.
Material Flow Replenishment offers three robust modules to automate data collection consumption, drive process automation, and facilitate real-time visibility into your manufacturing and distribution processes. These three modules include:
| 1. Internal Supply |
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Real-time visibility between line side and internal material handing optimizes operational efficiencies and improves communication with supply team |
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Multiple material requests strategies enabling line-side operators to press a WhereNet wireless WhereCall RFID button, scanning barcode, or by integrating a third party system |
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Material requests are delivered in an optimized priority allowing the requests to be processed rapidly and efficiently, reducing lag time and line stoppages |
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Increases labor productivity and improves asset utilization by providing real-time material requests to quickly see what is needed in a priority based consumption demand process that is determined by part cycle times and pick and deliver sequencing, thereby reducing inventory levels, handling costs and cycle times |
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Rigorous part routing, part life cycle management and part explosion |
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Unique and comprehensive report and analysis |
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Provides exception and container return processes |
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Immediate resource allocation management to quickly respond to customer demands |
| 2. Supplier Portal
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Same automated process, features and benefits as explained in Internal Supply Replenishment, but the real-time visibility extends beyond the four walls to reach external suppliers with the following additional capabilities: |
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Both the manufacturer and supplier share a real-time view of demand information and materials management that allows them to synchronize their activities accordingly |
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Multiple material request triggering processes support internal and supplier demand generation |
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Customer can choose to have serial demand generation (sequenced information) or synchronous demand generation (paralleled information) |
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Multiple demand visibility views with alerts for open orders, overdue orders, promised shipments, partial shipments, over shipments and shipped in-transit ETA visibility |
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Superior shipping management reduces travel time |
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Supplier shipping time fence with metrics reporting |
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Multiple material request triggering processes support internal and supplier demand generation |
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Receiving screen with shipping paperwork (automatic or manual) |
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Supplier shipping promise information |
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Customer shipping promise response |
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Improves communication and collaborative order management to enable manufacturers and suppliers to work together in real time to ensure that materials are shipped and received in a timely way to fulfill customer demand |
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Comprehensive report and analysis |
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| 3. Manufacturing Messaging
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Improves communication and productivity among entire labor force and supervisors by providing real-time facility-wide standard communication |
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Multiple messaging triggering methods (similar to internal replenishment) with priority based messages and responses, delivery options and message route management |
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Quick Message provides messaging to mobile labor force with hot key responses |
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