ABSTRACT
Under Justin’s leadership the team started working on this project. After an initial brainstorming session with Ubercraft staff, three primary contributors of long lead time were identified: (1) frequent order changes in order entry, (2) shop floor capacity constraint, and (3) raw material supply management. The team also observed that long lead times of 6 weeks made the forecast highly inaccurate so that nearly 40% of ship dates were rescheduled by request of customers, which, in turn, made the lead time even worse. Furthermore, purchase-to-order strategy used for inventory not managed by supplier and inaccurate estimation of production lead time in the MRP system led to occasional shortage of raw materials. Even the vendor managed inventory used to have occasional stock-out problems. By modeling the shop floor process and analyzing alternatives combined with discussions with Ubercraft personnel the team proposed several recommendations. The team also presented a ten-step implementation plan that covered all the recommendations in three areas including shop floor rearrangement, raw material supply management, and order placement strategy.
