Kanban Leader Ultriva Discusses Buyers and Suppliers

Kanban Leader Ultriva Discusses Buyers and Suppliers

Ultriva’s flagship product, Ultriva Electronic Kanban, eliminates stock-outs while reducing inventory levels up to 75 percent. Ultriva Lean Scheduling complements demand-driven replenishment strategies by optimizing production schedules in real time around the most variable customer demand. Ultriva Supplier Replenishment extends the replenishment capabilities of Kanban to include schedule-based replenishment, discrete POs, min/max, consignment and VMI (vendor-managed inventory) replenishment methods. Ultriva’s products are in use in more than 100 plants worldwide, incorporating more than 4,000 suppliers, transacting over one billion dollars of inventory and reducing manufacturing costs for industry leaders such as AGCO, Emerson, Ingersoll-Rand, McKesson, Rexnord, and Timken.

 

According to Narayan Laksham, CEO of Ultriva, (www.ultriva.com), “We design lean manufacturing software and solutions that drive lean processes across the supply chain, from suppliers to customers.”

 

Butch Dority, an Ultriva consultative implementation expert, noted, “During a pilot, the number of buyers and suppliers involved is limited and is usually focused on those in both categories that are likely to be open to, or at least not adamantly against, a change in current culture where supply chain and materials management is concerned.  A pilot is the “proof of concept” stage of an implementation.  After the successful completion of this phase, the first challenge is bringing additional users, both plant and supplier, on board.”

 

 

Dority also noted that, “Most buyers are comfortable with the set routines they have created in the planning and ordering process, plus they usually have well established relationships with their contacts at the suppliers they work with.  The management must support the expansion effort and mandate this new way of doing business. “

 

Ultriva characteristics that have proven most helpful and unique according to Dority, “It’s got to be the huge increase in visibility into every aspect of the supply chain, the ability to produce a vast array of business critical, real-time reports with a few simple clicks and the ease of use on tasks like analyzing current demand and resizing multiple kanban loops without the need for complex calculations and piles of spreadsheets.”

 

 

 

Ultriva

www.ultriva.com

Cindy McGowan

pr@ultriva.com

408.248.9803