Case study characteristics
The subject of this article is an IT logistics support system used in a company manufacturing window joinery.
As is well known, in the mid-1990s, Poland experienced a period of rapid economic growth. Industry was developing dynamically, and market demand almost exceeded supply. This situation meant that manufacturers did not have to pay much attention to reducing production costs, but rather focused on ways to increase production. By the end of the 1990s, the realities of the free market severely verified the true value of enterprises. Companies that were poorly managed, lacked established business process control mechanisms, and were unable to transform quickly to keep up with the lightning pace of changes in our economy –
collapsed or were absorbed by other business entities.
The enterprise that served as an example in this article was not among the certain candidates for leaders in the new Polish reality. However, the management decided to take radical steps to quickly adapt the company to the new, more difficult operating conditions. Examples of such steps were decisions to take actions aimed at, among others:
I. shortening production order lead times
II. reducing material inventory levels
III. reducing finished goods inventory levels
IV. the ability to obtain immediate information on the status of finished goods inventory
V. achieving full control over the execution of individual production orders.
Production in the described enterprise takes place in short series. There is no “make-to-stock” production. Each series consists of a specific number of production orders. A production series is assembled in such a way that it can be completed during one work shift. This means that when the company operates on a two-shift system, it is able to produce two series per day.
The article comes from the magazine “Logistyka” 3/2003.