A Latin American division of one of the world’s largest healthcare companies achieved its goal of saving $30,000 USD in tooling inventory costs over one year – in just FIVE months.
Background
This large, leading healthcare manufacturer produces critical surgical equipment at its plant in Brazil. The production process requires drilling holes in the product, using drill bits that are expensive and consumed in large quantities, with the plant typically spending over $1 million USD a year on their purchase.
Managing this inventory was a challenge for the production team, which had relied on the use of printed worksheet and operators manually noting the removal of tools from stock. As the drill bits are costly there was a need to ensure their correct usage. The desire was to automate the control of the consumption of bits per operator.
Solution
CRIBWISE was recommended as a solution to this division by its sister plant in Mexico, where it had received an extremely positive reaction from the engineers. It was ultimately chosen for the software’s ability for customization, the detailed reports that it produces, and the high-quality hardware that was offered as part of the overall solution. CRIBWISE offered the manufacturer:
- Automation of the tool-ordering process.
- Ability to track tools from their point of delivery to their destination on the shop floor, significantly reducing administration costs.
- Total visibility and control of expenditure.
- Ability to mark tooling as ‘in use’ rather than ‘out of stock’, eliminating over ordering.
- Option to set rules to ensure that operators choose used and refurbished tools before new.
- Guarantee that the right tool for a given job is in stock when it is needed.
The results
Following the installation of the CRIBWISE solution and other machine improvements at the plant, the expectation from the healthcare manufacturer was to achieve savings of $30,000 USD within the first year. These were far exceeded, when the company achieved a saving of $27,000 USD in the first five months alone.
The conveniently located tool vending machines also saved time for operators in locating drill bits, allowing that time to be spent on more productive tasks.
The managers at the facility are now able to quantify their consumption of drill bits accurately and to optimize the process further and aid with preventative maintenance.
The plant is also more environmentally sustainable as CRIBWISE has eliminated the need to print and discard paper-based documentation daily.
Before CRIBWISE, the healthcare manufacturer used paper to control the stock and so now they no longer have the need to print and discard paper on a daily basis. In addition, reducing the consumption of drill bits means less packaging, generating less waste. The customer is very satisfied with the results; it is far above their expectations, and they believe the gains will be even greater.
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Key Features
Stock Optimization
This Artificial Intelligence feature analyzes and optimizes stock levels of consumable items in a fraction of the time a stock manager would need, controlling costs and ensuring precision. Learn more
Work Order Management
Access tool consumption per work order or attach certain tools to use based on a unique work order. Make sure your operators allocate the right tools for the specific job to be carried out.
Spare Part Management
Identify the parts you’ll need to have on hand to keep your machines running. Access related items such as spare parts via the built-in catalogue connection to several leading cutting tool manufacturers.
Automated Purchase & Service Orders
Minimize administrative tasks and let CRIBWISE take care of your purchase & service management. Generate and automate purchase orders with no human interaction and make sure you never run low on stock.
Automated Dispense Management
CRIBWISE provides optimised utilisation by automatically dispensing reconditioned and used items before prioritising brand new ones.
Manufacturer Catalog
Services
Use CRIBWISE built-in catalogue connections and empower your team with easy and fast access to inventory related data and information from several leading cutting tool manufacturers. Learn more
Grow your business whilst reducing costs
With our simple, easy to use and full customisable Tool, Inventory and Order Management System.