Nortel Networks wanted to take advantage
of the cost benefits of centralizing all of its print requirements.
The Challenge
•
Nortel
Networks’ print operations included supplying
system houses, training centers, and contract manufacturers
in the US and Canada, as well as several European
locations. The local manufacturing facility did
not want the responsibility for warehousing and
shipping to all these locations and involved us
in their search for a solution.
•
The
disparate – and occasionally desperate - locations
were accustomed to placing orders to the Santa Clara
facility, expecting documentation to ship either
same day or within 24 hours on all the commonly
ordered parts. This necessitated inventory loads
to be maintained at levels sufficient to accommodate
the particular ordering patterns for a broad products.
The Strategy
•
Although
print-on-demand is commonly touted as the immediate
solution to this type of requirement, it was only
one aspect of our comprehensive response.
Through a skillful combination of digital and offset
print and carefully calculated kanbans, Patsons
was able to address the needs of all the satellite
locations while keeping inventories to a minimum.
•
We reviewed the history of orders from their prime customer and tracked the usage of documentation suites through product lifecycles. We then compared this with the customer’s forecasts for these same documents.
•
By 1997, the system was functioning so well that over 50% of the purchase orders placed were filled the same day and over 95% within 72 hours. As a result, Patsons was named Nortel’s “Supplier of the Year”.
•
During the life of the program, 1995 through 2000, the Nortel System House in Santa Clara enjoyed no exposure to the accumulation of excess inventory.
