Does the inventory in Plex match what’s happening on the plant floor? One of the biggest culprits driving an inaccurate inventory is material loaded to workcenters out of order. It doesn’t sound like a big deal but the domino effect that it can have throughout your business is no joke.
Let’s say two containers of the same material are at a workcenter, one has been scanned & loaded into Plex, the other has not. The operator begins to produce parts with the non-loaded container, what can go wrong? Parts are being produced, they are meeting quality standards, this shouldn’t be an issue…right?
Wrong!
The first container that was loaded into the system still physically exists but is no longer in Plex, the second container is physically gone but still exists in your inventory system. Your inventory accuracy has just taken a hit. You are now open to inventory adjustments that will fix the problem at the workcenter but will artificially increase your inventory. It’s probable that the inaccurately consumed container will be added to inventory to make it available to load. Next, your cycle counters will go on a treasure hunt to find the container of material that was consumed but your ERP/MES says still exists.
This issue is rarely noticed when running production, but the downstream effects can be crippling:
-Inaccurate MRP
-Shorting an intended run
-Inaccurate traceability/genealogy
-Shorting shipments
One of the simplest ways to combat this is to limit lineside inventory. Your operators can’t load what is not there. Not to mention the quality benefits of making sure only the correct material at the line. That’s where tools like Cella come into play, connecting your materials handlers directly to your operators. Material handlers will know exactly who needs what. They won’t bring to much inventory to the workcenter and they’ll make sure the machines do not go idle waiting for parts.
An accurate inventory is not just the responsibility of the materials team, it takes the entire organization to do their part to make sure that what is in the warehouse and what is in your ERP aligns.
About Cella: Cella-Tech delivers warehouse and inventory solutions that are intuitive, easy to use, and bring more value to your shop floor. Designed to empower manufacturers with the tools needed to navigate the growing complexity of inventory, warehouse, and resource management.
For more information on how Cella’s tools can drive value to your shop floor please visit our Contact Us page.