Feature Article

Supply chain partners: Training within industry promotes common goals

A Lean technique known as Training within Industry helped Donnelly Custom Manufacturing Company greatly improve production efficiency. It also played a part in Donnelly receiving the Marvin Windows and Doors Silver Supplier Award for 2007.
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Lean sourcing: Automotive supplier develops protocol for cutting procurement costs

MCL Industries, a supplier of electrical assemblies for heavy-duty on-road and off-road vehicles, has developed a proprietary method of identifying—and eliminating—process steps that inflate its customers' procurement costs.
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S&OP tool: Workbench enables quick supply chain planning decisions

Sujit Singh, COO of Supply Chain Consultants, says the company's new sales and operations planning (S&OP) workbench will allow executives to answer important questions during S&OP meetings without reconvening for multiple iterations.
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Order-fulfillment strategies: Slotting engine boosts warehouse efficiency

Sterling Commerce has unveiled a new slotting engine that streamlines order fulfillment by identifying the most efficient placement for items in the warehouse.
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Research

A disconnect: Manufacturers claim to like virtualization, but don’t adopt it

Despite the popularity of virtualization as a cost-reduction vehicle and the stringent focus on cost leadership by manufacturers, adoption remains lower than in other industry sectors. A recent Info-Tech Research Group study found that among manufacturers, virtualization is the most popular technology for reducing costs. However, more than half of these manufacturers are not planning to deploy virtualization now, nor in the foreseeable future.
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