Procurement and storage processes improvement and digitalisation for strategic manufacturing devices at 3B Fibreglass Braj Binami

Abstract

This paper is aimed at solving a general hardware procurement and management problem in any company exploiting a critical production tool requiring equipment for maintenance operations. This should particularly be suitable for companies with hardware management practices currently characterised by low levels of formalisation, high sku’s diversity, absence of information system follow-ups and high materials availability requirement. The methodology depicted here is illustrated with the specific case study of 3B Fibreglass, a major actor in the development and production of glass fibre for several technical applications. Hardware management practices for this company were marked by high knowledge retention from procurement managers and absence of sku’s tracking into the exploited ERP system. The goal was thus to formalise hardware management policies in order to increase process transparency and lower excess inventory levels while ensuring materials availability. In order to do so, a general data collection phase is described with the aim of clarifying procurement processes, setting up clear hardware bill of materials and grouping equipment in logical sku’s families in order to facilitate management. This is followed by an improvement phase where current procurement and storage practices for non reusable hardware are reshaped in the light of theoretical principles identified in the scientific literature for inventory management. Theoretical concepts used here consist mainly of MRP logic with a lot-for-lot policy in the case of dependent demand materials and (R, Q) policies for independent demand equipment. The result is the introduction of clear management policies describing operators’ tasks and responsibilities. This process is also supported by a digitalisation shift materialised with the construction of a comprehensive information system tool devoted to inventories tracking with the ultimate goal to support decision making in hardware procurement. This methodology proved to perform effectively with regard to selected project KPI’s so that any business willing to increase hardware management performances could potentially consider it. As a last comment, several aspects such as closed-loop supply chain possibilities, advance demand information sharing and full supply chain vision are tackled here to get as broad and up-to-date a treatment of the situation as possible.