The right screw in the right place at the right time – that’s the art of C-parts management and an art that Ferdinand Gross GmbH & Co KG is confident it has mastered.
By offering customers individualised consulting, innovative processes, vast experience, as well as customised Kanban solutions, Ferdinand Gross is able to make sure that its customers can concentrate on what’s important – production.
Imagine the following scenario: Parts are being assembled on the production line of a company in the mechanical engineering industry. Production is running at full capacity and deadlines are setting the pace. Suddenly the machines come to a standstill and production is paralysed. What has happened? A certain screw is missing in the process – the supply has run out.
To ensure that this never happens, Ferdinand Gross uses its ample experience to ensure that C-parts are always at the right place at the right time in the right quantities. Founded more than 150 years ago, the company founder, Ferdinand Gross, quickly recognised that to set himself apart from the competition it was vital to listen, ask questions and understand. “150 years later and we still want to understand how each customer works so that we can deliver a customised range of products precisely adapted to each customer’s needs,” says CEO Thomas Erb.
Standard solutions do not exist at Ferdinand Gross. As an experienced partner to industry, the company cooperates closely with customers on-site to screen and optimise their actual needs and develop the appropriate strategies for them. Large quantities or consumable kits? Custom or standard part? One container or two container Kanban? These are just a few of the many issues addressed by Ferdinand Gross in the procurement stage. Once they are clarified, Ferdinand Gross is able to supply the right fasteners in the right place at the right time in the production process according to requirements. Both parties benefit from such a system – with the comprehensive Ferdinand Gross Kanban system, total procurement costs can be lowered by up to 70%.
Ferdinand Gross can also handle the management of small parts and organise the warehousing for its customers. An individual fleet of vehicles – the Kanban-Express – also helps ensure trouble-free and continuous delivery.
Anyone working so intensively with C-parts management on a daily basis has to ask the question: ‘How can I do an even better job?’ The over 50 year old Kanban system used by Ferdinand Gross seemed perfect because materials supply was based solely on consumption in the production process. However, Ferdinand Gross decided to take a different approach – not by investigating the process itself – but by making the downfalls of Kanban supply visible.
The problem became clear. Kanban was lacking in transparency. Purchasers had no overview of actual item statuses – there were no possibilities for control. Ferdinand Gross therefore decided to develop a web-based visualisation tool that gave purchasers back their control. The innovation was named ‘FALCON’ – after the bird that keeps sight of even the slightest movement.
FALCON visualises all of the customer’s Kanban storage locations. Items are no longer searched for, they are found. Implementation of a Microsoft® Excel® export function enables the purchaser to control the deployment of C-parts even more precisely and effectively. Thanks to the reporting tool, statistics, analyses, and fast reaction, peaks in demand aren’t a problem anymore – and all data, from consumption to inventory turnover to price, is completely transparent.
Because FALCON is also available as an App for smartphones and tablets, the customer can stay informed about the status of the Kanban box everywhere, all the time. Simple read-in of the barcode makes the coordinates of the box visible. All item master data, including consumption and historical data, can be retrieved. The Kanban customers integrated into the ERP system of Ferdinand Gross can process all known order release components. The order can be released through Bluetooth, USB or GSM scanner, mobile phone App, SmartBin (weight-based scale system) or RFID.
“With Ferdinand Gross Kanban, C-parts management is not only simpler but also much more transparent,” says Thomas Erb. “A smart system such as FALCON currently has no real competitors.”
Will joined Fastener + Fixing Magazine in 2007 and over the last 15 years has experienced every facet of the fastener sector - interviewing key figures within the industry and visiting leading companies and exhibitions around the globe.
Will manages the content strategy across all platforms and is the guardian for the high editorial standards that the Magazine is renowned.
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