Australian Country Spinners achieves significant performance improvements, assisted by Fastreact
The Company
Australian Country Spinners, Australia’s largest producer of knitting yarns has implemented the latest Fastreact planning system with excellent results.
Fastreact was introduced as part of the company’s Continuous Improvement Program and has provided much better management visibility and coordination, which in turn has led to significant performance improvements.
The Solution
Fastreact is installed at the Company’s Head Office in Melbourne, where it has been interfaced to the existing TIM manufacturing system. New orders are received via TIM and ‘rough cut’ planning takes place in the Melbourne office.
The ‘Distributed Planning’ option in Fastreact then allows detailed planning to take place at the company’s Wangaratta manufacturing facility, where detailed production plans are formulated and production updates are entered. The latest
plan and production updates are then communicated back to Melbourne, all without the need for expensive communications links.
The Benefits
Overall, the company has achieved greater flexibility and speed of response. Successful order completion against target in 2004 were 10% up on 2003. In the areas where the use of Fastreact is most focussed, from the Winding department through the Dyehouse and the Finishing area, lead times and work in progress levels have reduced by over 30% year on year.
Ian Brimblecombe, Manufacturing Services Manager, explained “Previously, various people throughout the Business were making separate planning decisions. The result was poor coordination and too much manual chasing of orders through the pant to rectify stock outs. We now work to focussed priorities, with each department buying into this process. Fastreact has provided an essential management tool to improve visibility and coordination, thereby facilitating our business improvement process. As demand increases for smaller production runs and greater flexibility, we are now better prepared than ever to cope”.
The Conclusion
Andrew Brown, Managing Director of Fast React Systems added, “The results demonstrated by Australian Country Spinners provide testament both to the capabilities of the Fastreact product and to the commitment of the local management team to their business improvement process. The planning and coordination issues faced by many multi-site companies are a particular strength in Fastreact, which allows visibility and communication between sites, over distance, without the need for an expensive communications infrastructure”.
