by : Thomas Cutler

There are a number of factors that impact production expenses. One in particular is a lack of visibility into on-hand inventory and the predictability in the consumption of materials used in production of finished goods. This generally results in one of two basic scenarios: 1) over-stock of raw materials, some of which may never be consumed, further resulting in waste and; 2) under stock of materials resulting in expediting orders from suppliers and potentially fulfilling orders late to consumers resulting in less than stellar customer satisfaction. In today's global marketplace the competitive winners are those companies which can reliably and cost effectively supply their lines in a timely and continuous manner. Factory automation enables "Repeatability", "Quality" and "Cost Management." Digital Kanban solutions provide supply chains with real-time visibility and management capabilities to assist in enabling "winning and sustaining market presence". According to Datacraft Solutions' CEO Stephen Parker, "The new kanban card-level calculation functionality, "Daily Demand Import Interface" (DDII), has three major components: Import Demand, Calculation Reports, and Print Cards."

&bullImport Demand: Allows users to modify and upload new card set information into Data craft Solution's pull-based Kanban solution, Signum.
&bullCalculation Reports: The "calculation reports" interface provides users with the ability to see all of their uploaded and processed demand data.
&bullPrint Cards: The "print cards" component enables users to print new cards for any card-sets modified during a DDII session.

Datacraft Solutions (www.datacraftsolutions.com) delivers a revolutionary digital kanban process of automation solutions to lean manufacturers through a secure Internet gateway, eliminating the need to install and maintain a complex IT infrastructure. The company has experienced significant growth in the past twelve months by eliminating complicated, expensive, time-intensive software implementations as well as extensive training regiments and the need for internal support. The Datacraft Solutions' demand driven supply chain digital kanban lean system allows customers access and fully utilize powerful lean benefits immediately for a low, predictable monthly fee. Services are scalable so manufacturers can design an appropriate digital kanban solution.