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Those
are questions Anthony Bellomo, director of worldwide materials for
Avid Technology, Inc., has answered by entering into an order fulfillment
program with Mack Technologies.
Mack
Tech provides complete turnkey assembly for eight configurations
of a media drive storage device for Avid. In its simplest form,
the unit includes 15 components; and in its most complex, 200
assembled parts. In any case, the product is shipped from Mack
Tech's docks the same day the order is received.
"We
are linked directly into Avid's inventory system," explains
Carlos Silva, Mack Tech business unit manager. "So when a
customer places an order with Avid for one of the products we
manufacture, it automatically prints out at our Westford, Mass.,
location, where we pick and ship the unit. Everything is transacted
within Avid's inventory system, including shipping information
and serial number, packing invoice," says Silva.
According
to Bellomo, the program was driven by two goals:
-
reduce order fulfillment cycle time and
- take
inventory out of the supply line.
"We've
accomplished both of these objectives by removing ourselves from
part of the supply chain," explains Bellomo. "Now instead
of shipping finished goods from Mack Tech to Avid to the customer,
Mack Tech ships directly to our customer. The hidden advantage
is that it allows us more time to focus on value-added activities-probably
the major benefit to Avid," he concludes.
Currently,
the system is set up for finished, independent products. The next
step will be to "merge" shipments. "We'd like to
get to a point where we can ship a system out of Avid, and at
the same time, ship the accompanying storage device out of Mack
Tech, with both arriving on the re-seller's dock at the same time,"
adds Bellomo. "It should be transparent to the customer that
the product was shipped from multiple sites." Bellomo expects
to implement the dock-merge phase of the order fulfillment program
by summer's end.
Avid
Technologies, Inc. is an international, Oscar award-winning provider
of digital audio and video tools for information and entertainment
applications. The company spends about 80 percent of its dollars
with some 15 suppliers, and would like to transition or of them
over to order fulfillment.
"During
the first quarter of operation with Mack Technologies, all shipments
were defect-free, meaning they were shipped correctly and on time,"
says Bellomo.
"Mack
Tech has the process controls, high quality levels and corrective
action processes that prove its capabilities in shipping quality
product," he concludes, "and that's what it takes."
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