A Tier 1 global automotive plastics manufacturer operating 7 injection molding cells and managing $27.5M+ in direct purchasing spend had a severe inventory problem. Their service component inventory sat at 163 days on hand — over 5 months of stock — because the facility served as a global aftermarket distribution hub where inventory had accumulated unchecked. Rogue purchasing, input errors that bloated ERP system quantities, and a complete absence of cycle counting meant nobody truly knew what was in the building. Some parts had sat untouched for years. The attitude was "build it and they will come." Meanwhile, a major new product launch for two premium European and Japanese automotive OEMs was approaching with aggressive timelines, requiring qualification of overseas contract injection molding suppliers under stringent quality requirements.
A facility-wide Kanban system was implemented with purchase and scheduling kanban cards to improve information flow and reduce perpetual inventory overages. The materials team systematically audited service inventory, identifying dead stock, duplicate purchases, and items with incorrect ERP quantities. Cycle counting was established for the first time. For the new product launches, contract injection molding suppliers were identified and qualified under compressed timelines to ensure parts availability without jeopardizing launch dates. Supply chain and quality audits were conducted at each potential supplier. The logistics area was completely reconfigured — new dock doors were constructed, RFID scanning technology was installed, a staging area was built, and customer-returnable dunnage layout was redesigned to improve flow. Standard work, flow racks, bins, shadow boards, and lean material flow methods were deployed across the facility.
“The service inventory had been invisible for years — nobody questioned why we had 163 days of stock sitting in a warehouse. Once we started cycle counting and implementing Kanban, the waste became obvious. We recovered over $13 million in the first year.”
— Project Lead, Inventory Recovery, Tier 1 Global Automotive Manufacturer
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Facility-wide Kanban, PFEP across 43,000 SKUs, and RFID pull systems took a $88M-spend OEM from daily line shutdowns to under 10 shortages and 25 inventory turns.
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