Speedline Technologies (Speedline) manufactures capital equipment electronics companies around the world use to assemble printed circuit boards and semiconductor packaging. Formed in 1998, Speedline has been an independent business unit of Illinois Tool Works, Inc. (NYSE:ITW) since 2006. Based in Franklin, Massachusetts, Speedline was named Frost & Sullivan’s “2005 Surface Mount Technology Company of the Year” and has earned their “2006 Competitive Strategy Leadership Award.”
The Challenge: Maximizing Global Logistics Efficiency.
Each year, Speedline ships approximately 2,000 machines to its customers around the world. Over 71,000 replacement parts are shipped directly to customers or to its three spare-parts hubs that serve different regions. “We pretty well cover the globe. There’s virtually no place —discounting embargoed countries — that we haven’t shipped a machine,” says Roger Clement, Director of worldwide logistics at Speedline Technologies. A long-time user of QAD Enterprise Applications, Speedline leveraged shipping capabilities native to the system, coupled with internally developed customizations. With growing needs to document international shipments and
meet rigorous regulatory requirements, these workarounds became too cumbersome. Generating shipping documents required a lot of extra steps
and re-keying of information."Before implementing Precision, a customer order would typically require 165 keystrokes across the ERP system, with the logistics operator shifting between QAD and vendor systems," says Clement.
The Solution: Unified System Clarifies Shipping Operations.
To meet its urgent need for an agile transportation management system that integrated with its core ERP system, Speedline Technologies chose the Precision 08 Transportation and Global Trade Management solution. Because the Precision solution is highly configurable, Speedline didn’t need to adjust its processes to fit the software. “The information flow and the functionality that Precision 08 brings allow us to use standard functionality and eliminate customizations,” says Clement. With real-time visibility into customer demand, logistics managers can deploy resources more effectively. Speedline’s global sites can easily share business documents using the Web-based document repository. Electronic links to UPS, FedEx, and DHL eliminate the need to re-key information into their proprietary shipping systems. Multiple orders arriving from the same customer or distributor on the same day are automatically consolidated. PRECISION automatically flags orders containing invalid data or lacking required information, and screens orders with special requirements, such as the Automated Export System (AES) authorization requirement for international shipments valued at more than $2,500.
The Benefits: Top Productivity And Global Compliance.
Speedline saw positive results within months. Most immediate was cutting the average order processing time by 54 percent, utilizing the connectivity between the ERP system and our transportation solution. According to Clement. "It now takes less than half the number of keystrokes to get that same customer order out. We’ve reduced our error rate through automated feedback to our ERP, bringing consistent accurate data back to our global database,” Clement says. “The most significant system change we’ve implemented in the last year is the introduction of global compliance functionality. Authorities need to ensure that we’ve got the appropriate controls in place — and the system allows us to demonstrate that very clearly,” says Clement. “Precision allows us to more productively apply systemic compliance screening, enabling us to improve our resource management and bring additional efficiencies to our overall global order management process.”
The Future: Delivering Benefits Up And Down The Supply/Demand Chain.
Clement is also enthusiastic about plans to implement PRECISION Global Visibility solution. This web-based supplier collaboration tool will give Speedline the ability to open up the supplier base to look at things that are inbound as well as outbound. Speedline’s logistics managers will not only be able to see what goods a supplier has coming but also to know where those goods are in the supply chain. “We have a tremendous opportunity to use a simple, systemic tool both on the supply side and on the outbound, fulfillment side,” says Clement.