MTS Systems Corporation provides industry-leading testing and sensing solutions to researchers, product developers and manufacturers worldwide. Their products, services and unrivaled expertise allow customers to develop higher-quality products faster and more efficiently, optimizing the performance and reliability of everything from automobiles and aircraft to bridges and buildings to construction equipment and more.
What we discovered with our work with Reveal is that we had to go back to the basics and use the system as it was intended to do by utilizing Reveal’s SAP best practices training & education. -President, MTS Systems Corporation
CHALLENGES
- Long lead times to market
- Rising raw material and finished good inventory
- Inventory strategies and master data not aligned
- Frustrated users and excessive manual processes and workarounds (Excel spreadsheets)
- Master data settings not aligned with business processes
- MRP and its support of purchasing automation not understood
- Lack of trust in the system leading to ineffective use of MRP generated requirements for manufacturing and procurement
- SAP reporting functionality not being utilized to support business and process performance KPI’s
SOLUTIONS
- Supply chain transformation utilizing Reveal’s oVo® methodology across 5 value streams (MM, SD, PP, PS, WM)
- Focused on optimizing inventory, capacity and production planning to support improving service levels and reduce lead time to market
- Education for demand planners, buyers, production planners, schedulers, shop floor, and management on existing SAP tools, including Available to Promise functionality and managing master data to align with business rules
- Deployed production capacity, scheduling, planning and dispatching strategies using SAP as the system of record
- Improved communication and process alignment across the supply chain to support strategic initiatives
- Established Process Aligned Teams (PATs) to address daily supply chain challenges identified through the oVo® process
BENEFITS
- Reduced average inventory value by 6%
- Reduced Overdue Demand Elements by 77%
- Reduced Overdue Supply Elements by 24%
- Reduced Red Lights (potential service level disruption) by 40%
- Reduced Exception Messages by 18%
- Optimized 23% of average value of targeted component and sub-assembly Inventory, including known supply risk materials
- Deployed Lighthouse® to enable quick and easy tracking of supply chain health measures, inventory optimization, schedule attainment and on-time, in full KPI’s
- Deployed Action Tracker, a continuous improvement tool, to track and give visibility of required interventions to improve supply chain performance
- Production Planning and scheduling for 2 production lines in an ETO environment, eliminating complex spreadsheet planning
- Implemented ATP (Available to Promise)
- Educated and empowered users and management team• Simplification and standardization of procurement processes
- Supported design of new DC warehouse
- Aligned platform for transition to S/4HANA
