Supply Chain / Logistics

A key factor for success in a marketplace that is quickly changing is improving your logistics processes. We offer Smart Factory Logistics that will optimize your production and manufacturing while reducing your total cost of ownership (TCO).

Using the Internet of Things, we can manage your B- and C-parts. You can begin with simple logistics management solutions and then move on to a fully automated supply chain.

Logistics Solutions

You can get started by automatically tracking inventory levels and replenishing stock with the following Smart systems.

• SmartLabel Cloud. This solution uses an intelligent label that can be stuck to existing inventory management systems, like containers or bins. The label displays all needed product information, quantity, real-time order status, and delivery date. When stock is running low at the point of use, workers can push a button to place an order, which is automatically and wirelessly transmitted to your supplier. When the new stock arrives at the container, another button push confirms the refill.
• SmartBin Cloud. SmartLabel Cloud is combined with SmartBin flex, which is comprised of a box with weight sensors for transmitting current stock levels. When that level goes down to a certain point, the system automatically places an order. Because the SmartBin flex is wireless, it can be installed on the factory floor or anywhere else. It can also be installed in trolleys as part of SmartBin mobile or in Kanban pools for SmartBin Classic.
• It allows you to store high-value items, which can only be accessed by SmartCard holders with the correct permissions. The SmartLocker also automatically transmits refill requests to the ARIMS dashboard, as explained later.
• Combining the original kanban card and RFID tech, this card can become part of any production process. When an item goes out of stock, the production worker can throw the RFID card into an electronic mailbox, which automatically transmits refill requests.

Interactive Control

An important part of the supply chain optimization process is how you interact with it. ARIMS is Bossard’s interactive platform that lets you track orders, manage inventory, and analyze intelligent reports to make your management of B- and C-parts more efficient and predictable. This digital platform implements Industry 4.0 for your production through the following functions:

• ARIMS Interactive lets you submit change requests, view the status of existing changes, and customize system parameters.
• ARIMS Analytics creates reports and other analytics to reveal your orders, deliveries, items, and locations at a glance. You can easily visualize and export tables and graphs, so production data is transparent and always at your fingertips.
• ARIMS Mobile puts all the functions of ARIMS on Android and iOS devices, so you have full control wherever you are, including the production floor. You can check orders, find your items, and view relevant information in real-time.

Supply chain logistics stand out as an essential piece of your manufacturing enterprise. It represents an efficient and profitable way to transport goods, services, and information from the initiation point to the destination. Bossard has been at the forefront of innovating this critical component with smart factory solutions.

Getting Smart

To make your factory smarter in the 21^st century, Bossard created ARIMS, a platform that gives you full control of your visible supply chain. It enables you to monitor inventory, orders, supply, and demand through intelligent analytics, making your B- and C-part management fully transparent.

The following ARIMS functions improve the efficiency, predictability, and ultimately, profitability, of your supply chain.

• ARIMS Analytics exposes your items, orders, locations, and deliveries to reports, graphs, and tables that can be exported into everything from other software to word processing applications. You can now access real-time data to make decisions about your manufacturing.
• ARIMS Interactive helps you manage your assembly changes by requesting changes and looking at the status of open and past change requests. You can adjust system parameters to fit how you do business.
• ARIMS Mobile puts all the ARIMS functions into an app that you download to your Android or iOS device. You’re no longer tied to one location but can find items, check orders, and view information from wherever you are, even if you’re on the production floor.

The Systems

The physical side of Smart Factory Logistics comes together in the following cloud-based solutions of the industrial internet of things.

• SmartBin Cloud measures the stock that the SmartBin contains in real-time using the vibrations of the bin when someone removes an item. When the stock drops to a minimum level, a replenishment order goes via SmartBin Cloud to Bossard. Relevant information, such as stock level, order status, and delivery date appears on the bin label.
• SmartLabel Cloud includes a SmartLabel that attaches to your existing containers and contains the same information as the SmartBin label: stock level, order status, and delivery date. Users can push the label button to replenish stock. The order is sent via SmartLabel Cloud to Bossard.

At Bossard, we then consolidate all your ordered items into one shipment for efficiency and economy before sending it to you. Depending on our agreement, we can deliver the order either to the dock or point of use, such as a specific shelf in your warehouse.

Advantages

These Bossard innovations offer your facility the following advantages:

• Full transparency with the information you need appearing on the label at the point of use and in the ARIMS platform.
• You can now meaningfully analyze big data to improve predictability and efficiency.
• The system integrates all suppliers to streamline the supplier base.
• It also coordinates the flow of materials and information.

If you want to know more about how our innovations can improve the logistics of your supply chain, please contact your local Bossard agent.

SOURCE

https://www.michiganstateuniversityonline.com/resources/supply-chain/logistics-fundamental-to-supply-chain-success/

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Challenges and Solutions of Supply Chain Management

4 Supply Chain Solutions for Your Organization with Bossard

7 Easy Steps to Get Ready For Industry 4.0

As a successful business that meets your customers’ needs, you’re used to working around supply chain disruptions. Throughout the year, you may deal with labor strikes that delay deliveries and increase lead time, factory malfunctions that reduce part supplies, and fuel increases that drive up the price of materials.

But the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic in the past year-and-a-half have been unprecedented in shutting down entire industries and countries. You’ve had to adjust your actions on the fly to deal with all the challenges. The key to success has been shifting to remote control and automation.

To help with both, Bossard implements Smart Factory Logistics through ARIMS as well as SmartBin Cloud and SmartLabel Cloud.

Controlling the Flow from Anywhere

ARIMS, our interactive supply chain platform, improves your supply chain by tracking orders, offering access to intelligent analytics, and digitally managing your inventory. You gain full transparency of your B- and C-parts.

Its main components include ARIMS Analytics for an overview of your locations, orders, deliveries, and articles through reports and graphs, and ARIMS Interactive, which lets you submit change requests, customize system parameters, and view current and past changes.

The most important component for preventing supply chain disruption is ARIMS Mobile, which uses Android and iOS devices to give you full control of all functions wherever you are, even if you’re on the production floor or at a remote location. You can find an item, view related information, and check orders in real-time through your personal device.

Automating with Real-Time Data

While ARIMS focuses on software to enhance Smart Factory Logistics, SmartBin and SmartLabel Cloud focus on hardware. It fully automates ordering by recognizing demand, managing orders, and replenishing stock with deliveries.

It begins with a weight sensor that is triggered by motion. Every time someone picks up an item, stock information is updated in real-time. You can then monitor the real-time stock level at any time. When enough stock has been depleted, a replenishment order can be launched automatically or at the push of a button.

SmartBin Cloud

SmartBin Cloud implements Smart Factory Logistics using bins that are filled with stock. It can be integrated into your existing layout without changing your infrastructure. Taking stock from the bin triggers vibration sensors that measure the stock level in real-time. This information is sent via the cloud to Bossard.

Stock that goes down to a certain point initiates a replenishment order. We consolidate the ordered items into one shipment that is sent to either your loading dock or directly to the point of use, depending on your preference. Stock information, order status, and delivery date appear instantly on the label in front of the SmartBin.

SmartLabel Cloud

SmartLabel Cloud functions similarly to SmartBin Cloud but relies only on modular labels that can be placed in your existing storage units. To initiate a replenishment order, you push a button on the label, which then sends the information to Bossard to be filled and delivered to you.

How We Can Help

If you have any questions about the components of Smart Factory Logistics and how it can help you improve supply chain resilience, please contact us today at ProvenProductivity@bossard.com.

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Challenges and Solutions of Supply Chain Management

4 Supply Chain Solutions for Your Organization with Bossard

7 Easy Steps to Get Ready for Industry 4.0

Improving your supply chain performance can increase your production efficiency while optimizing manufacturing and production. If you face some of the following common challenges, Bossard can provide supply chain management solutions through Smart Factory Logistics.

You have a good inventory management system in place, complete with a storage system but you want some automation.

SmartLabel Cloud consists of an intelligent label that attaches to any kind of storage bin. The E-paper display, which remains visible under all kinds of lighting conditions, shows configurable product information, real-time order status, order quantity, and delivery date. Touching a button on the label lets you release orders. A long battery life frees the SmartLabel Cloud from maintenance and its built-in wireless technology allows for communication with your inventory management system.

You need a way to store and manage inventory.

SmartBin flex refers to our bin that integrates a weight sensor at the bottom. It then wirelessly communicates stock levels and demand to other areas of your inventory management system. The unit operates individually, so it can go wherever it is needed: such as at the assembly line or work cell. This system reduces ordering and delivery times and encourages lean manufacturing without human intervention.

The SmartBin can also go on mobile trolleys that can communicate wirelessly and are battery-powered. You can then move the trolley to wherever your SmartBin collection is needed. For assembly lines and supermarkets, SmartBin Classic supports centralized and decentralized Kanban pools ranging from just a few grams per bin or up to 1,000 kilograms per pallet.

You want to isolate your high-value inventory with separate storage.

When you want to isolate valuable items and consumables from the rest of your inventory, you can store them in SmartLocker, which is essentially a cabinet with doors that can only be opened through an RFID card. It automatically keeps track of who is accessing what and tells you when inventory needs to be replenished. All information is wirelessly transmitted to ARIMS, Bossard’s Interactive Supply Chain Platform.

Your supply chain needs to be automated.

ARIMS, our exclusive supply chain management software, gives you control of your logistics by enabling you to actively manage inventory, track orders, and access intelligent analytics. Because it is cloud-based, you can access it from any point in your facility using Android or iOS devices, or at specific areas such as a manager’s office.

You can check orders, stock levels, and deliveries in real-time, and make immediate changes. You gain a complete overview of your items, orders, deliveries, and location, which you can analyze through graphs and reports that are easily exported.

This interactive supply chain platform lets you coordinate the flow of goods and materials, integrate all suppliers, and streamline your supplier base. You gain increased efficiency, full transparency, and data that is directly available at the point of use.

Want more information?

These are just some of the many solutions that can improve your productivity. If you have questions about any of these or want to implement them at your facility, please contact us at ProvenProductivity@bossard.com.             

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20% gain in efficiency with one rivet

Logistics costs reduction thanks to SmartBin

What does visible supply chain management really mean? Imagine a scenario where you couldn’t finish a product due to a missing fastener. Or you have to suffer additional costs due to unexplained inventory losses. Such errors often spell disaster on an efficiency and cost basis and can even jeopardize customer and supplier relations.

Full transparency in a supply chain is the key to minimizing mistakes while ensuring maximum functional efficiency and productivity.

How Bossard Helps You Achieve Full Transparency

Achieving full inventory and supply chain transparency requires innovative solutions. This is where ARIMS becomes imperative. Our cloud-based interactive supply chain platform not only puts you in complete control of your material flow but also provides total inventory transparency via effective B- and C-part management.

ARIMS Analytics, ARIMS Interactive, and ARIMS Mobile make up the three key aspects of the interactive platform. ARIMS Analytics unleashes the power of big data to provide concise analytics, reports, and graphs summarizing current production using real-time data in an easily visualized and exportable form. ARIMS Interactive lets you customize your dashboard and system options to suit your production needs while making it easier to submit changes and review past and current change requests.

ARIMS Mobile takes platform access to the next level by delivering mobile access through Android and iOS devices. Whether you’re on the production floor or in the field, you’ll have a complete, real-time accounting of your current operations.

ARIMS is what makes Bossard’s Smart Factory Logistics methodology possible. When combined with innovative components like Bossard SmartBin Cloud and SmartLabel Cloud, ARIMS gives you complete information about your supply chain while providing an efficient end-to-end smart manufacturing experience.

Reach out to a Bossard expert at ProvenProductivity@bossard.com and discover how ARIMS supply chain transparency software can help deliver greater inventory and supply chain visibility. 

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4 Inventory Management Strategies to Help Your Business Succeed

9 Benefits of Bossard SmartLocker

There are plenty of things that make the world go round, but it’s screws, nuts, and bolts that hold it all together. What you typically see on a day-to-day basis are the fasteners that make many of the products you create and use possible. What you don’t see, however, is what we at Bossard call the hidden potential of fastening. Our goal is to add value to our product line by helping our customers surface this hidden potential – unleashing and boosting their productivity as the goal.

It’s About Proven Productivity

Bossard’s approach towards Proven Productivity starts by analyzing the production process, from sourcing, design, engineering, and logistics to handling, ordering, quality inspection, stocking, and assembly. To our customers, productivity can mean saving money and/or enabling a lean process by reducing production times. Productivity can also mean engineering smart fastener solutions with fewer parts for easier assembly and reduced inventory or mapping out value streams to enable faster product development and beat competitors to market.

Helping our customers realize Proven Productivity doesn’t just end there. Our contributions to achieving higher productivity also include:

•  Boosting customer competitiveness. At Bossard, our goal is to help customers create better, faster, more efficient, and more cost-effective solutions that fit their needs while outperforming the competition.
  •   Meeting key challenges in supply chain management. Whether it’s inflation, increasing energy and labor costs, or global competition, these key challenges can add pressure to productivity.
  •    Reducing costs via the TCO concept in fastening. Our solutions aim to reduce the total cost of ownership (TCO) in fastening.
  •    Reaffirming our commitment to quality. The quality of a single screw can have a tremendous impact on more than just the intended application.
  •    Staying ahead of the competition. Bossard Next Generation gives customers a competitive edge via design and process optimization.

Interested in seeing how our value-added solutions can increase your productivity and competitiveness? Email us at ProvenProductivity@bossard.com to learn more.

Knowledge is power but knowing how your supply chain truly operates requires making every part of it visible to the naked eye. The competitive business climate also demands that any supply chain worth its weight in volume also be able to adapt and respond to fast-paced changes, especially those that promise a competitive advantage for first movers. 

Transparency and flexibility in the supply chain offer a host of advantages but getting there has been historically proven to be a stumbling block for many companies. In addition to tighter collaboration with key suppliers and partners and promoting strategic leaders, making the supply chain more transparent and flexible also demands innovative process management and monitoring. This is where ARIMS comes into play. 

How ARIMS Works

Nestled at the core of Bossard’s Smart Factory Logistics, ARIMS offers a cloud-based solution for transparent and flexible supply chain management. ARIMS enables effective visualization and interactive management of inventory and intelligent analytics, giving you a complete view of the supply chain. 

ARIMS utilizes three main functions to provide a clearer picture of your supply chain and make it capable of adapting to fast-changing trends – ARIMS Analytics, ARIMS Interactive, and ARIMS Mobile.

ARIMS Analytics lets you see the big picture, providing you with analytics, graphs, reports, and data that can be used to gain a clear view of the supply chain. ARIMS Analytics takes advantage of big data to provide you with real-time data that can be easily visualized and exported for further analysis. ARIMS Interactive puts you in control of your material flow by letting you directly submit change requests, review previous changes, and change system parameters.

ARIMS Mobile puts the power of the interactive platform in your pocket, allowing you to check orders and view critical information via a smartphone app. Available for iOS and Android devices, ARIMS Mobile gives you a transparent view of the supply chain, even from the production floor.

Interested in transforming your supply chain with ARIMS? Contact us today at ProvenProductivity@bossard.com.

A complex supply chain demands an efficient solution. Through automation, companies can streamline procurement and other complex supply chain tasks, eliminating wait times while enhancing productivity across the board. Bossard SmartBin gives your company an effective solution for efficiently automating your supply chain.

At its heart, the Bossard SmartBin system consists of bins securely attached to specially designed weight sensors, all connected via a wireless uplink. With the aid of Bossard ARIMS software, SmartBin continuously monitors current stock levels. When stock levels reach a predefined minimum, SmartBin automatically orders the materials needed for successful replenishment – all without the need for human intervention.

Bossard offers several variations of SmartBin to best fit your processes, ranging from truly mobile solutions to applications for large part or high-volume needs:

SmartBin flex – SmartBin flex offers unparalleled versatility for a variety of assembly environments. No power connections are necessary, and each bin can be placed where it is needed most. Materials can be sent straight to the point of use, making excessive goods movement and lengthy wait times a thing of the past.

SmartBin mobile – The ideal solution for assembly environments involving fast-paced and constantly-changing work environments, as well as the integration of large objects. SmartBin mobile uses mobile trolleys outfitted with a wireless uplink and a battery for on-the-go power, enabling workers to transport materials directly to the point of use.

SmartBin classic – Ideal for both centralized and decentralized Kanban pools, SmartBin classic gives you maximized procurement flexibility, from small parts weighing as little as a few grams per bin to large parts weighing up to 1,000 kilograms per pallet. SmartBin classic can also manage high volumes with relative ease.

See our video for a thorough breakdown of how Bossard SmartBin works and how it can benefit your supply chain.

To learn more about how Bossard SmartBin can automate your supply chain, contact us today at ProvenProductivity@bossard.com.

How your enterprise manages its logistics determines its success and profitability. External logistics, or the flow of materials and final goods from production to the marketplace, is a well-understood concept that most people grasp.

Internal logistics also involves the flow of goods and materials. But as the name implies, said flow is managed internally to replenish work cells within the production center. Internal logistics deals with how goods and materials are stored, distributed and managed in-house, with accountability, trackability and, visibility key goals.

Material replenishment is the key to maintaining efficient production processes, especially those that take advantage of the milk run / water spider. Last Mile Management provides an elegant solution for internal logistics, providing a clear pathway for effective supply chain management.

How Bossard Optimizes the Last Mile

Bossard’s Last Mile Management incorporates many beneficial features that help optimize typical internal logistics flows, from electric demand requests and mobile apps that encourage a paperless environment to customizable route planning that reduces unnecessary movements throughout the replenishment phase.

Using Bossard’s interactive supply chain platform ARIMS, Bossard Last Mile Management automates demand requests at the work cell, allowing materials to be efficiently picked at central storage locations from a digital picking list. An optimized route plan allows the milk run / water spider to effectively and reliably replenish work cells with shorter and less time-consuming paths.

The result is high reliability, optimized material flow and streamlined movements in internal logistics. Reduced order and delivery times also promote increased efficiency, plus real-time consumption data becomes available for each work cell. Bossard’s Last Mile Optimization also allows for flexibility in reconfigurations, providing an evergreen solution regardless of the logistics scenario.

Contact your local Bossard representative today at ProvenProductivity@bossard.com and optimize your Last Mile.