Juzo Finds Perfect Partner & Solution Fit in Factivity & Preactor from FACTIVITY

Virtual elimination of backorders and greatly improved scheduling efficiency amongst a wide range of benefits.

Challenge:

Minimizing set-up, while taking into account Economic Batch Quantities and satisfying customer demands.

Result:

• Production is prioritized based on current inventory levels and historic product sales.
• Factivity calls a custom application and provides it with the necessary information to push the manufacturing program directly to the machine.
• There is no longer a need for the technician to manually find and load the correct program on the machine.
• All labor and quantities are reported by the appropriate individual.

Founded in 1912 by Julius Zorn, Juzo has been pioneering technologically advanced compression products for decades by gathering constant feedback from medical professionals and patients and applying that knowledge to create comfortable, effective garments. With manufacturing facilities in the United States and Germany, Juzo continues the tradition of making high quality products that help thousands of people feel better about their health and their lives.

Annerose Zorn is Juzo's President and great great great granddaughter of Julius, and her spirit and vision have been the driving force behind the success of JuzoUSA. Her uncompromising approach to making quality products comes from the understanding that most people who wear compression therapy garments have to wear them every day. Therefore, each garment must adhere to the three Juzo standards: comfort, quality and therapeutic effectiveness. When Juzo required a new production scheduling system, the company looked for a product and a partner that embodied the same uncompromisingly high standards and found the perfect fit with FACTIVITY.

Given the highly competitive market and unique properties of the Juzo product range, no specifics of any individual processes can be disclosed. Each garment however does undergo 5 key processes: Knitting; Sewing' Laundry; 100% quality control inspection and finally packaging. In addition to competition pressures, Juzo faces specific difficulties arising from the nature of its manufacturing. Jim Renaldo is Head of IT for Juzo and summarizes these challenges. "Given the very personal nature of our garments, by definition we have to offer a large and diverse range. We currently manufacture over 9000 different stock codes due to colors, sizes and optional configurations. Historically therefore, the biggest issues for us has been in scheduling the knitting processes where we have to minimizing set-up, while taking into account Economic Batch Quantities and satisfying customer demands."

In addition to this, Juzo had identified a number of key objectives that it wanted to achieve from any investment in new production scheduling software. These became the determining results criteria by which any solution would be assessed. First was a need to obtain more accurate and efficient scheduling.

In conjunction with this, Juzo also wanted to utilize 'What if Scheduling' in order to determine resource requirements. In order to do this, Juzo would also realize another of its objectives, namely gathering more data from the production floor. Finally, there was a serious need to reduce backordered items.

With these considerations and criteria in place, Juzo began its search in May of 2003 for a system that would best deliver. Renaldo comments on the reasons for ultimately choosing Preactor working in conjunction from FACTIVITY. We evaluated several different solutions before deciding on Preactor and Factivity. The biggest concerns for us were growth and flexibility. When initially looking at different products, most limited the amount of change we could do in-house. The complexity of making simple changes quickly steered us toward finding a better solution. Since Juzo is constantly looking to improve products and procedures, our obvious choice was Preactor."

The attitude, knowledge and approach of FACTIVITY were also very influential in the decision making process as Renaldo elaborates. "The sales demo of Preactor and Factivity was specific toward our needs. We did not have to sit through a 3 hour demo of all of the product's bells and whistles. We told FACTIVITY exactly what we wanted to see in a production scheduling and shop floor software-that is what they showed us. Throughout the demo, they expounded on the software's flexibility and features, but stayed focused on our needs."

A decision was made to go with Preactor and Factivity in January 2005 with the implementation commencing in few months later in March. Central to the implementation was the requirement to integrate the new systems with Juzo's existing Syspro ERP System. All production tickets are entered into Syspro in order to utilize inventory control modules. Juzo wrote a custom application to export and manipulate the production tickets in Syspro for use in Preactor. As Renaldo explains, "part of the manipulation involves prioritizing production based on current inventory levels and historic product sales. The export also includes breaking down the stock codes into groups used for minimizing set up times, and assigning groups of machines the items can run on."

After the data is imported into Preactor, the data is further manipulated through scripts before being placed on the production planning board. The schedule is then exported to Factivity where technicians on the floor choose the correct machine from the Factivity screen. The next scheduled job appears on the top of the list on the touch screen. When the job is chosen, Factivity calls a custom application and provides it with the necessary information to push the manufacturing program directly to the machine. There is no longer a need for the technician to manually find and load the correct program on the machine. All labor and quantities are reported by the appropriate individual. The data is passed to Preactor and Syspro.

Renaldo is very frank when it comes to commenting on the nature and outcome of the implementation. "Our implementation team from FACTIVITY was extremely knowledgeable concerning different implementation philosophies and option set ups of the software. We ran into several issues that required us to rethink the scheduling processes. FACTIVITY was always there with options, not rejections. Our Implementation was however delayed due to ongoing projects and data entry requirements but this was not in any way, an issue with FACTIVITY. The system went live, and on budget, in December of 2005

Since this time, Juzo bas achieved all its stated aims and objectives. Above everything, scheduling has become much more accurate and efficient. Renaldo again, "everything is now so efficient that we are able to forecast our scheduling further out, and maximize efficiency of the machines. Juzo has also been able to gather more data from the shop floor and Renaldo is very impressed with the way that the new technology has been not just successful, but also enjoyable for Juzo's staff. "Often data collection can be perceived as laborious and almost a touch like big brother. Not for us. The production employees responsible for entering the data into Factivity actually enjoy using the software. They love the touch screen and say that the flow of the software is extremely easy."

Renaldo cites Juzo's Inventory Control Manager as a specific example of someone who realizes the benefits of Preactor every day. "If we happen to begin running low on stock, she can check the schedule to determine when the next order of that item will be produced. Normally, stock running low has been because of a change in the sales trending. Preactor is updated immediately with the new trend, and insures that the new schedule reflects the changes in sales."

Last but not least, Juzo has been able to virtually eliminate all backorders. By maximizing efficiency, Juzo has been able to minimize stock on hand and create a leaner manufacturing environment. Renaldo concludes by reflecting that, "overall, I would say that this is one of the smoother implementations of a product of this magnitude. Although an ROI would be difficult to determine in the short term, our staff has already begun to see the benefits of using the software."

Learn More: Download the full Juzo case study in PDF format.

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