Hong Kong toy firm streamlines supply chain to improve production efficiency

By SMBWorld Asia Editors | Feb 8, 2012

0 comments

 

 

 

Digg

 Email

Print

Thumbnail: 

One of Hong Kong's top toymakers, Kader Industrial Company Limited (Kader), has streamlined its supply chain and automated its workflows following the implementation of a new enterprise-wide IT platform based on the Oracle E-Business Suite.

The OEM/ODM manufacturer has already enjoyed over six decades of success in one of the world’s most dynamic and competitive industry sectors. Kader chose the Oracle solution implemented by Oracle Certified Applications Gold Partner, Bechelon Consulting Ltd (Bechelon), to help it dramatically improve production efficiency and interconnect its growing portfolio of businesses in Hong Kong, China and the United States.

Beginning in 2008, the project has continued on a rolling basis as Kader continued to grow by acquisition.  It has touched almost every aspect of the firm’s supply chain, from taking and tracking an order right through to in-depth analysis of the production process to help management pinpoint inefficiencies and optimize costs.

Inventory control and materials management are mission critical for any manufacturer. Kader’s new Oracle-based infrastructure maximizes the efficiency of raw materials consumption, aligning stock with production and making sure that materials are not wasted or allowed to expire.

The new solution provides Kader with the ability to trace every raw material or component through the entire supply chain. Kader can document, implement and track the myriad design and engineering changes that virtually every toy design undergoes before it reaches the production line. The improved workflow efficiency coupled with tight process monitoring means that Kader is enabled to accurately determine the actual cost of producing an order.

The reporting enabled by the solution is so detailed that dozens of extra data points, such as machine idle times and scrap rates, are integrated into the basic labour and calculations to provide extremely precise figures. Kader can immediately provide customers or regulating authorities with comprehensive reports to verify the efficacy of materials or any other aspect of its products.

The new Oracle solution has also laid the foundation for tight intra-company collaboration between Kader’s headquarters in Hong Kong and other businesses in Hong Kong, China and the US that are now in the process of standardizing on Oracle solutions.

Kader’s new solution comprises several modules of the Oracle E-Business Suite, specifically including Oracle Financials, Order Management, Discrete Manufacturing, Inventory Management and Purchasing.