Anglia simplifies inventory management for small manufacturers
Anglia has developed a web-based interface hosted on a private cloud systems with a series of apps that allow boxes of parts to be scanned into a firm’s inventory and monitor how each bag of parts is used from each box. As inventory falls Anglia automatically re-stocks the supply. This allows a customer to reduce the amount of space used for stock and release cash, said Steve Rawlins, CEO of Anglia. “This is a game changer for UK manufacturing industry,” he said.
This vendor managed inventory system is aimed at customers that would spend £50,000 a year on commodity components such as diodes, resistors and capacitors, although customers using £25,000 would be considered, said Rawlins. The scanners, tablet computer and software are all provided free to the customer.
The data is fed back to Anglia and is available to customers via a series of customisable dashboards that can show a wide range of parameters such as usage and parts returned to stores. An adjustable buffer is used to avoid the risk of running out of stock. “We replenish on an agreed day and that can be weekly or monthly,” said Rawlins. “We measure the usage against the inventory and move the inventory buffers up or down with usage. Most discretes on 16 week leadtimes and we bring them in by sea as reels can be damaged by air transport, so we carry six months’ inventory back at our headquarters in Wisbech.”
The apps on the system include real time monitoring of the stock, avoiding the need for audits, as well as support for parts bought in multiple currencies. “We tried to make the software like an Apple product and think of all the things a customer and operator would do with it,” said Rawlins.
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