Agricultural Liquid Chemical Manufacturer

An agricultural chemical manufacturer faced escalating supply chain and production costs driven by railcar demurrage, partial truckload returns, production line downtime, and material shortages
Customer complaints were growing rapidly as new finished product variations and packaging options outpaced the company’s planning capability, creating shortages and delays
Root causes were unidentified — the company needed sustainable solutions, not symptomatic firefighting

Root Cause Analysis: Deployed the Business Transformation Playbook and conducted Gemba Walks across all core processes, isolating JD Edwards ERP Work Order Management limitations as the root cause of planning failures
Production Planning Optimization: Analyzed historical demand, implemented Heijunka level loading, and configured Rate Based Production methodology
Supply Chain Enhancement: Implemented Blanket Purchase Orders, automated Supplier Scheduling, MRP for finished goods, and Purchase Order Receipt Routing
Financial Integration: Implemented Manufacturing Accounting to automate production-related accounting entries
Change Management: Trained personnel, programmatically converted all open Work Orders to new schedules, and phased out obsolete processes

Cost Reduction: Reduced railcar demurrage and tanker truck partial-load returns by over 95%
Order Fulfillment: Achieved real-time Available-to-Promise commitments during order taking
Supply Chain Visibility: Established first-time visibility of trans-Atlantic port-of-entry ownership and tracking
Financial Efficiency: Reduced month-end financial close from more than two weeks to less than two hours
Process Automation: Implemented Lean Order-to-Cash, Procure-to-Pay, rate-based scheduling, and automated supplier scheduling
Customer Satisfaction: Significantly reduced product shortages and delivery delays