Tulip for Supply Chain Visibility

Supply chain management is critical to success in manufacturing.

This is especially true in today’s unpredictable landscape, where minor events can cause major disruptions in the flow of goods.

Tulip applications give manufacturers the visibility they need to manage the materials and goods essential to production.

From supplier visibility to traceability to inventory tracking and planning, Tulip helps guarantee that you have what you need, when you need it.

With Tulip, you can configure applications for your unique processes and lines. Here are some use cases and sample applications for improving supply chain visibility.

Reliable inventory planning is key to maximizing value and eliminating waste.

While there are a number of lean methodologies and techniques designed to help manufacturers optimize inventory planning (Just-In-Time manufacturing, line balancing, small batch sizes), all require understanding exactly how your operations use the inventory that comes through the factory door.

Tulip lets you design IoT-enabled applications that track your factory’s use of inventory down to the SKU.

When a shipment of goods or materials arrives at your factory, your production scheduler or inventory planner can store the exact quantities of each good in no-code tables simply by scanning a barcode. These tables can be configured to store information like date of arrival, quantity, units, and shipment number.

All information can be organized and retrieved without writing a SQL query.

Dynamic Inventory Tracking with Digital Work Instructions

Inventory tracking applications are most useful when integrated with digital work instructions, particularly in discrete manufacturing industries.

Each time an operator uses a part during a manual assembly, or each time a machine uses inventory in a milling or injection molding process, the application automatically deducts the quantity used from the inventory count.

This gives you real-time visibility into how inventory is used at every step of production. The data you collect can provide a more complete picture of how your processes use materials at each stage.

As you hone your process, you can set inventory thresholds that, when crossed, automatically trigger a notification necessary supervisor.

Supply chains are growing increasingly complex. It might not always be possible to order from the same suppliers over the long term. You may need to order the same materials from several different suppliers.

No matter how you procure your inventory, it’s essential to track it from source to shipment.

Tulip applications make it easy to follow inventory on its on their journey from raw material to WiP to finished product.

In addition to inventory tracking, Tulip applications give you visibility into the progression of goods throughout a process. At each station, applications record what was done, who did it, and where it went next. When materials from a single supplier are routed to different workstations, applications make it simple to track how goods move through your lines.

The same traceability applications can be used to track tools as they move between the tool crib, assets, and rework stations.

All product information is stored in no-code tables, and can be accessed and compared without writing a line of code.

This information can be used to ease compliance, rate the quality of suppliers, and simplify root cause analysis.

Applications make it possible to have a full, real-time product genealogy.

Many manufacturers work extensively with contract manufacturing partners and OEMs.

Given that manufacturers want visibility into their CM and OEMs’ production, it’s important to have a simple platform for sharing production data.

Tulip provides an easy solution for collecting and sharing data between manufacturers and OEM.

With Tulip process visibility applications and analytics, it’s possible to share production data in real-time.

You can configure applications to track the KPIs that matter most to your production (cycle time, first pass yield, and quality, among others). You can share the data you collect either as data tables, or as simple visual dashboards.

Supplier visibility applications provide a single source of truth around our manufacturing, giving us a real-time view of production and facilitating communication.

Defects and mistakes are a reality of manufacturing.

Even so, it’s essential to separate material defects from operator error.

Tulip applications let you track defects with custom forms. When an error or nonconformance occurs, operators can log the exact cause of the issue at the source. Photos, descriptions, and error codes make sure you have all of the information necessary to understand root causes. IoT devices can help catch defects and quality non-conformances that would be easy to miss on a visual inspection.

Defect tracking with Tulip gives you the information necessary to determine if defects are the result of manufacturing processes or poor materials from suppliers.

Tulip can help you improve visibility throughout your operations and supply chains. Get in touch for a free demo today.