Lanco Integrated is a bunch of flexible, intelligent people and we solve difficult problems. This was just another problem, another challenge to solve.”
-Stew Goss, Global IT Manager, Lanco Incorporated
Lead times are always an issue in manufacturing, but when a manufacturer is not a build-to-stock organization, they have even more incentive to be on top of supplier-provided inventory. Lanco Integrated’s custom manufacturing work requires design-specific components to be available as needed so that they don’t keep their customers waiting. When a customer order is placed, Lanco cuts POs to their suppliers—and all of those parts need to come in on time.
In a webinar hosted by SourceDay Co-Founder and COO Clint McRee, Stew Goss and Gary Walton from Lanco shared how they managed to cut their lead times in half, even in the midst of a pandemic, by automating their PO processes. They achieved this by taking an exception-based approach to managing POs, securing confirmation that suppliers had received each PO, and partnering with suppliers to increase the flow of information.
When No News is Good News: PO Management by Exception
SourceDay serves as Lanco’s single source of truth, an important resource as 52% of all purchase orders change. Buyers create purchase orders, convert them from “planned” to “ordered” status, and then they are free to move on to other things. If there are exceptions, such as order quantity or delivery date, SourceDay automatically notifies them.
If an exception is accepted by the buyer, the new information is written to the purchase order and the ERP is updated. No one has to navigate through a system to find the affected PO(s) and make manual updates. As Gary explained in the webinar, his team can ‘set it and forget it.’
Stop chasing purchase order updates from vendors and suppliers
When No News Might Be Bad News: Supplier Confirmation of PO Receipt
Without confirmation that a supplier has received a purchase order, Lanco may assume that a delivery is coming when it is not. This is nearly always discovered after it is too late to do anything timely about it.
Being a custom manufacturer, Lanco already has a limited amount of time to work with and many of the items that they purchase have significant lead times. The worst-case scenario is that a shortage isn’t discovered until after the technician begins the assembly. Only then do they reach out to the supplier and realize that the PO was never seen. SourceDay’s PO acknowledgements ensure that everyone has seen the documents sent their way and the other party knows it.
Making News by Partnering with Suppliers to Prevent Late Deliveries
The suppliers that had already been onboarded to SourceDay had far less late orders than other suppliers during the pandemic. Not only did this quickly win over Lanco’s buyers, but it also made it possible for them to substantially shorten the build time of a machine that went straight into the fight against COVID.
Lanco was able to build a COVID testing machine in 8 weeks that would otherwise have taken them a year to build. Their design cycle alone was shortened from 8 weeks to 6 days. Engineers were working around the clock from home, but everybody—including Lanco’s suppliers—was passionate about getting the machine built quickly.
Cut Your Manufacturing Lead Times by 50% – One Customer’s Heroic Journey
Tune in to this on-demand webinar to hear how Lanco Integrated accelerated their product timelines to deliver lifesaving medical equipment to frontline COVID workers.
SourceDay made it possible to get POs out quickly, manage the communication of those orders, and address exceptions in a way that would not have been possible without automation.
The benefits of using SourceDay continue to expand, as supply chain disruptions extend already long lead times. Lanco can’t get parts as quickly as they used to, so they are using their data to notify anyone involved when a product is going to be late. That speeds up the decision-making process and keeps control in the hands of the Lanco team.
Learn more about Lanco’s journey with SourceDay and how they cut their manufacturing lead times by 50% in our latest webinar. Ready to get started with SourceDay? Reach out to our team today.