(Updated June 2019)
Consolidate your supply chain. This has been the goal of many OEM’s for the past 15+ years, and suppliers continue to evolve with the market demands to provide more than solely their core competency as a “solution”. Crescent Industries started out with simple value add capabilities to remove some operations the OEM needed to perform after receiving the injection molded parts.
In the present time, Crescent Industries evolved their capabilities into not only offering full assembly using their automation expertise but also managing the complete supply chain with some projects having over 20 components with 7 other suppliers.
Is it still a relevant goal for purchasing and supply chain department personnel to chase after a reduced supply chain? Yes, but the qualifications required to impress them have changed.
Supply Chain Management & Vendor Partnerships
No longer does simple “value add” singular operations catch the attention needed to entice OEM’s to consider a new supplier. The goal of a true supplier partnership is to make the work life of the supply chain professional easier, by reducing their vendor database and offering a single source approach for their product needs. It seems like a simple solution to a complex problem but placing the ownership of quality and delivery of an entire product line with multiple vendors on a single source supplier requires complex procedures to make it run smoothly.
At Crescent Industries, they leverage their existing relationships and vendor bases’ capabilities to bring a full-service solution to the customer. Whether they are involving their suppliers of resin, tooling support, automation & robotics, inspection equipment, post processes assembly or specialties like RFI shielding the approach remains the same. Surrounding themselves with partnerships that provide value to their customers and establish trust with vendors that can meet the stringent criteria that they hold for all of the finished products or sub-assemblies shipped from their facility.
Each project has its specific design and dimensional criteria to meet the goal of the overall project, and over the past 30+ years, they have and will continue building the most robust partnerships with the latest technology partners. By focusing on these partnerships, allows them to rapidly expand their service offerings with experts in specific technology that would take a new supplier a long time to perfect.
On new projects, they discuss the requirements with their customers and determine how they need to build out the supply chain and integrate their existing, or new, partnerships to deliver a high-quality finished product to the customer. They remove the ownership of their customers and onto their team of experts;
- Supplier selection
- Vendor management
- Inventory control
- Financial burden
This is the only way they feel a supplier can truly be a single source, looking beyond their capabilities and instead viewing projects through the eyes of their customer in all aspects. It starts with the product design and goes through production and shipping, however, all of the moving parts to get to the end can become extremely complex.
With the experience of Crescent’s team, they have handled some extremely complex projects and continue to provide their customers with relief to their supply chain headaches.
Quality Management
Ownership of the supply chain doesn’t stop at vendor selection and inventory management, the quality of all components of the supply chain falls under Crescent Industries certifications:
- ISO 13485:2016
- FDA Registered
- FFL & ITAR Registered
While some components of their customers’ assemblies don’t require the higher certification, Crescent holds vendors to the same level of quality that they produce internally.
Beginning with the initial project discussion, they identify which suppliers will be needed to complete the project requirements. If they don’t already have a supplier with the specific capabilities required for the non-plastic components/capabilities, they begin their own internal vendor selection process. By leveraging their internal manufacturing expertise, the burden of finding and qualifying new suppliers is removed from the customer. Crescent will engage with potential suppliers and visit their facilities to perform audits before any vendor is selected.
Their internal purchasing and project management departments are at the forefront of supplier qualification and selection, this ensures that the team who knows the most about your project is involved in the selection process.
After vendor selection has been completed, their team will work with the supply chain in the initial launch of the project from samples through approval and full production kickoff. Because Crescent is responsible for the overall speed to market of the project, their systems, procedures, and communications are at the highest level to protect their customers and complete a smooth launch.
Once the project begins in the production phase, They manage all aspects of quality and delivery within the supply chain of the project. They work with their customers to understand the forecasting and demands, then communicate and manage that across all of their vendor partnerships. Communication and timing being critical, they remove the headaches for their customers of managing multiple contact points and only working with the Crescent team.
Inventory Management
Besides the single point of contact for the total project managing multiple vendors, Crescent also takes on the responsibility of inventory management and raw materials procurement. The large benefit of this is freeing up the cash flow management on their customers. Customers no longer need to procure significant inventory levels from multiple vendors and hold up their cash within their supply chain. This in turn reduces the number of transactions that Crescent’s customers have to be involved with on a monthly basis within the supply chain.
QRM (Quick Response Manufacturing)
By identifying the common areas of supply chain bottlenecking and speed to market constraints, Crescent has developed a robust QRM (Quick Response Manufacturing) process that is a companywide strategy reducing the lead time in all manufacturing and office operations.
Their QRM process is designed around creating manufacturing cells in high-mix, low volume customized environments. Some existing QRM cells are producing over 30 different finished products with full robotics and automation contained for maximum throughput and efficiency. Utilizing all of their internal value add and robotic capabilities, their QRM approach not only focuses on the physical manufacturing efficiencies but also the entire supply chain from the office through the shop floor.
The integration of their QRM approach is throughout the supply chain starting with material planning and procurement of raw materials and flowing into the office operations and production control. Crescent Industries utilizes IQMS for their manufacturing ERP software which has a customer portal providing real time tracking of inventory and orders through their plant integrations. Their customers can seamlessly integrate their ERP system when placing and tracking orders throughout the planning, production, and inventory phases. Once the materials are turned into finished goods, Their JIT (Just-In-Time) inventory programs complete the flexible shipping structure for their customers.
Crescent Industries continuously evolves its capabilities and out of box thinking of supply chain management for their customers. As new projects present new challenges, they answer the call to continue to be the best single source manufacturing partner for their customers.
For additional information, please click below to get our white paper "Tips to Assist You in Selecting an Injection Molding Partner".
