|
Supply Chain Management / Logistics
Logistics concept helps to lower costs in purchasing
Improving procurement logistics in building of container vessels
It takes about 10,000 tons of steel and 200 kilometers of weld seams to assemble some 100,000 steel parts to build a container vessel accommodating 2,700 standard containers. In some 25 different technical systems approximately 1,200 fittings with some 20 kilometers of pipes, and 110 kilometers of cables have to be installed and 60,000 kilograms of paint have to be brought onto an area of 140,000 square meters.
Procurement is a tremendous task, with roughly 500 purchasing requisitions listing about 3,000 individual positions serving to ensure that all the material is available on schedule, at the right place, and in the required quantity and quality.
Materials constitute 65 percent of total costs of a container vessel. Consequently, procurement expenditures are the biggest cost drivers and harbor the greatest savings potential.
The project for improving procurement logistics was initiated two years ago. Its objectives were to enhance purchasing effects as well as the efficiency of in-house workflows.
Mixed teams have been set up, consisting of members from different departments which are all involved in the procurement process, such as planning, egineering, purchasing and manufacturing. They took a systematic approach to map and analyze the procurement process using the ARIS process modeling tool. They identified the essential problems (e.g. long lead times) and then defined the new procurement process requirements. According to those, they set up the solution given below:
- Initially they developed and implemented a procurement plan determining essential delivery dates due to production flow requirements, and making them available at a very early date in order to facilitate purchasing negotiations as well as procurement management.
- Next, they established a "Main Item List", serving to schedule and track purchasing orders placement according to the delivery dates mentioned above, and thus as a management tool for engineering and purchasing activities.
- Additionally, material required at the given delivery dates is pooled according to logistical criteria, thus simplifying and shortening the ordering process.
For Klaus Aulich, who is responsible for system design and specifications, the new procedure offers decisive benefits: “Owing to the clear and simple structure, I know exactly when and what has to be delivered, and by when it must be ordered.”
As a rule, the procurement dates in shipbuilding are one to three years in advance of delivery. Therefore, early availability of the required delivery dates is a decisive advantage in purchasing negotiations:"Because we have a rough plan very early on, we can start purchasing well in advance. Now we have reliable planning data on which to base negotiations," notes Hans Wehmeyer, head of purchasing dept., with confidence.
(Summary of an article item from TK inside dated 03/05
and provided with the kind permission of ThyssenKrupp Technologies AG)
Since 1995, Agamus Consult has supported Nordseewerke GmbH, Emden (a subsidiary of ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems AG), in the company’s efforts to
- Introduce CIP
- Introduce teamwork in pipe prefabrication
- Introduce teamwork in steel shipbuilding while improving production management
- Reorganize steel procurement (plates and profiles)
- Set up engineering planning
- Reorganize procurement logistics for container vessels
Stephan Hauss, Agamus Consult
|
