<P>Supply - Chain - Management<BR>Reducing WIP Inventory at Swagelok<BR><BR>With the goal of modernizing its supply chain in the wake of a leadership change, Swagelok began looking for a<BR>solutions provider to help the manufacturer reduce inventory while maintaining its high levels of service. Choosing<BR>i2 to help it overhaul its forecasting and replenishment processes, Swagelok significantly reduced inventory and<BR>personnel costs while elevating service levels.<BR><BR>For manufacturers, there may be no more important<BR>competitive factor than product quality. By focusing<BR>on quality, Swagelok, a manufacturing corporation that<BR>delivers thousands of types of fluid system components<BR>to a wide range of global industries, has built a strong<BR>brand for more than 50 years.<BR>But through the years, Swagelok has defined – and<BR>measured – quality in new and different ways. While<BR>the company’s founder had always operated under<BR>an inventory-intensive strategy, today’s competitive<BR>environment dictates a leaner inventory model.<BR>“As part of a strategic planning effort in the late<BR>1990s, our leadership examined all of our major business<BR>processes,” said Greg Houdek, Swagelok’s Director of<BR>Supply Chain Planning. “We had an initiative at that<BR>time called ‘Supply Chain of the Future,’ which focused<BR>on how we were selling, producing, and fulfilling our<BR>orders. For the first 50 years, our business model<BR>was based on availability through intensive inventory.<BR>Most of our systems were centered around that inventory,<BR>not so much on information.” </P>

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