At Trek Bicycle Corp., workers have been sent home at times because shipments of parts haven't gotten to the Whitewater factory in time, international transportation manager Linda Bourdo said.
"It's horrendous," she said. "The drivers are booked solid."
The factory operates on just-in-time principles, but over the last 10 weeks, delivery delays of two days or more have become common amid trucking problems and freighter congestion at West Coast ports
How hard could it be for Trek to store enough production material for two days??
-- "Bicycling is a healthy and manly pursuit with much to recommend it, and, unlike other foolish crazes, it has not died out." -- The Daily Telegraph (1877)
On Mon, 22 Nov 2004 14:59:31 -0800, LioNiNoiL_a t_Y a h 0 0_d 0 t_c 0
m said:
Quoted message said:
Quoted message said:
At Trek Bicycle Corp., workers have been sent home at times because shipments of parts haven't gotten to the Whitewater factory in time, international transportation manager Linda Bourdo said.
"It's horrendous," she said. "The drivers are booked solid."
The factory operates on just-in-time principles, but over the last 10 weeks, delivery delays of two days or more have become common amid trucking problems and freighter congestion at West Coast ports
How hard could it be for Trek to store enough production material for two days??
They probably keep some components present now, but I would bet that the warehousing space dedicated to receiving and staging the incoming material is already chaotic with the accumulated effects of cascading disruptions. JIT principles are fragile; they can be disrupted by any number of events, and if a company's entire model is based on JIT, the effects of a late delivery can timeslide through many other schedules and toss the whole thing into a rather nasty heap. The automotive industry has been running on a form of JIT for many years to a certain extent, but they keep a buffer of several days of parts to prevent the line from having to go idle over a parts shortage.
JIT really only works well when all phases of production are in-house or hard to disrupt. At intercontinental distances, it's not a robust methodology. -- Typoes are a feature, not a bug. Some gardening required to reply via email. Words processed in a facility that contains nuts.
On Mon, 22 Nov 2004 23:40:24 GMT, Werehatrack <[email hidden]>
Quoted message said:
On Mon, 22 Nov 2004 14:59:31 -0800, LioNiNoiL_a t_Y a h 0 0_d 0 t_c 0
m said:
Quoted message said:
> At Trek Bicycle Corp., workers have been sent home at times > because shipments of parts haven't gotten to the Whitewater > factory in time, international transportation manager Linda > Bourdo said. > > "It's horrendous," she said. "The drivers are booked solid." > > The factory operates on just-in-time principles, but over > the last 10 weeks, delivery delays of two days or more have > become common amid trucking problems and freighter congestion > at West Coast ports
How hard could it be for Trek to store enough production material for two days??
They probably keep some components present now, but I would bet that the warehousing space dedicated to receiving and staging the incoming material is already chaotic with the accumulated effects of cascading disruptions. JIT principles are fragile; they can be disrupted by any number of events, and if a company's entire model is based on JIT, the effects of a late delivery can timeslide through many other schedules and toss the whole thing into a rather nasty heap. The automotive industry has been running on a form of JIT for many years to a certain extent, but they keep a buffer of several days of parts to prevent the line from having to go idle over a parts shortage.
JIT really only works well when all phases of production are in-house or hard to disrupt. At intercontinental distances, it's not a robust methodology.
JIT really only works well when all phases of production are in-house or hard to disrupt. At intercontinental distances, it's not a robust methodology.
But it is a mandatory buzz word.
JIT can work well when integrated into a well-planned system. JIT on its own means very little. I have to give credit to Trek for even knowing what JIT means since most of the bicycle industry has no clue. Of course, that means that Trek's JIT program is destined to fail since none of its suppliers understand it (well maybe Shimano does, but they are the worst offender - their slogan is JWWFLK, Just When We Feel Like It).
Manufacturing concepts such as pull-systems and cycle time reduction have been common in other industries for years. These are still foreign ideas in the bicycle world. This is true for Shimano as well since they still run a push-system. That has cost them dearly this year since their poor forecasting and long, long lead times have resulted in them losing significant business to SRAM, Suntour, Truvativ, FSA, and many others.
On Mon, 22 Nov 2004 14:59:31 -0800, LioNiNoiL_a t_Y a h 0 0_d 0 t_c 0
m said:
Quoted message said:
Quoted message said:
At Trek Bicycle Corp., workers have been sent home at times because shipments of parts haven't gotten to the Whitewater factory in time, international transportation manager Linda Bourdo said.
"It's horrendous," she said. "The drivers are booked solid."
The factory operates on just-in-time principles, but over the last 10 weeks, delivery delays of two days or more have become common amid trucking problems and freighter congestion at West Coast ports
How hard could it be for Trek to store enough production material for two days??
The question is asked by someone who has never designed a synchronous flow lean manufacturing system. the simple answer is, there isn't room for the WIP. that is the point of lean. it also means your supplier chain had better function properly or you are dead.
Michael J. Klein [email hidden] Dasi Jen, Taoyuan Hsien, Taiwan, ROC Please replace mousepotato with asiancastings ---------------------------------------------
> At Trek Bicycle Corp., workers have been sent home at > times because shipments of parts haven't gotten to the > Whitewater factory in time, international transportation > manager Linda Bourdo said. > > "It's horrendous," she said. "The drivers are booked solid." > > The factory operates on just-in-time principles, but over > the last 10 weeks, delivery delays of two days or more > have become common amid trucking problems and freighter > congestion at West Coast ports
How hard could it be for Trek to store enough production material for two days??
The question is asked by someone who has never designed a synchronous flow lean manufacturing system.
Very true, but I have been involved in the development and implementation of a number of worst-case contingency plans, from risk assessment to deployment, and I therefore recognise a major management malfunction when I read about one.
Quoted message said:
the simple answer is, there isn't room for the WIP. that is the point of lean. it also means your supplier chain had better function properly or you are dead.
When there is neither logistic redundancy nor a fallback position to an extended operation, as appears to be the case with Trek, you are as good as dead from the outset.
-- "Bicycling is a healthy and manly pursuit with much to recommend it, and, unlike other foolish crazes, it has not died out." -- The Daily Telegraph (1877)
>> At Trek Bicycle Corp., workers have been sent home at >> times because shipments of parts haven't gotten to the >> Whitewater factory in time, international transportation >> manager Linda Bourdo said. >> >> "It's horrendous," she said. "The drivers are booked solid."
I wonder if it's because there are a lot of truck drivers over in Iraq making a kilobuck a day for short hauls (past improvised munitions).
Quoted message said:
Very true, but I have been involved in the development and implementation of a number of worst-case contingency plans, from risk assessment to deployment, and I therefore recognise a major management malfunction when I read about one.
Then again, is there really any great loss to society if the Trek bolt-em-up line slows down?
Quoted message said:
When there is neither logistic redundancy nor a fallback position to an extended operation, as appears to be the case with Trek, you are as good as dead from the outset.
On the other hand, if they shipped the bikes as a kit (you know you want one) then you *still* wouldn't get it because they wouldn't have the parts to put in the box.
--Blair "They could mark it with a difficulty level like a Revell model..."
