Uponor North America Ships on Time and in Full

Supplier of radiant heating systems achieves key metric, premium customer service with supply chain execution solution

Supplier of radiant heating systems achieves key metric, premium customer service with supply chain execution solution

Eden Prairie, MN — July 12, 2005 — In an effort to improve distribution efficiencies in its Burnsville, Minn., facility, Uponor North America, a supplier of Wirsbo crosslinked polyethylene (PEX) tubing used in flexible plumbing and radiant heating systems, has selected HighJump's Supply Chain Advantage solutions. The company plans to deploy the system in two facilities in Canada in the near future.

Uponor North America said it is effectively supporting rapid growth and improving customer service following the implementation of its comprehensive HighJump system.

The supplier explained that it operates with a customer-first philosophy and continually strives to advance its ability to meet and exceed customer expectations. It is therefore using The Supply Chain Advantage solution to improve its key metric of shipping orders on time and in full by approximately 50 percent, which is accomplished through management and tracking of Uponor North America's diverse base of several thousand stock-keeping units (SKUs), including items like 1,000-foot tubing coils and small fittings.

The HighJump system streamlines the receipt of raw materials and the associated paperwork coming from hundreds of vendors. On the outbound side, Uponor North America uses the strong cartonization functionality of HighJump's Supply Chain Advantage system to reduce packaging costs by optimizing the placement of items during picking.

Prior to implementing solutions from HighJump Software, Uponor North America said it was using a smaller warehouse management system (WMS) that lacked the directed workflow and level of control needed to ship customer orders in a timely manner.

Uponor North America determined that neither this WMS nor the warehouse module of its enterprise resource planning (ERP) system was mature enough to support current and future warehousing needs, and thereby provide Uponor North America with ongoing competitive advantage.

The company said it selected HighJump's solutions because of its standard functionality, ease of business process configuration and features, such as kitting, slotting and cartonization. Another key criterion was performance visibility. Uponor North America now uses the HighJump system to generate real-time labor management reports, which present a big-picture view of all work activity and potential bottlenecks, allowing resources to be reallocated to maximize efficiency and meet customer deadlines.

"With the HighJump solutions in place, we're achieving a new level of sophistication and competitive advantage in our supply chain processes," said Chris Moore, vice president, Information Technology of Uponor North America. "This is key as we continue to achieve substantial annual growth and must ship on time and in full to consistently deliver a high level of customer service."

Latest