Implementation of internal and production e-kanban and e-kanban with suppliers

The example of BCS Group, moving from push to pull production with KanbanBOX

Highlights: Purchase Kanban with Suppliers | Move Kanban | Production Kanban

The BCS Group, a historic company in the agricultural mechanization sector, has embarked in recent years on a Lean improvement journey to increase production efficiency and streamline operations, implementing changes across all plants.

This path also led to the adoption of kanban, allowing the company to shift from a push-based production and material management system (scheduled according to sales forecasts) to a pull-based system (driven by actual demand).

During this Lean improvement journey, carried out with one of our partners, BCS Group discovered KanbanBOX and the possibility of digitalizing the management of its various material flows.

Overview of BCS Group

BCS Group is a multinational company active in agricultural mechanization with three brands that have shaped the story of Italian agriculture (BCS, FERRARI, and PASQUALI) and operating in the industrial sector under the brand MOSA.

The group specializes in the design, construction, and sale of compact tractors for specialized agriculture, professional brush cutters and walk-behind tractors, forage mowing equipment, lawnmowers, as well as generators, welding machines, and lighting towers.

BCS Group has approximately 800 employees across three production plants in Italy and subsidiaries in India, China, and Europe, specifically Spain, Portugal, France, and Germany.

Globally, BCS is also present through an extensive distribution network covering more than 100 countries.

KanbanBOX Implementation at BCS Group

After analyzing BCS Group’s needs, the different stages of implementation were agreed upon to establish a solid pull-based material management system.

Specifically, the following types of kanban were implemented in the following order:

Purchase Kanban, also called “kanban with suppliers,” for managing material flows purchased by BCS from external suppliers
Production Kanban, to manage production using pull logic
Move Kanban, to manage internal material movement and transport (e.g., from warehouse to production lines or from one production unit to another)

The implementation process started with a pilot project at the headquarters, with the goal of progressively extending the project to the other group plants.

“Recognizing the clear economic savings, we can say that the true success of KanbanBOX in our company has been allowing us to shift from PUSH to PULL logic, thus revolutionizing a long-established paradigm”.

Valeria Castoldi, Continuous Improvement Manager, BCS Group

Challenges before implementing e-kanban with suppliers at BCS Group

Before adopting KanbanBOX, BCS Group faced several supply chain management challenges:

Lack of visibility into external supplier processes
Inability to know the actual lead times of products ordered from external suppliers
Discrepancies between physical and accounting inventory, making it impossible to accurately know inventory size and value.

In addition to solving these issues, BCS Group wanted a solution to manage inventory flexibly, adapting to market dynamics and changes, especially relevant post-COVID, when the need for a flexible system became clear.

BCS also wanted a simple system for exchanging information with suppliers, allowing shared visibility across the entire supply and procurement chain.

To address these challenges, BCS Group implemented a purchase e-kanban.

Implementation and results of the purchase e-kanban at BCS Group

BCS implemented a purchase e-kanban by acquiring a KanbanBOX license with the ability to connect suppliers to the platform.

Each supplier was provided with a free software license, through which they can access a shared digital board where they can not only view the stock levels of their products at the individual BCS Group facility, but also receive orders, see batching kanban cards, receive comments on individual cards, conduct negotiations, communicate order status to BCS Group (e.g., in process, shipped, etc.), use automatic item code translation, and generate shipping documents and labels for kanban containers (boxes, pallets, etc.) in just a few clicks.

After connecting the first suppliers, BCS extended the software to more than 10 suppliers, managing approximately 300 items with purchase kanban (numbers expected to grow).

This allowed BCS to:

Achieve significant time savings for the purchasing office, freeing staff from repetitive manual tasks and allowing focus on strategic, value-added activities
Increase the speed of goods receipt and internal stocking (labels applied to containers by suppliers before shipping are used internally as well)

Limits of the semi-manual move kanban integrated with ERP at BCS before KanbanBOX

Before KanbanBOX, BCS Group used a semi-manual move kanban system, managed through the AS400 ERP with a custom solution.

The system had several difficulties:

Unable to collect consumption statistics
Warehouse and production area stock monitoring had to be performed manually by internal logistics staff
No real-time visibility of kanban card status
Maintenance of over 3,000 kanban-managed items was complex, slow, and rigid; BCS relied on large Excel files to calculate correct kanban sizing, a time-consuming and error-prone process.

Additionally, physical kanban cards were sometimes lost, a major limitation of manual kanban systems, causing delays and production stoppages.

Given these challenges, BCS Group decided to implement KanbanBOX for move kanban across all three Italian plants (over 1,200 items per plant).

“The program developed in the ERP system was stable and reliable, but it did not allow any kind of analysis into the past, such as analysis on stock breaks or other suggestions to re-adjust stock levels based on actual needs. All this and more has been found in KanbanBOX”.
V. Castoldi, Continuous Improvement Manager, BCS Group

Results of the move e-kanban at BCS Group

The implementation of move e-kanban allowed BCS to resolve major operational problems from the previous system:

With automatic calculation of optimal kanban sizing, internal logistics managers no longer spend time on complex Excel files and can focus on value-added activities
Real-time data collection and updated consumption statistics give BCS complete control over warehouse and on-line supermarket stock levels
FIFO reports allow managers to quickly detect issues, such as kanban containers depleted in the wrong order
With disposable kanban cards, the company no longer needs to manage reverse logic of containers.

Finally, internal logistics managers now have clear visibility of when to increase or decrease material stock at supermarkets.

Implementation and results of the production e-kanban at BCS Group

After the implementation of the purchasing and internal e-kanban systems, BCS decided to involve internal production departments in charge of servicing the other plants. The production e-kanban system enables the group to collaborate better, facilitating internal operations.

Thanks to KanbanBOX, the company has been able to:

Limit overproduction
Reduce lead time, improving Time to Market
Limit inventory and Work in Progress (WIP) between stages
Level production

In the future, the software will also give BCS the ability to connect with subcontractors to increase collaboration and reduce Lead Time even in outsourced processes.

Next steps and future prospects

Today the BCS group manages a total of 6,000 kanban loops across purchase, move, and production kanban with KanbanBOX.

Following the successful pilot at the headquarters, the company extended KanbanBOX adoption to three additional plants.

Next steps:

Set up integration between KanbanBOX and the company ERP (SAP)
Connect not only suppliers, as currently done, but also subcontractors, increasing transparency, efficiency, and collaboration, ultimately reducing lead times even in outsourced processes

“KanbanBOX is an excellent and highly competent partner. From training to integration, they have always understood our needs and supported us in this significant transformation journey. Their team is extremely qualified and has helped us face the challenges in recent years: optimizing processes, reducing costs while maintaining high quality, and having immediate access to information to quickly adapt strategy”.

V. Castoldi, Continuous Improvement Manager, BCS Group