Original Date: 10/04/1993
Revision Date: 01/18/2007

Hamilton Standard maintains that as the electronics industry strives to become more efficient, non-value added processes must be reduced or eliminated. The traditional system of ordering all necessary components of an assembly when an order comes from a customer is extremely inefficient. Hamilton Standard Electronic Manufacturing Center (HSEMC) has developed a system that not only removes the inefficiency, but encourages a better relationship with suppliers.

The Supplier Point-of-Use (SPOU) is a technique that returns the responsibility for a quality product back to the supplier. Hamilton Standard enters into long term agreements (LTAs) of typically three to five years with suppliers, providing them with production schedules to allow them to plan their production schedules. Also, buy issues under an LTA can be resolved up-front before the requirement for parts affects the manufacturing floor. LTAs facilitate substantial streamlining of the procurement process to the point that when a point-of-use bin on the manufacturing floor needs to be refilled, an operator simply wands a bar code on the bin to initiate the purchase order. When the purchase order is initiated, the supplier will typically refill the bin within nine calendar days. SPOU provides exact, up-to-date order information to the supplier that allows parts to bypass receiving inspection and finished stores upon receipt. To further enhance this system, Hamilton Standard has implemented the use of electronic data interchange to communicate with suppliers.

For more information see the Point of Contact for this survey.