Samadhan addresses the key challenges faced by the Corrugation Industry: Challenge #4 – Tracking difficulty in handling the main raw material, paper

In our last article, we discussed about another basic and critical part of any solution which should take care of the vulnerability that most organisations are going through but are not able to deal with it, i.e., low capacity utilisation, and how the corrugated box manufacturers are challenged by their OEEs often being low for their units. For this, our offering in the form of production scheduling engine within our corrugation-specific solution is something that arrests the vulnerability and provides exactly the relief sought.

In this article, we will talk about the fourth challenge faced by the manufacturers in the (corrugated boxes) industry, i.e., tracking difficulty in handling the main raw material, paper.

The challenge

Tracking difficulty in handling the main raw material, paper – One of the most pressing concerns that the corrugated box manufacturers have is the handling of the kraft paper, the main raw material for the industry. Kraft papers are ordered in tons but are delivered by the supplier in reels. Reels need to be tracked well within the manufacturer's premises till they get consumed. They need to be inspected for quality, returned if not found acceptable. A reel accepted can be found unacceptable after being partially used. One needs to reclassify them. Stocking and retrieval from the warehouse are often an issue.

The paper inventory needs to be not only managed in tons/kgs but reel-wise also. Once they are partially or completely used, their consumption needs to be tracked with the boxes produced so that in case of quality issue one can trace back the reel and its associated parameters. Paper reels have a shelf life and hence one needs to look at paper with aging analysis so that they get used within their useful life. The units often have an accounting software in use but reel management is not covered in the finance system, resulting in the need to manage a parallel system and reconcile it with the financials periodically.

The solution offered by our solution

Reel Stock Management – Let us take you back to our first article of the series where we introduced this feature to you as part of our offered solution. This feature is again something we have learnt, understood, and perfected as a result of our experience with the manufacturers in the industry. Very often, they were facing this perilous issue where they were not having control over the way the reels, that arrived at their premises for conversion to corrugated boxes, were handled.

In this article, we are going to discuss about the very integral and important aspect/feature of any corrugation-specific solution which should take care of the reel management aspect ensuring that the reels (paper) that arrive at the factory premises are received well, checked for quality, reclassified if required, consumed in production of the desired boxes, returned if not found of the expected quality, that means the entire lifecycle of the reels need to be covered. We understand this situation and hence created something in this line, we like to call that as ‘Reel Stock Management’ that we have created, developed, and built specifically for the corrugation industry. This feature counters the above-mentioned challenge and provides great solution to the box manufacturers in the industry.

The following section explains this feature and how it tackles the challenges and gives the results to the manufacturers that they need.

Paper is ordered in tonnes but arrives in reels. In our system we identify the reels as soon as they land in the warehouse. They are then tracked systematically till they are consumed. The reels are accepted after they pass the quality check or are rejected or reclassified if fail the quality check.

There are many stages that are covered in our solution for tracking the reels end to end. It all starts with the reels (paper) coming into the premises which is covered by the ‘receive paper in reels’ feature of our solution followed by the ‘bar/QR code label generation’ feature. If the reels are found meeting the quality criteria, they move on to the production process or else they are reclassified with the help of ‘reclassification process’ feature. If they do not meet the quality specification at all and are rejected, the system is capable of generating the credit memos for the returns. Once the reels move into the production cycle and go through the same, they get consumed and converted into boards or boxes. Here, their consumption recording is done with the ‘consumption recording’ feature of our solution. Also, the reels converted should be recorded in the form of output which is done by our ‘output recording’ feature.

Let us take you through the entire journey of the reels via the features of our solution step by step and understand how our proposed solution handles the reels (paper) in the best possible way.

1. Receive paper in reels – It all starts with the reels coming into the factory/warehouse premises as per the specification given to the supplier(s). While ordering, generally the manufacturers order the kraft paper in kgs/tons but they are received in reels, so the critical aspect is to receive them in reels but at the same time capture the ordering UOM, i.e., kgs/tons which our system does beautifully. With this feature, you either receive the reels manually or import the details (which you might ask from your supplier in a given template) straight into the system, the latter option saving a lot of time and ensuring accuracy at the same time especially when you are receiving in scores/hundreds.
2. Bar/QR Code creation and printing – The above process is followed by creating and printing the bar/QR codes for all the reels. Here again, we give you 2 options, either you could manually feed in all the data from the bar/QR code that might already be there on the reels provided by the supplier, or you could simply scan the bar/QR code on the reels via a handheld device (provided the supplier gives you the data in the template given by you) and the same gets into the ERP as they are. From here on, to identify the reels you print labels (bar/QR code) which contain all the relevant information from the ERP during their receipt and stick it on them. This is crucial as it will help you with identifying the reels about their whereabouts or even their ageing within the premises.
3. Reclassification process – While we are receiving the reels we also need to be sure about their quality. The delivered quality should match our specifications. We would want the reels to be accepted only when they meet our quality specs. Now, at times we might receive the reels which are not totally bad in quality but are deviating from the specified quality parameters. In such cases, we might consider accepting them as they are not totally a waste but could be used in some other production orders and not in the ones that they were originally meant to. Here we could negotiate with the supplier for the price and could accept under those circumstances. In such cases, the reels need to be reclassified as a different reel item with different parameter values compared to the original ones. All this is beautifully handled by our system via the ‘reclassification process’. If at all the reel(s) need to be returned, the system generates a purchase credit memo to handle this situation as well.
4. Reel ageing report – This report gives you the detailed idea about the time for which the reel has been in the premises/warehouse and also captures the shelf life of these reels. The bar/QR codes on these reels are a ready reckoner about their details and parameters. So, whenever you are looking for a particular deckle of a reel during the production planning stage, the system gives you all the available reels and suggests you with the most relevant ones. You could generate such report which talks about the ageing of the reels whenever you want or at regular intervals which will give you the age of the reels and that it should be considered for use as it is nearing its shelf life.
5. Output recording – Our solution has another feature which gives you the output of the boards/boxes from the reels that are used. It also considers wastes and allowed trims along with the output to reconcile with the consumption that happened for a given reel. So, the reels’ traceability is always there, either in the form of the reels themselves wherever they are or in the form of the boards/boxes manufactured. The system is so robust that you could track the source of the reel(s) at any stage of their journey within the premises (or even after they have been delivered to the customers in case of returns) to their supplier and even manufacturers (if the supplier provided for such information). This is possible because of the traceability aspect of the solution.
6. Consumption recording – Another important part of the reels’ journey is their consumption to make corrugated boxes. This feature allows for you to capture their consumption as liners or flutes (as the case may be) manually or via item identifier bar/QR code field within the consumption feature. With this feature you get to understand the initial weight and final weight of the reel in kgs with the help of the final outer diameter measurement, a logic that we have built based on the setup where we define the weight of the paper and the core with size of the diameter.

To summarise, the reel stock management feature(s) allows you to generate Bar/QR codes for the reels received and accordingly they help the reels to be identified and located within the premises during their entire lifecycle. Now, this enhances the traceability of the corresponding reel in case a below par box is created in terms of quality. The system keeps a track of the ageing of the reels which ensure that the reels are used within their shelf life, thereby reducing the wastages on account of ageing. The end to end management of the reels right from the moment they are received to the time they are converted into corrugated boxes and delivered, the solution and the features offered by us with our solution proves to be life-saving for the box manufacturers.

Reel Stock Management –?The advantages summed up

• Identify the articles easily and accurately – Generate Bar/QR codes for the reels received and accordingly they help the reels to be identified and located within the premises during their entire lifecycle.
• Release of the working capital – Enhances the traceability of the corresponding reel in case a below par box is created in terms of quality.
• Reduce the wastages – The system keeps a track of the ageing of the reels which ensure that the reels are used within their shelf life, thereby reducing the wastages on account of ageing.

Watch out for our next articles to learn in detail about other facet of the solution

Hope you had a good read about another key challenge faced by the corrugation industry-tracking difficulty in handling the main raw material, paper, and the solution provided by Samadhan with its Reel Stock Management feature(s).

With this, we conclude this knowledge series where we talked about the key challenges faced by the corrugation industry, namely dissatisfied customers and unprofitable business, inconsistent quality of end product, low capacity utilization and tracking difficulty in handling the main raw material, paper and how our Corrugated Samadhan solution addresses these and provides exactly the solution required by the corrugated box manufacturers. We have seen how our existing customers have greatly benefitted from our solution and would like to bring it to you as well, to benefit you, to provide you the solution and to help you in other related ways possible.

Soon, we will come to you with another knowledge series articles where we discuss about some other key challenges faced by other packaging industry(s) and how we could be the partner that provides the solution that addresses those challenges. We are constantly evolving and maturing as far as our knowledge is concerned and our solutions are concerned. The idea is to give it back to the users and help them achieve what they yearn to from a world-class ERP built on internationally acclaimed platform.

That’s Samadhan ERPs and Microsoft for you, folks!

Keep following us for more insights!

You may learn more about us on?Microsoft AppSource Partners -?Samadhan?and about our industry-specific Microsoft certified solutions on Business Central and F&O on?Industry-specific Business Apps from?Samadhan?- Microsoft AppSource.