Benefits

i-Lean is a unique logistics modeling and design tool. i-Lean provides capabilities not available in other products on the market. Inventory and operations managers can use it to design and continually re-evaluate material flows, stocking strategies, inventory levels and storage media in warehousing, manufacturing and retail environments. The results are reduced material handling and inventory costs and improved customer service through fewer or no stock-outs. Using product demand and volumetrics, vendor lead time, material handling costs and many additional variables, i-Lean will produce recommendations for:

  • What Point Of Use (POU) storage media to employ
  • How materials should be moved from receiving to POU (directly from the receiving dock, through reserves in a central stockroom, or in "kits" )
  • The quantity and package size (units, cartons, pallets) of each part that should be stocked and re-ordered

Beyond that, i-Lean will produce total annual operational costs, inventory turns and replenishment counts from each analysis, which can be used in direct cost/benefit comparisons between different approaches.
The results of any analysis run can be further utilized in the Warehouse Design and Slotting Analysis features of i-Lean. These features use supplied ordering statistics for each part (order frequency, average order size) to recommend how a warehouse should be zoned and how each part should be stored in relation to shipping and receiving docks for the most efficient handling. i-Lean has been used to design aviation repair operations, evaluate potential cross-dock warehouse facilities, design POU and central storage in electronics manufacturing and determine front/back of counter item distribution in retail outlets. Its flexibility and comprehensive view of logistics make it applicable in a wide variety of situations. Read on to find out how i-Lean can help your business.


Eliminate Shortages, Approach 100% Fill Rate

Based on your lead time, demand and target customer service level, i-Lean will accurately calculate the minimum inventory (Re-Order Point or ROP) and maximum inventory (or total slot size) for each and every part you stock. Click the thumbnail to the right to see a sample i-Lean output:

These values, commonly called your min/max, are created in formats that are readily exported to any WMS that has the capability to use these values to manage your replenishments. With accurate min/max settings, you will be sure to stock the right amount of materials to meet your customer demand.

Reduce Inventory & Material Handling Costs

i-Lean will also determine which of your items are candidates for delivery directly to the forward stocking locations, eliminating reserves. This further reduces the amount of inventory you must carry.

It also eliminates the need to receive items into reserves and then do replenishments later as forward slots are depleted. Material handling is greatly reduced. The detailed results of each analysis shows the recommended "stocking scenario" for each part - dock to shop (directly to forward) or dock-to-stock-to-shop (through reserves). A higher level view summarizes the results for alternate flow paths. Click the thumbnail for a sample:

Note that i-Lean also displays average inventory turns and replenishment cycles for all SKU's in the subzone.

Analyze & Compare Multiple Scenarios

You can easily run and save unlimited analyses in i-Lean, changing one or more variables in each run, to compare results. This allows you to model changes to your operation before making expensive capital purchases or process changes.
Each run results in overall annual operational expenses for that scenario, making cost/benefit analysis a breeze! The following sample shows comparative costs for three stocking strategies with different flow path and storage parameters:

i-Lean provides costs on a summary level, and has a drill down capability so you can see the impact on labor (material handling) and inventory costs on a part-by-part basis! You can compare the square footage and storage media requirements for different approaches if you are designing and shopping for a new facility.

All of i-Lean's many reports can be run on multiple stored scenarios.

Determine the Right Storage Media for You

If you are fitting a new facility or re-fitting an existing facility with storage media (pallet rack, flow rack, static shelving, etc.), i-Lean will recommend the best mix and exact amount of each type needed, and tell you what parts should be stocked in each type. You can compare different scenarios to evaluate different configurations, varying storage media dimensions - shelf height, overall height, shelf thickness, depth, and more - to see the effect of each. i-Lean gives summary information by storage media type, and detailed information for slotting:

Summary

Detail

   
 



Configure i-Lean's Execution Parameters to Match Your Operation

Each manufacturing and distribution facility operates differently. i-Lean accommodates these unique characteristics through dozens of parameters that can be set at the facility, subzone, and SKU levels. Variables like replenishment lead time, number of stocking shifts, and Pareto breakpoints are set at the warehouse level. Others including the number of pick faces per SKU, flow path options, ordering costs, and material handling costs are set at the subzone level. Several of the subzone parameters like flow path, may be overriden for individual SKU's. Click on the thumbnails for examples.

 
 


Get New Insights Into Your Operation

i-Lean's sophisticated data structure will provide you with a treasure trove of information to help you better understand and subsequently improve your operational environment. Standard reports provide both summary and detail on virtually aspect of your SKU's, storage strategy, subzone configuration, and cost structure. If that's not enough, i-Lean's Report Generator provides the capability to slice and dice the data anyway you want using standard SQL conventions. Weather you're using standard reports or inventing your own, all of the output can be sorted, filtered, and exported to files or hardcopy. Click on the thumbnails for examples.

 
 


Couple i-Lean to Other Support Systems

Establishing reference data in the i-Lean database is made easier when you use information already available in your support systems. i-Lean has an Application Program Interface (API) that simplifies loading data. In addition to loading data, a set of validation tools allows you to identify inconsistencies in the data, e.g., a SKU with no height dimension or a daily demand of zero. Strange as it may seem, assumptions about data quality imported from legacy systems may be flawed. Click on the thumbnails for examples.

 
 
 
 
 


As mentioned earlier, i-Lean's data export facilities are en effective way to provide clean data to other systems used to support operations. A good example is loading SKU reorder point, and bin min/max quantities to a WMS. In turn, SKU picking activity can be exported from the WMS to i-Lean as part of a feedback loop to refine the min/max information in i-Lean.
 


i-Lean's Design Features Summary

 
 


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