It is an open secret that a disruption in the supply chain represents one of the great risks to modern just-in-time production methods. An assembly line standstill caused by supply problems can easily cost the affected company more than 100,000 euro per hour. If production must be stopped in the entire factory, then this amount may even increase to more than one million euro per hour. However, in such cases it’s not necessarily always the large parts that can have big impact – even the absence of a small plastic cover cap can pose a threat to a smooth production process.
An international car manufacturer was confronted with precisely this particular problem at its Turkish production facility. Manufacturing was increased on short notice, subsequently causing a shortage of key small parts. With each passing hour the assembly line standstill grew nearer, if the supplies could not be delivered on time. The situation was urgent and quick help was necessary. For this reason, the supplier of the cover caps contacted time:matters early in the afternoon, to find a tailor-made and the quickest possible solution for this logistics challenge.
During the conversation with the specialists at time:matters customer service, it soon became clear that a standard air cargo transport would take far too long – an on-board courier is the fastest and most secure solution. The customer agreed and shortly thereafter a courier was on the way, in order to pick up the parts in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and then bring them immediately to the airport in Cologne. The courier departed from there on the next possible flight to Istanbul, where a taxi was already waiting at the airport, in order to drive him immediately to the manufacturing location. Still on that very same evening, less than two hours after arrival at the airport, the time:matters courier was able to deliver the shipment at the factory.
The customer was so impressed with this uncomplicated and speedy solution that he booked four more on-board couriers for the following three days. Thus, an assembly line standstill was successfully avoided – the highly urgent logistics challenge was solved to the customer’s complete satisfaction.
