Modloft is a Miami-based firm that makes elite modern furniture for the contemporary home. They manage their supply chain in-house, taking complete end-to-end ownership of the design, manufacturing, distribution, and retail processes. The brand is known for its superior design at an affordable price, all while maintaining exceptional quality.
While the company has been growing rapidly year-over-year, its supply chain hasn’t always been a walk in the park to control. As we take a look at how the team operated its supply chain last year, the unexpected fires that occurred were soon resolved with the help of Anvyl’s Production Hub software and its all-star supply chain team. Let’s dive in.
A different supply chain in 2019
Multiple tracking systems for orders
The company leveraged multiple programs, including Excel and Airtable, to manage their supply chain purchases, manufacturing, and delivery of goods. These systems housed the company’s purchase order history and open transactions. The problem was that the tools also carried slightly different information in each one, and it was difficult to keep both of them organized with real-time updates while trying to manage several hundreds of orders with numerous suppliers.
Continuously ordered new products with new suppliers
As Modloft continued to develop new products, the supply chain team was tasked to find new manufacturers and integrate new orders into the flow of goods. However, orders were often placed outside of the normal systems by other teams, not completely visible within the existing supply chain team. This led to several missed orders during the holidays, particularly with products that were made at suppliers in Asia where factories shut down for up to a full month during Tet and Chinese New Year.
Employee performance affected
Even though missing information was not something that could be controlled in the tracking systems, if an order was missed, Excel, Airtable, or any other tracking record would become out of date and the supply chain team was often blamed for the negative outcomes that arose like late shipments, missed sales, and longer than expected back orders. To turn this around, the supply chain team needed an effective solution that could drive immediate visibility, better collaboration, and more accountability within the supply chain.
Fast forward to a supply chain with Anvyl in 2020
A single source of truth
Anvyl’s Production Hub for order management is color-coded with red, orange, and green (RAG) reports, which allows Modloft to easily spot orders at risk of falling behind schedule. By shifting focus towards the orders that require attention, the team is now able to manage by exception. Modloft leverages these RAG report “guardrails” to keep supply on track with minimal disruption, even when suppliers do not accept purchase orders or confirm production milestones.
More accurate ordering
Actual lead times can sometimes significantly differ from quoted lead times. Because Modloft works with a global network of manufacturers, relying on estimated lead times does not always yield on-time and consistent deliveries. Anvyl lets Modloft place orders with more confidence in its planning process － by using actual production time data. In addition, Modloft’s Production Coordinator is now the only person processing purchase orders through Anvyl. This has prevented the missed orders that used to occur and everyone across the organization has visibility to see what orders are actively in progress, delayed, or shipped. As new learnings and more accurate data flows through Anvyl, Modloft adjusts appropriately, making calendar changes on a regular basis.
Glowing employee performance reviews
Collaboration tools on Anvyl show a complete historical view of every message sent and file attached. When it came time to improve efficiencies in the supply chain, the referenceable activity log highlighted bottle necks and provided supply chain managers the visibility required to hold the appropriate parties accountable. Instead of the typical blame that defaulted on supply chain managers, the organization could assess where inaccurate information started, and strategized to fix these issues accordingly. This ultimately resulted in improved supply chain team function, higher employee performance reviews, and greater employee satisfaction.
Overheard in the office
“Anvyl has been game-changing for us. It’s a phenomenal piece of software. I have 167 open orders at the moment and Anvyl’s the first thing I look at every day.”
— Joshua Siegel, Director of Supply Chain at Modloft
