Song Hong reduces planning time by 20% with FastReactPlan

The Challenges

Song Hong identified several challenges and business pains to address which were having a negative impact on the business, including the ability to:

• Optimise the whole group capacity utilisation to achieve CRD (Customer Request Date).
• Improve productivity with better control of materials based on the production plan and reduce any last-minute changes.
• Reduce bottlenecks in cutting, seam seal and other value-adding processes.
• Reduce staff’s workload by improving speed and accuracy of communication, coordination and reporting.

Prior to the installation of FastReactPlan, communication and coordination between merchandising, planning and production was complicated, unwieldy and time-consuming. Multiple spreadsheets and numerous emails were necessary in order to identify problems and to understand the production status before the plan could be executed.

The Solution

Song Hong utilised FastReactPlan’s detailed macro and micro capacity sewing planning boards to manage production capacities, and using the pull system principle, generate T&A target dates based on the production plan.

The Result

Nguyen Van Hung, Master Planner, Song Hong, continued, “With FastReactPlan’s detailed line level planning board and the ability to consider other production processes, together with clear visibility of the weekly loading, ensures the sewing demand is achievable. This has resulted in a 7% increase in the plan versus actual.

“In addition, the T&A late and failure analysis provides an insight into the root cause of any issues, which we use to support our continuous improvement process. This facility also gave us a tool to negotiate with the buyers when discussing late deliveries attributed to issues within their own control.”

Nguyen Manh Tuong, Deputy General Director, Song Hong, said, “Management can get all the information needed from FastReactPlan without asking for reports from staff. By checking FastReactPlan’s Web KPI Dashboard, management can quickly and easily understand the current status of all factory’s capacity utilisation, forwarding planning, production and delivery status. It was difficult to get information to manage factory costs before we installed FastReactPlan, but now I can get key reports via the system which provides me with sewing line profitability and other necessary details.” 

The Conclusion

Bui Viet Quang, CEO, Song Hong, said, “Before the implementation of FastReactPlan, the planning process only assessed the sewing operation, but by using FastReactPlan, we are now able to monitor the capacities of other operations and their status. This has resulted in a more accurate and realistic plan for all departments, which improves customer satisfaction.

“With local Vietnamese consultants and the industry expertise of overseas Senior Project Managers, we have gained a lot of best practice recommendations from the experience of other projects. Availability of local support in the local language, who have been very quick to respond to user queries, has really helped us drive system usage.”