Ordering from the Supply Chain

Replenishment parts were called from the supply partners on preestablished service agreements. These service agreements established both the replenishment fulfillment time and also the responsibilities of each 

Physically, the call of parts was achieved using faxbans. These work in the same manner as a kanban card and are transmitted directly from the user technician to those who supply the components. In this case, the faxban was transmitted by fax, from a machine in the rebuild shop area to another at the different supplying shops. Some of these shops are 1000 miles away. 

A major difference from classic kanbans stems from the varying requirement for parts for each unit rebuilt. In normal production, one unit built leads to one kit s worth being resupplied. In this case, because there are multiple supply lines, one from the turbine (as-is parts), one from repaired parts, and one from new parts, the requirement changes for each unit. 

To take account of this, the faxbans use an exclusion process. This is, in fact, very simple. Each faxban calls for a kit of replenishment parts from each supply chain partner. The list on the faxban includes the full list of all the parts that can be in the kit. The original faxban resides at the rebuild area and is laminated. As the rebuild technician gets ready to call for replenishment parts using the faxban, he crosses out with a wax marker those items on the faxban that do not need to be replenished because parts are available that have been recovered from the returned 

On receiving the fax, the supply partner produces only those parts required on the amended list and sends them with the copy of the faxban that he received to the rebuild shop. On receipt, the rebuild shop can match the faxbans and remove the corresponding copy in the rack. 

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