Synchrono, Inc., founded in 1999 to help manufacturers improve customer service levels, reduce inventories, and increase throughput, is the developer of Adaptive Manufacturing, a software product that enables continuous, real-time supply chain planning and execution.
CEO David Dehne, who joined the company in 2005, says Synchrono's demand-driven, pull-based system brings real-time visibility into discrete manufacturing environments, helping customers deal with variability and increase throughput. "We create predictability by pacing the operations to align with customer orders in production," Dehne says. "We allow manufacturers to drive an on-time delivery performance in the 95% and above area."
Synchrono's software sits on top of legacy ERP systems. "We interface with 25 to 30 ERP systems," Dehne says.
Synchrono works from the factory out, synchronizing demand data, rather than just integrating it, to enable adaptive manufacturing, says Lora Cesere, research director of consumer products, at AMR Research Inc. "Before this, we've had fixed manufacturing because we didn't have better demand signals," she says. "With this product, manufacturers can move the work to different factories or work cells, based on realistic customer commitments."
Regarding upcoming projects, Synchrono is working on an "adaptive profit," or profit optimization, product. "This will let you shape the demand, based on profitability by customer or product. You'll know ahead of time what the profitability will be so you can pull in demand based on that," Dehne explains. This knowledge will help manufacturers set priorities and ensure that they "produce the right thing for the right margin."
More immediately, Synchrono expects this month to announce a series of partnership agreements with implementers and resellers. Three of those companies have global reach, Dehne says.
- YEAR FOUNDED: 1999
- PRODUCT NAME AND CATEGORY: Adaptive Manufacturing/ supply chain management and planning
- INDUSTRY SEGMENTS SERVED: Discrete manufacturing (make-to-order, engineer-to-order, configure-to-order)
- KEY PROBLEM SOLVED: Fulfills a need to integrate planning and scheduling with execution in real time vs. a batch production plan
- DIFFERENTIATION: Enables companies to manage real-world manufacturing, including variability, without the need for recalculations
- TOP CUSTOMERS: Titanium Metals Corp., Kappa, ColorTree
- FUNDING: Private, cash-flow positive