Don’t let the name fool you: Savage Sports Corp. is actually quite refined, especially when it comes to executing its supply chain.
Under the banner of a company-wide lean manufacturing program, the Massachusetts-based maker of firearms and related hunting and shooting products instituted a demand pull system that reacts to signals to and from customers, distributors, the production floor, and suppliers, ensuring that Savage manufactured and shipped just the right products at just the right time.
The project’s success earned Savage the High Achiever award for Supply Network Mastery in the 2009 Progressive Manufacturing awards program.
The pull system began in 2003 as a simple, two-bin process that brought components to their point of use on the factory floor. The spirit of continuous improvement drove Savage’s ambitions much higher, toward the end goal: “When a consumer buys a gun off the rack, we want a signal that goes all the way back to the steel mill to tell them to pour more steel,” in the company’s words. In pursuit of that nirvana, Savage has created a full-blown kanban system that begins at customer sites and stretches all the way back to Savage’s material suppliers.