MachSix deployment enables company to reduce inventory costs by 50 percent without compromising customer service

ATLANTA- (April 19, 2011) – Invistics, the recognized leader of demand-driven Lean manufacturing solutions for high-mix industries, announced today that the deployment of its MachSix suite at global packaging solutions provider MeadWestvaco resulted in a significant improvement of the company’s manufacturing operations. The use of MachSix’s Pull Manager and Inventory Advisor modules have resulted in a 50 percent reduction in inventory volume without sacrificing customer service levels.  This more efficient use of working capital was achieved in just six months.

“We were able to reduce our inventory by almost 50 percent without sacrificing customer service,” said Donna Ruder, Director of Order Fulfillment at MeadWestvaco. “The implementation process was easier than I expected Invistics led a Pull Design Workshop that helped us build a shared vision on how Pull could work in our high-mix manufacturing company. We were then up and running Pull using existing data in less than a month. Their software ensures that these changes are sustainable and we will always be able to optimize despite frequently changing conditions,” she added.

MeadWestvaco uses the MachSix Pull Manager and the MachSix Inventory Advisor to control the release of new orders to the plant and to set inventory targets, respectively. Using data from the company’s existing systems, the two modules work in concert to determine the optimal trade-offs between inventory level and customer service. Pull Manager and Inventory Advisor are part of the MachSix suite. The other modules are:

• Lean Insights – Establishes key metrics for organizations looking to motivate Lean behaviors.
• Lot Sizer – Optimizes lot, batch and campaign sizes in any high-mix industry.
• Flow Path Health – Provides real-time visibility into order-to-fulfillment by allowing users to easily gain visibility into the health of current inventory levels and customer, process and purchase orders through charts and graphs.

“We strive to deliver solutions that help high-mix industries achieve operational excellence,” said Tom Knight, CEO of Invistics. “It is gratifying that the unique capabilities of the MachSix suite are producing such a significant return for MeadWestvaco,” he added.

The MachSix software suite adds pull-based replenishment capabilities to more than 250 ERP/MES systems. It provides all the tools needed to analyze and optimize inventory levels, and provides the entire organization with a real-time view into the plant floor and across the supply chain. With just minutes of training, employees can gain insights into inventory levels – segmenting by business unit, product line, region, or plant. Based on Lean manufacturing principles and key Six Sigma components, the MachSix suite is available as a SaaS solution or implemented at the customer site. Companies using MachSix have achieved dramatic, sustained results including more than 99 percent on-time deliveries, an average reduction of 50 percent in inventory, and reduction in cycle times by more than half.

About Invistics
Invistics provides consulting services and supporting software solutions that enable high mix manufacturers to achieve the right inventory levels for their supply chain through advanced analytics and actionable insights. Based on Six Sigma and Lean principles, Invistics solutions help manufacturing executives improve profitability by reducing cycle times and costs, while increasing throughput and customer satisfaction.

About MWV

MeadWestvaco Corporation (NYSE: MWV), provides packaging solutions to many of the world’s most-admired brands in the healthcare, beauty and personal care, food, beverage, home and garden, and tobacco industries. The company’s businesses also include Consumer & Office Products, Specialty Chemicals, and the Community Development and Land Management Group, which sustainably manages the company’s land holdings to support its operations, and to provide for conservation, recreation and development opportunities. With 17,500 employees worldwide, MWV operates in 30 countries and serves customers in more than 100 nations. MWV manages all of its forestlands in accordance with internationally recognized forest certification standards, and has been named to the Dow Jones Sustainability World Index for seven consecutive years. For more information, please visit www.mwv.com.