QAD Inc., major provider of enterprise applications for global manufacturers, today announced that integrated circuit solutions manufacturer Micrel Inc. has upgraded and is expanding its worldwide use of QAD GXE, the Global Enterprise Edition, to improve supply chain efficiency and responsiveness. According to Business Wire, Micrel's investment in QAD solutions is in line with its supply chain vision to operate as a demand-driven enterprise and having an edge over competitors.

Micrel is a leading producer of integrated circuit solutions for the world's analog, Ethernet and high bandwidth communications markets. With a product inventory of more than 4,000 items, Micrel fabricates components at its world-class San Jose, Calif. plant for more than 6,000 customers who are mostly located abroad. These companies integrate Micrel chips into finished goods such as cellular handsets, portable and enterprise computing, networking and industrial equipment that is marketed to U.S. end-users. Customers are racing to get products to market as quickly as possible, which means Micrel must keep pace with the rapid rate of demand. Working closely with QAD Global Services, the semiconductor manufacturer has implemented QAD software applications providing key suppliers with access to QAD database information, automating VMI (vendor managed inventory) warehouses, as well as automating previously manual back-end warehouse, inventory and traffic-related processes, for near real-time demand fulfillment from multiple warehouse locations around the globe.

"QAD solutions have proven powerful and simple, and access to information from our world-class QAD system has improved Micrel's planning, flexibility and ability to meet customer deadlines - all of which add up to competitive advantage," said Roland Carlson, CIO, Micrel. "In addition to accelerating delivery and customer responsiveness, we have achieved more than 99 percent inventory accuracy and cut inventory holding costs. It was true when Micrel selected QAD 15 years ago and it's still the case that most enterprise-scale ERP solutions don't reflect the needs of our industry, and are far too complex to make customization a cost-effective undertaking."

Until Micrel undertook its QAD upgrade, its products were sent to offshore contractors for finishing and then shipped back to Micrel's U.S. facility for distribution to overseas customers. Today, suppliers have direct access to customers' shipping information in Micrel's QAD system, and send goods directly to those customers. Each supplier picks goods according to Micrel's shipping instructions and scans item bar codes to enter pick data into the QAD system, which produces pack lists and shows suppliers which shipments are going to the same customer, for delivery consolidation. Suppliers use the QAD system to produce all transportation-related documents and a ship confirmation at Micrel.

"Our Malaysian supplier is drop-shipping the vast majority of our products from its facility while the invoice is printed at our California headquarters in real time," said Carlson.

"Manufacturers like Micrel that are improving information distribution throughout the supply chain are creating conditions for the perfect lean market, where access to the right information at the right time helps supply chain members optimize business performance," said Pamela Lopker, president and chairman, QAD. "QAD is committed to delivering the power of simplicity in solutions tailored to the needs of the manufacturing sectors we serve, so that our customers can understand, manage and respond to demand."