Focus: Get the Georgia ARC facility right; run a tight pilot now so leadership can make an enterprise‑wide call later based on evidence.
Getting Georgia set up correctly is a mission-critical, essential decision for Archer to make. Archer must pick the correct system to runa facility that is to scale up to 250 planes produced per year.
Archer has the opportunity now to pilot two different approaches: Arda in Powertrain and Mendix for Airframe. This will allow Archer to evaluate both solutions for a nationwide rollout in 90 days to ensure that this decision is made correctly.
Pilot scope (Powertrain)
Items: 400 production items Kanban design: 2 loops per item (e.g., Warehouse→Supermarket; Supermarket→Line) Cards: 3 cards per loop → 6 cards per item → 2,400 cards total (rounded to 2,500) Signals & execution: Scan‑driven, physical cards with QR/barcode triggers Automatic AI Resizing to update kanban parameters to reflect the rapid cadence at which Archer plans to grow and iterate. Pilot scope (Airframe)
Work with internal Mendix team to define 90-day deliverables Evaluate progress towards those deliverables Compare results within 90 days
Arda Timeline
Days 0–30: Implement Arda (Powertrain)
Complete in-person rollout of Arda in Powertrain, including supermarket design, card and label printing, replenishment quantity optimization, tugger route design, and receiving system creation. Days 31–120: Operate & evaluate (90 days)
Run live Kanban in pilot cells; weekly steering + metrics; continuous replenishment parameter optimization to choose the go‑forward platform for Georgia ARC (and then enterprise). Why Arda vs. Mendix
Purpose‑built Kanban tools
Arda is a purpose-built, production‑grade Kanban system
Supported by experts who understand not only the theory behind kanban as a replenishment process, but also have physically implemented supermarkets with efficient layouts, understanding physical, real-world technician workflows and optimizing them for ease of use. Support on the physical implementation for Mendix would likely fall to the Archer team rather than completed by the Mendix team. Time‑to‑impact: In 30 days we configure loops, cards, signals, and SAP postings; Mendix would need to build the same flows first. Internal tools fail because of poor adoption and lack of suppor : Internal tools often stall on support and operator adoption. Arda wins on both—simple, technician‑friendly UX with consistently high adoption, plus embedded Kanban specialists on day one. SAP eKanban, even with Mendix augmentation cannot offer the adaptability and scalability that Archer needs to ramp from prototyping to production
Kanban can’t scale without Arda: Classic Kanban works everywhere but is hard to change as lines, takt, or suppliers shift. Arda Cloud automatically and proactively adjusts replenishment parameters (mins, card counts, loop sizing) from real‑time shop‑floor conditions—no casing around cards when things change or realizing your minimums are too low as you grow and scale.. Proven teams & scale: Our teams have implemented Kanban at every scale, and our software team has built software that touches ~½ of the world’s physical goods. Vision
Arda is building AI tools to continuously update replenishment parameters based on historical consumption, target production, and the many changes and adaptations that will be made to Archer's supply chain on the route from prototyping to production. This fixes one of Kanban’s biggest problems and makes updating the system not just automatic, but intelligent, streamlining material flow Pricing - $30k/year - no implementation fees
$1
Base Price
$.75
Continuous Optimization
$.5
Jira Integration
Same cost structure, reduced scope.
$1/card + $.75 for continuous optimization $43,750 per year
Future Add-Ons
$.50 per card integrated with Jira Work together to decide on best approach for SAP implementation
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Justification and ROI
If Arda delivers the same results achieved during the one-month pilot in the Engine Department, this 90-day trial will pay for itself before it concludes.
This approach allows Archer to directly compare two distinct solutions—Arda in Powertrain and Mendix in Airframe—under real operating conditions. The outcome will provide clear, data-backed insight into which system drives greater performance and efficiency before expanding to the Georgia facility.
In addition, this structure ensures the Engine and Battery lines continue receiving support and improvement during the evaluation period, while the Mendix team focuses fully on Airframe operations. The result: a balanced, low-risk, and high-reward path to identifying the best long-term solution for Archer.
Get ARC Right