Eliminate Stockouts: How ARDA Is Rebuilding Manufacturing From the Card Up

Show Notes: The Allied Advisors Podcast — ARDA Episode

Guests:

• Kyle Henson, Co-Founder & CEO, ARDA
• Uriel Eisen, President & Co-Founder, ARDA (Forbes 30 Under 30)

Hosted by: Justin Goethe, Allied Advisors

Episode Overview

In this episode, Justin sits down with two of manufacturing's fastest-rising innovators, Kyle Henson and Uriel Eisen, the founders of ARDA—the software platform redefining Kanban, replenishment, and material flow for modern factories.

ARDA recently won Best New Product of the Year at The Assembly Show, and after this conversation, it’s easy to understand why. Kyle and Uriel break down how broken information flow—not labor, not layout, not even equipment—is the root cause behind most operational issues. Their solution: a remarkably simple but powerful way to automate Kanban, eliminate stockouts, and boost throughput using physical cards, dynamic sizing, and AI-driven replenishment.

If you’ve ever battled material shortages, overstuffed supermarkets, lost Kanban cards, or ERP systems that promise clarity but deliver chaos—this is the episode for you.

What We Cover

1. The “Broken Information Flow” Crisis in Manufacturing

Kyle explains why traditional ERPs and MRP forecasting models consistently fail on the shop floor—and how ARDA tackles the root problem by marrying physical cards with digital intelligence.

2. How ARDA Automates the Entire Kanban Lifecycle

Uriel walks through ARDA’s full stack of capabilities:

• Automated Kanban sizing
• AI-driven minimum quantity adjustments as throughput changes
• Digital ordering and scan-triggered replenishment
• Lost-card detection
• Full historical usage tracking
• Integration with ERP systems (SAP, NetSuite… AS/400 if you dare)

Justin notes the pain of doing this manually with Excel, BarTender, Label Matrix, and disconnected scan systems—and how ARDA replaces all of it in one platform.

3. Making Kanban “So Easy, You Want to Do It”

A guiding principle in ARDA’s development:

“Record keeping should be the happy accident of an otherwise productive process.”

By attaching useful actions to the scan itself (ordering, printing, triggering the next step), ARDA increases scan compliance without administrative policing. Incentives create behavior.

4. One-Way Kanbans, RFID, and Real-World Chaos

Justin shares war stories implementing RFID replenishment:

• Route runners scanning eight cards at once
• Lines waiting for RFID lights
• Infinite reprinting
• Inventory corruption

The conclusion: incentives beat instructions. ARDA’s system is built entirely around this idea.

5. AI-Driven Dynamic Resizing & Value-Stream Connectivity

Perhaps the most groundbreaking part of ARDA:

• The system learns which Kanbans relate to each other by analyzing velocity patterns
• ARDA automatically resizes supermarkets when mix or volumes change
• If upstream suppliers also use ARDA, Kanban signals can flow between companies

The result: true consumption-based pull across the entire supply chain, not just inside one plant.

6. Why Sequencing Fails (and Lean Pull Wins)

Justin and the ARDA team break down why sequencing—still widely used in automotive—is a ticking time bomb:

• Scheduling is inherently unstable
• Upstream disruptions break downstream kits
• Chaos forces rework, relabeling, and waste

Mature lean organizations attack the root causes (leveling attainment, schedule adherence), not the symptoms.

7. The Power of Starting Small

The team emphasizes that most manufacturers freez