Managing Demand Effectively in a Complex and Volatile Market
Managing demand effectively is fundamental to optimizing your supply chain. Demand is the force that drives the supply chain. So, accurate prediction and timely fulfillment of demand are essential to success.
But the complexity of today's global process industries create
significant hurdles for effective demand management. You depend on your
customers to accurately forecast their needs.
But, like you, they are subject to market uncertainties and price
volatility. The growing trends of customization and segmentation mean
that you have a wider variety of products to manufacture, and more
difficult decisions to make to maximize your production efficiency and
profitability. Your customers are demanding better service and faster delivery times while you face internal pressures to reduce inventory levels.
How do you meet the challenge of these conflicting pressures and take charge of the complexity of demand management?
Take Charge of Demand Management with Picaso™ from WAM Systems
Effective demand management in requires five key capabilities:
Accurate forecasts
So you know what to expect, and when
Accurate forecasting is achieved by blending statistical analysis, customer projections, and the knowledge of your sales and service teams.
Picaso provides the powerful yet flexible forecasting tools you need
to develop timely, accurate forecasts. The process begins with Picaso's
statistical forecasting engine, which provides a first-cut projection
based on methods and criteria tailored to your business. Picaso's
forecasting tool prioritizes high-value customers and key accounts with
individual attention, and handles smaller customers collectively. The
collaborative features enable the key stakeholders to focus on the
important details, easily share information, and arrive at a consensus.
Customers can also be included in the collaborative process to achieve
more accurate forecasting.
Optimized Product Mix
For maximum profitability
Picaso's Advanced Optimization Capabilities use advanced analytical
techniques to map
your demand forecast across the supply chain, providing sales and
production plans that accommodate your capacity limitations while
maximizing profitability. Product and customer mix can be analyzed
interactively to find a business blend that improves the utilization of
your equipment. Alternative scenarios can be easily run to assess
the impact of various customer and production options.
Efficient Order Processing
To improve customer service response
Picaso's Advanced Available-to-Promise solution provides a powerful tool to
instantly analyze and commit customer orders while maximizing
profitability. You can instantly determine if an order is within
forecast, and see the best way to fulfill the order, whether from
existing inventory, planned production or alternate sourcing locations.
And the profitability of each alternative is evaluated so you can make
informed sourcing decisions from the start.
Profitable Order Fulfillment
So the right material is in the
right place at the right time
The tight integration of Picaso's order fulfillment features assures
that changing demand plans are instantly available throughout the
organization. Your distribution planners can target inventories to meet
specified customer service levels, logistics managers receive
just-in-time replenishment plans to maintain proper service and
inventory levels and production schedulers see the status of every order
and the impact of every change. Most importantly, your planners see the
financial impact of every decision.
Real-Time Monitoring and Communications
For up-to-the-minute
assessments of demand
The Picaso Supply Chain Event Monitor maintains an up-to-the-minute
simulation of your supply chain into the future, so you can rapidly
identify problems and take corrective actions. Deviations from the plan
are instantly highlighted in on-screen consoles and through Picaso's
Reporting Engine, assuring that the performance of every decision point
in the supply chain is measured and communicated continuously.
Bottom Line—Increased Profitability
The Picaso suite of supply chain solutions supports all of these capabilities and delivers the information you need to achieve superior customer service, lower inventories, reduced working capital requirements, better use of production assets, and increased profitability.
