Supply Planning
The ability to generate and adjust plans quickly along with the facility to evaluate and compare plans goes a long way in meeting the diverging requirements of sales and production.
Challenges
All planners can testify to the fact that it is hard work to generate a plan that meets the requirements of both production and sales. The input information is often inaccurate or incomplete and several iterations may be required to resolve this. By the time the plan is completed, it needs to be revised again. In dealing with the many detailed and conflicting requirements, all the time is spent on generating the plan rather than analyzing it. This is a common challenge in all industries. Notwithstanding, all companies need to decide on:
Inventory plan
What is the appropriate inventory level required to buffer against fluctuations in forecast and production output? Should we build strategic inventory of a particular product?Production plan
How much to make? On which line? How to accommodate raw material supply that is never aligned to demand?Capacity plan
What kind of plant capacity is required? By when should we ramp up to a 3 shift operation including weekends? When should we schedule maintenance downtimes and projects?Formula optimization
How do I generate a feasible and cost optimal solution to meet the product specifications within a short period of time? Can I regenerate the solution when required?Energy plan
What are my energy requirements for the year? How much should I contract? Can I optimize on the energy efficient production resources?
Evaluating the current plan by comparing it to previous plans enables the planner to get a good perspective on the effect of different factors on the plan. When things are tight, understanding the net impact of changes to parameters makes all the difference in making the right decisions and communicating them effectively. Supply Planning supports the planner on all these aspects: generate new plans that observe all relevant constraints, compare these against other plans and finally publish the chosen plan for execution. When required, standard reporting tools can be applied to bring information into formats that the production or the warehouse personnel are used to.
Approach
All businesses have the necessary data to create a capacity constrained supply plan, but it is usually residing in different data repositories, in different formats and with different refresh schedules. We provide the expertise for collecting, structuring and maintaining this data so that they can be used as parameters to drive the planning process. Data that is identified to be “homeless” finds its place in Data Shelter. After discussing with the various stake holders involved, we help you decide on the Key Performance Indicators. This will enable you to create better inventory, production and capacity plans that are also attainable. The ability to compare plans enables you to better understand the factors that drive your business as well as see how you are tracking with your budget plan. It takes 3 - 5 weeks to analyze your business and conclude which parameters should be included to drive your supply plan. Following this analysis, the first plans are available for evaluation 3 - 6 weeks later. After 2 - 4 weeks of scrutinizing, the phase to embed the system in your business processes starts.
Your Benefit
You will be able to generate plans that are attainable and be confident that nothing is overlooked. You can compare plans and communicate the final version to the stake holders in the business. You will enhance your understanding on the effect of changes to your planning parameters like rates, shift patterns and target stock settings. Plans will become more realistic and achievable, so you will have time left to manage other aspects of the business.
