Supply Chain Planning Solutions Are Not Just For The Big Boys

Corporations implementing provide chain planning (SCP) have historically been very huge corporations or corporations with advanced provide chains. Neither of the shoppers highlighted on this article fall into that class. Provide chain planning isn’t just for the massive boys.

Myers Industries Implements John Galt Options

Myers Industries (NYSE: MYE) is headquartered in Akron, Ohio in the USA. This producer produces plastic reusable materials dealing with containers and plastic gas tanks. In addition they are additionally one of many largest distributor within the US of instruments, tools and provides for the tire and wheel service business. They generated revenues of over $750 million of their final fiscal yr.

The Firm operates eighteen manufacturing services, 9 distribution facilities situated all through North and Central America. They supply plastic pellets after which use injection, blow molding, rotational molding, and thermoforming to supply their completed merchandise.

In September of 2020, the corporate employed Jeff Baker to be their Vice President of Procurement and Built-in Provide Chain. Mr. Baker spent over 34 years main procurement groups at The Dow Chemical Firm. At Dow, Mr. Baker had Buying expertise in uncooked supplies, and logistics for his or her plastics provide chain. After being employed at Myers, Mr. Baker was promoted to Vice President of Shared Providers and tasked with making a centralized provide chain group.

Getting impartial enterprise models to function in a centralized provide chain construction would permit the corporate to have higher leverage in procurement negotiations. However, much more importantly, it will permit Myers to construct up their provide chain experience, develop into extra environment friendly, and drive asset utilization. “There was restricted demand planning that tied again to our precise manufacturing capabilities,” Mr. Baker defined. That meant Myers had restricted capabilities when it got here to gross sales & operational planning (S&OP). S&OP is the important thing course of in successfully balancing provide – what might be made – with demand – what clients wish to purchase.

Myers Industries ended up choosing the Atlas Planning Platform from John Galt Options. Mr. Baker believed {that a} provide chain planning resolution may assist drive a “constant course of throughout the group” and function the impetus to construct expert demand and provide planning groups. The answer has “a piece course of movement to it,” Mr. Baker mentioned. The KPIs and widgets are extremely configurable, and the dashboards are “highly effective.”

Myers Industries started implementing the answer in February. They’ve three enterprise models dwell – a fourth shall be up by the top of the yr. They’ve applied the demand resolution, provide planning, and are engaged on tough lower capability – a complicated type of provide planning. The biggest obstacle within the implementation was that a lot of the grasp information was soiled and the method of cleansing it took time.

One enterprise unit has already made important progress. Based mostly on the information from the availability chain planning resolution, Myers may see that there was lots of demand that obtained loaded on certainly one of their manufacturing belongings. Visibility to this reality allowed Myers to maneuver from a make-to-order to a make-to-stock course of. “We had been in a position to make use of various sources of producing to extend the quantity of product that we may promote,” Mr. Baker defined. That transition allowed for the next efficiency in on-time deliveries and elevated gross sales. “We’re offering significantly better customer support, we’re promoting extra, and we’re extra worthwhile.”

John Galt Options was chosen as a result of it offered sturdy capabilities. “You realize it is actually good. Really, it is actually exceptionally good,” Mr. Baker exclaimed. He then pulled the answer up and demonstrated it for me. It actually does look good, actually exceptionally good.

Palo Alto Networks Implements Anaplan

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ: PANW) is a public cybersecurity firm with headquarters in Santa Clara, California. Its core merchandise are a platform that features superior firewalls and cloud-based choices that stretch these firewalls to cowl different points of IT safety. The fast-growing firm generated over $5.5 billion in revenues within the final fiscal yr.

Jonathan Morgan – the Senior Director of S&OP, Demand, and Stock Planning – defined that for a multibillion-dollar firm, Palo Alto has a easy provide chain. “Our most important contract manufacturing is finished in Milpitas, CA – close to our headquarters – by Flex.” That facility makes printed circuit boards and does closing meeting. One other contract producer produces a lot smaller volumes for a special enterprise unit in Fremont, CA. “The 2 contract producers additionally retailer the completed items after which do the delivery.”

Earlier than choosing and implementing Anaplan, Palo Alto used an answer from a special provide chain planning vendor. “We had been developing on time to resume that license.” Mr. Morgan mentioned. “So, Palo Alto did a software program analysis. “We checked out our present enterprise surroundings, appeared on the wants, the utilization of the software program, and the pricing.”

“We realized that the software program we’re paying for could be very costly and sturdy. It’s advanced software program made for a extra advanced provide chain,” Mr. Morgan mentioned. “And the highway map we had in entrance of us did not require that type of complexity.” After a number of distributors, Palo Alto “discovered that Anaplan was one of the best match for us.”

Anaplan was chosen in 2018 and applied provide and demand planning concurrently in solely 16 weeks in that yr. That, I commented, was a really quick implementation. “Yeah. It did assist that the corporate’s gross sales operations crew had been utilizing Anaplan beforehand for a number of years. There was some expertise internally with Anaplan.” And since they had been already utilizing a SCP resolution, they’d already had clear grasp information.

The scope of the Anaplan SCP resolution that’s in use has elevated over the previous few years. “We’re presently operating S&OP, demand planning, provide planning and in addition do some stock administration actions” with Anaplan. Mr. Morgan continued, “We do provide and demand optimization, and allocation at a completed good degree. We do some capability planning for manufacturing, manufacturing engineering, check engineering, and truck capability.”

As a result of Anaplan was changing an present SCP, they aren’t presently driving any internet new value financial savings. Usually, a SCP drives important reductions in stock. Nevertheless, on this case Anaplan has allowed for a shift in how stock is deliberate. They will now plan buffers for a full Invoice of Supplies throughout the planning horizon, which changed an Excel based mostly, half by half strategy. This resulted in important time financial savings for the availability chain crew and the contract producer in addition to offered extra flexibility to manufacturing to regulate to adjustments in demand for widespread supplies.

So, what’s subsequent? “We’re about to go dwell with an order promising course of. We do not have the power to very precisely challenge once we can ship an order.” At the moment they undergo an order on a line-by-line foundation, take a look at the availability views projected by Anaplan, and “say yeah, it appears to be like like we may cowl it by (a sure) date.” However they will’t get a agency ship dedication till an order is launched from the availability plan into the success website. “Then they take a look at it (the order), examine their stock and supply that ship commit date again” to their Palo Alto Networks SAP enterprise useful resource planning resolution.

“I am attempting to get forward of that. I am implementing an order promising course of utilizing the Anaplan optimizer. We’ll take a look at all the availability and demand, optimize in opposition to that for varied issues like income or margin, and buyer priorities, after which feed that into an order promising engine.” Palo Alto will then have the ability to decide to delivery an order on a particular week. Mr. Mogan continued, “that shall be an enormous profit to our Gross sales, Finance and Order Processing groups. Finance will get a view into delivery linearity for income planning. ”Faster, extra correct order commitments will permit them to inform a salesman, “When you carry this order in, we will ship it by (this) date”, permitting the Gross sales and Orders groups to higher serve our clients.