Product category:
Supply chain planning and execution software
News Release from: SynQuest | Subject: SynQuest 7.0 upply chain planning software
Edited by the Manufacturingtalk Editorial
Team on 17 January 2002
Supply chain planning software tackles
complexity
SynQuest 7.0, a suite of collaborative supply chain planning (SCP) software, solves high-value business problems once thought too complex to be addressed.
SynQuest has announced availability of SynQuest 7.0, a suite of collaborative supply chain planning (SCP) software The new software advances SynQuest strategy to be the leading specialists in supply chain planning by solving high-value business problems once thought too complex to be addressed
This article was originally published on Manufacturingtalk on 14 Nov 2001 at 8.00am (UK)
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Automotive OEM reduces inbound logistics costs
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It enables companies in automotive, industrial, printing and packaging, and consumer durable industries to achieve dramatic profit and customer service improvements - delivered quickly.
Each product in the SynQuest suite is designed to address a specific supply chain planning process.
Typical supply chain applications address point functions like inventory or transportation planning that often present conflicting objectives when deployed together (for example, a company can drive down inventory costs at the expense of higher transportation costs).
Further reading
Honda Express licenses supply chain software
One World Logistics of America, a subsidiary of Honda Express, has selected SynQuest solutions to reduce inbound and outbound logistics costs whil
Software solutions support lean logisitics
Penske has licensed SynQuest Supply Chain Design, Inbound Planning and Tactical Planning Engine software to provide enhanced logistics services.
Solving planning problems at a major OEM
Powerful software tools are available to make sure that strategic and operational planning decisions can be made effectively, with the result that many benefits may be achieved.
Because of their ability to provide a business process wide perspective, these solutions are ideally designed to significantly enhance the value of the supply chain applications currently used within companies.
The SynQuest approach models the complexity of network-wide business processes.
It is designed to allow companies to address common business goals (including profitability and customer service levels) across multiple functions (such as holistically looking at sourcing, manufacturing and logistics).
The software uses breakthrough financial optimization technology to evaluate operational and financial constraints and consider tradeoff options to maximize profit while meeting customer requirements.
SynQuest software is designed to address the following business processes: Business Strategy Planning, which allows companies to make strategic business decisions about their supply chains by modeling and assessing income, expense and balance sheets to maximize profit.
Profit Margin Planning, which determines what sales and marketing, and resource allocation plans will maximize the supply chain's margin contribution.
Inbound Logistics Planning, which determines how to organize the flow of inbound materials from suppliers and into assembly operations for lowest total delivered costs, considering transportation, handling and inventory carrying cost impact.
Complex Order Planning, which determines how to promise and coordinate orders across a multi-tiered or virtual supply network for maximum profit and reliable delivery.
Manufacturing Planning, which determines how to plan, execute and control orders in a real-time production environment for the fastest, most reliable and lowest total cost results possible.
"We listened to our customers, including HON Industries, Hayward Pools, Ford and Honda Express, and learned that to get the dramatic improvements in profits and customer service demanded, SCP solutions must be designed to support critical business processes end to end and explicitly maximize profit," said Tim Harvey, SynQuest president.
"Solving part of the problem, or bolting together silo-oriented SCP applications that have conflicting objectives and no understanding of the total financial impact, doesn't get the job done." Product Line Profitability Analysis is a new feature in the business strategy planning solution that is designed to allow companies to analyze the profit and loss trade-offs that exist between supply chain capabilities, customer service policies and revenue potential for every brand, product, channel and customer region.
The software, initially targeted for consumer durables and automotive markets, is designed to allow companies to understand how to change customer service policies and demand generation programs to maximize profit.
For example, a consumer durables company may be losing millions of dollars in profits because it does not know which products sold through what sales channels and that markets are actually creating losses given the company's current customer service strategies.
Returnable Container Planning has been added to inbound logistics planning software as a feature designed to allow companies to determine the optimal number of returnable containers and balance their investment costs versus other inbound costs, such as inventory carrying, freight and handling costs, as part of their inbound logistics plans.
Industry analysts say that optimizing returnable container investment represents a multi-billion dollar opportunity for the automotive industry.
"In the end, OneWorld (Honda Express) decided on SynQuest for its ability to balance inventory, transportation costs, and container costs.
The last one was probably one of the keys to winning the job.
Few people outside the automotive industry understand the investment automotive companies make in containers and the systems in place to get those containers to the right docks and lines," according to Kevin Prouty, Research Director, AMR Research.
"Container costs rival the parts cost in many cases.
OneWorld felt that the IPE (Inbound Planning Engine) was one of the only tools that took into consideration the massive investment in containers and allows realistic balancing of inventory costs against returnable costs." Advanced Supplier Collaboration is a new feature in the complex order planning software.
With just a name and a password, trading partners can directly input their capabilities, such as inventory availability or price, directly into the supply chain order planning process.
This Internet-based software can dramatically improve the results and speed of collaboration by eliminating much of the back and forth collaboration that exists because traditional collaboration does not understand the trading partner's capabilities.
Finished Vehicle Scheduling is also new in the complex order planning application and allows automotive OEMs to plan the delivery of each, unique vehicle (VIN) for lowest total delivered cost.
Finished Vehicle Scheduling is designed to plan the shipment of automobiles or trucks from assembly line to dealer, taking into account requirements such as postproduction processes, delivery priorities and seasonal constraints while minimizing total delivery costs.
Trim Optimization has been added to the manufacturing planning software as a feature designed to allow packaging and printing companies to optimize roll stock yield for the lowest cost, while meeting customer shipment dates.
Typically managed as a separate system from a scheduling application, Trim Optimization is integrated into the production scheduling system to minimize scrap, but not at the expense of the customer ship date.
Calibration has been added to the entire SynQuest suite as a feature designed to allow companies to baseline their existing supply chain operational and financial performance.
Now companies can quantify and track the benefits received through optimization technology and make changes within the supply chain.
Calibration uses unique SynQuest financial optimization technology to portray all relevant portions of a company's income and expense statement as they exist before optimization takes place to serve as a benchmark.
Contingency Planning has been added to the entire SynQuest suite as a feature designed to allow companies to rapidly react to disruptions or dramatic shifts in demand within the supply chain.
Using the SynQuest scenario management capability, companies can develop, analyze and implement alternate plans to get their business back on track or quickly take advantage of short-term business opportunities.
SynQuest specializes in providing supply chain planning software that is designed to significantly reduce manufacturing and logistics costs and, at the same time, enable companies to meet customer requirements.
SynQuest software uses financially focused technology to solve specific, high-value supply chain problems for target markets including automotive, consumer durables and industrial manufacturers.
The company's supply chain planning solutions feature rapid implementation for a fast, compelling return on investment.
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