Smart Software wins inventory optimization opportunities with retail hardware and service parts distribution operations
Belmont, Mass., January, MMXII, – Smart Software, Inc., provider of industry-leading demand forecasting, planning, and inventory optimization solutions, announced that two Latin American companies, Volvo Parts in Mexico, and Preca in Venezuela, purchased its flagship product, SmartForecasts®. Both customers are using the software’s patented intermittent demand forecasting capabilities to optimize their inventories, reduce costs, and improve service levels. Smart’s Partner defined and configured both solutions, supported successful implementations, and is providing ongoing training and customer support. Volvo Parts and Preca join manufacturing and retail customers already using SmartForecasts in Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Panama, and Venezuela.
Volvo Parts uses SmartForecasts for its distribution center in Toluca, Mexico, that supports the company’s Mexican dealer network with parts for the truck and bus markets. A large percentage of the parts they carry experience intermittent demand, the slow-moving, seemingly random consumption of inventory that is especially challenging to forecast, and for which SmartForecasts is especially well suited. Volvo is using SmartForecasts to define optimal stocking levels and reorder points and share the information with its in-house inventory management system, SWISS, and its QAD MRP system.
With the help of Smart Software Volvo implemented SmartForecasts in a very short period of time. In the seven months since then, Volvo has been able to reduce its safety stock 30%, while simultaneously increasing its fill rate by 10% and improving customer service by 25%.
“SmartForecasts has enabled us to accomplish significant inventory cost savings and improvements in customer service,” said Frank De Clercq, procurement and customer service manager with Volvo. “In Mexico we are charged a penalty if we can’t deliver a part to one of our customers. The increase in fill rates has reduced those costs and contributed directly to increases in revenue. One of our goals was to get the proper inventory mix, and SmartForecasts has helped us stock more of the parts we need and reduce our inventory in other areas.”
Preca is the largest retail hardware chain in Venezuela. It operates fifteen (15) retail locations, and sells building, construction and home improvement products to the building trades and consumers. Intermittent demand is a significant challenge for Preca as well.
The retailer purchased SmartForecasts as a first step in a corporate-wide supply chain optimization project. With the help of GOTSA, Preca has integrated SmartForecasts with its in-house SQL Server-based planning systems to generate accurate forecasts and optimize inventories. Preca utilizes SmartForecasts to evaluate demand at the store level and roll up forecasts and stocking recommendations to the corporate replenishment system. The result has been better communication with the retailer’s suppliers and improved availability at the store level.
“If we do not have an item in our stores, our customers will go somewhere else to get it,” commented Jose Francisco Lozada, Preca’s Demand Planner. “With the improvements to our forecasts and inventory planning that SmartForecasts enabled, we have been able to reduce safety stock by 20% while also reducing stock-outs 35%. This has helped us grow our sales 15% in the past year. This ability to manage our inventory better contributed to our recent decision to expand our business to new locations.”
SmartForecasts gives demand planners the tools to handle sales seasonality, promotions, new and aging products, multi-dimensional hierarchies, and intermittently demanded service parts and capital goods items. It also provides inventory managers with accurate estimates of the optimal inventory and safety stock required to meet future orders and achieve desired service levels. It integrates with Oracle, Microsoft SQL Server, and IBM DB2, and virtually any ERP or supply chain planning system including solutions from SAP, Microsoft, PeopleSoft, Sage and Epicor.
About Smart Software, Inc.
Founded in 1981, Smart Software, Inc. is a leader in providing businesses with enterprise-wide demand forecasting, planning and inventory optimization solutions. Smart Software’s flagship product, SmartForecasts, has thousands of users worldwide, including customers at mid-market enterprises and Fortune 500 companies, such as Metro, APS, and Disney. SmartForecasts gives demand planners the tools to handle sales seasonality, promotions, new and aging products, multi-dimensional hierarchies, and intermittently demanded service parts and capital goods items. It also provides inventory managers with accurate estimates of the optimal inventory and safety stock required to meet future orders and achieve desired service levels. Smart Software is headquartered in Belmont, Massachusetts and can be found on the World Wide Web at www.smartsoftware.com
SmartForecasts is a registered trademark of Smart Software, Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.
For more information, please contact Smart Software, Inc., Four Hill Road, Belmont, MA 02478.
Phone: 1-800-SMART-99 (800-762-7899); FAX: 1-617-489-2748; E-mail: info@smartsoftware.wpengine.com