Introduction:
Procon, an industry leading pump manufacturer, uses Smart IP&O’s demand planning and inventory optimization modules from Smart Software to make sure they have the products their customers need, when they need them. You might not have heard of their products, but if you’ve ever eaten at McDonalds or sipped a coffee at Starbucks, you have been served by Procon. Procon’s broad portfolio of over 7,000 SKUs is supplied to more than 70 countries worldwide through their direct sales channel and an extensive distributor network. Procon operates manufacturing facilities in the US, Mexico, Ireland, and through a licensed manufacturing partner in Japan. We spoke with Procon’s Shankar Suman, Director of Sales, and Emer Horan, Global Supply Chain Manager, to learn more.
The Challenge
If Procon cannot ship a required product, their customers cannot ship theirs. Accurate forecasting is a key driver of supply chain success and customer satisfaction. Procon’s monthly planning establishes the consensus demand plan that drives procurement, production, and stocking policies. But they found they had a gap between sales and procurement, which historically led to missed deliveries and excess inventory. What Procon needed was a robust demand forecasting and inventory optimization tool that was easy to use, enabled collaborative planning with their sales team and partners, and integrated with their ERP system to drive procurement and production planning.
The Solution:
They found this in Smart IP&O, web-based platform for statistical forecasting, demand planning, and inventory optimization.
- Shankar Suman cited a broad mix of capabilities that convinced them to utilize Smart. Chief among them were:
- Smart Demand Planner supports the easy, orchestrated flow of information that yields an accurate consensus plan. Presenting performance history and statistical forecast by product, territory, and partner, SDP provide the sales team with perspective that they can complement – adjusting for expected opportunities or demand shifts.
- Forecast accuracy. Smart is an industry leader in statistical analytics, leveraging innovations developed over its forty-plus year history. This combined with robust forecast vs. actuals analysis helps Procon continually improve the quality of their forecasts.
- Transparent connectivity with Procon’s enterprise software, Epicor Kinetic. Daily sales and shipment data are automatically pulled into the Smart platform, fueling Smart’s forecasting engine, and results are easily pushed back to the ERP (MRP) via an API based integration to drive ordering and production planning.
Results:
Emer Horan explained how this plays out over the course of each month. Emer provides forecasts for each of their five sales managers, they meet to compare statistical and sales forecasts, and agree on a revised 12-month consensus plan. The sales managers have a good sense for the top accounts that represent 80% of revenue, often including direct input from customers themselves, and the statistical forecast fills in the gaps. Next month they use the forecast vs. actual analytics to help improve accuracy, then repeat the process.
“Our sales team is incentivized to maintain and improve sales forecast accuracy,” said Emer, “and we have the tools to help them succeed. This not only ensures optimal inventory levels but also contributes to improved on-time delivery and higher customer satisfaction.”
“Our journey with Smart Software has been quite remarkable,” added Shankar. “We began with an initial idea of the functionality and interface, and it has continually evolved from there. The Smart team has shown tremendous support and patience with our scope changes, delivering the product exactly the way we needed and wanted it. We have been using Smart for over three years now, and this journey is ongoing. We continue to receive excellent support from the Smart team and truly enjoy working with them.”
