Smart Software to Present at Epicor Insights 2021
Smart Software President and CEO to present Epicor Insights 2021 Breakout Session on Creating Competitive Advantage with Smart Inventory Planning and Optimization
Belmont, MA, June, 2021 – Smart Software, Inc., provider of industry-leading demand forecasting, planning, and inventory optimization solutions, today announced that it will present at Epicor Insights 2021.
Greg Hartunian, CEO of Smart Software, will present “Creating Competitive Advantage with Smart Inventory Planning and Optimization.” Greg will explain how to empower planning teams to reduce inventory, improve service levels, and increase operational efficiency. Most inventory planning teams rely upon traditional forecasting approaches, rule of thumb methods, and sales feedback on demand. Our Breakout Session at Epicor Insights discusses these approaches, why they often fail, and how new probabilistic forecasting and optimization methods can make a big difference to your bottom line.
- The presentation is scheduled for Wed July 14th 10:25 -11:15 AM (PST)
Epicor Insights 2021 will bring together more than 2,000 users of Epicor’s industry-specific ERP solutions for the manufacturing, distribution, and service industries. To learn more, visit INSIGHTS 2021.
Join us at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas, at the Solution Pavilion, Booth #1.
Smart Software is an Epicor Platinum Partner and leading provider of demand planning, forecasting, inventory optimization, and analytics solutions. Our web platform, Smart IP&O, leverages probabilistic forecast modeling, machine learning, and collaborative demand planning to optimize inventory levels and increase forecast accuracy. You’ll use Smart IP&O to create accurate forecasts and optimal stocking policies that drive automated ordering in Epicor. The platform includes bi-directional integrations to both Epicor ERP and Prophet 21.
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 demand forecasting and inventory optimization solutions have helped thousands of users worldwide, including customers at mid-market enterprises and Fortune 500 companies, such as Otis Elevator, Mitsubishi, Siemens, Disney, FedEx, MARS, and The Home Depot. Smart Inventory Planning & Optimization 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.smartcorp.com.
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@smartcorp.com
Smart Software has been named an Epicor platinum partner, the highest designation in the ISV Partner Program
Smart Software named an Epicor platinum partner, the highest designation in the ISV Partner Program
Belmont, Mass., January 2020 – Smart Software is pleased to announce that it has been named an Epicor platinum partner as a leading provider of demand planning and inventory optimization solutions. Epicor ERP customers leverage Smart’s web native platform for Inventory Planning and Optimization (Smart IP&O) to develop consensus forecasts, manage demand, and optimize stocking policies.
“Smart Software helps Epicor ERP customers by delivering business analytics for inventory modeling and forecasting. Having too much or not enough inventory are costly problems that typically require a great deal of manual planning and costs. Using Smart IP&O, our customers are able to automate manual planning processes, forecast demand more accurately, and shape inventory strategy to align with the business objectives.” notes Jennifer Schulze, VP Product Marketing, Epicor
Smart Software’s certified bi-directional integration to Epicor ERP makes all transactional data in Epicor such as shipments, sales orders, supplier receipts, inventory on hand, and more, available in Smart IP&O’s data model for analysis. Smart IP&O leverages field-proven analytics, probabilistic modeling, and the latest advancements in forecasting technology to predict future demand, prescribe optimal stocking policies, and identify opportunities for operational improvement. Users can transfer forecast results, order quantities, and stocking policies to Epicor ERP in a few mouse-clicks.
Greg Hartunian, CEO of Smart Software stated “In today’s supply chain, traditional forecast modeling, rule of thumb inventory planning approaches, and Excel spreadsheets just don’t cut it anymore. It’s no longer enough to simply manage your inventory. Customers leveraging Smart IP&O are better able to effectively wield inventory assets, improve their operations, lower costs, improve customer service, and outperform the competition. We look forward to continuing to work closely with Epicor to help our joint customers achieve these key benefits.”
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 demand forecasting and inventory optimization solutions have helped thousands of users worldwide, including customers at mid-market enterprises and Fortune 500 companies, such as Otis Elevator, Mitsubishi, Siemens, Disney, FedEx, MARS, and The Home Depot. Smart Inventory Planning & Optimization 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.smartcorp.com.
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@smartcorp.com
Smart Inventory Planning & Optimization to be Showcased at Epicor Insights
Belmont, Mass., May 14 – Smart Software, Inc., provider of industry-leading demand forecasting, planning, and inventory optimization solutions, today announced that Epicor Software will present Epicor Smart IP&O, a joint solution for inventory planning, forecasting, and optimization at Epicor’s annual customer conference in Nashville, TN from May 21 – 24 . Smart Software will also be on hand to profile the solution in booth # 5 in the Solutions Pavilion.
Smart Software and Epicor’s collaboration brings the cloud-based Smart IP&O (Inventory Planning and Optimization) into the latest version of the Epicor enterprise resource planning (ERP) solution. Smart Software’s Chief Technology Officer, Sree Menon states “it’s no longer enough to simply manage inventory. By seamlessly integrating strategic planning with operational execution, Smart IP&O enables Epicor ERP users to continuously predict, respond and plan inventory helping lower costs and improve service.”
The Epicor Sales Engineering team will demonstrate Epicor Smart IP&O in two sessions:
“Introducing Epicor Smart Demand Planning & Inventory Optimization”
Thursday, May 24 at 8:00 AM
Tennessee Ballrom B
“Moderniza las Operaciones de tu Cadena de Suministro con la Plataforma Epicor Smart Inventory Planning and Optimization”
Thursday, May 24 at 10:20 AM
Ryman Studio H/I
Epicor Insights 2018 will bring together more than 3,000 users of Epicor’s industry-specific ERP solutions for the manufacturing, distribution, and service industries. Customers who attend will have dedicated education tracks focused on their specific products and solutions, plus more opportunities to network across products and industries. To learn more, visit https://www.epicor.com/customers/insights/default.aspx
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 demand forecasting and inventory optimization solutions have helped thousands of users worldwide, including customers at mid-market enterprises and Fortune 500 companies, such as Otis Elevator, Mitsubishi, Siemens, Disney, FedEx, MARS, and The Home Depot. Smart Inventory Planning & Optimization 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.smartcorp.com.
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@smartcorp.com
Too Much or Too Little Inventory?
Do you know which items have too much or too little inventory? What if you knew? How would you go about cutting overstocks while still ensuring a competitive service level? Would you be able to reduce stockouts without incurring a prohibitively expensive inventory increase? How would these changes impact service levels, costs and turns—for individual items, groups of items and overall?
Most companies know they have too much or too little inventory but lack a key ingredient for optimizing inventory: Service Level-Driven Demand Planning. To take action, you must know how much inventory is needed to satisfy the service level you require. More fundamentally, you need to know the specific service level that will result from your current inventory policies, the gap to be addressed and its financial implications.
Many organizations, especially those with intermittent demand, find this to be an exceptionally challenging trial and error process.
Moving to a service level-driven approach will overcome this challenge and ensure that rebalancing inventory improves service level performance at a lower cost. Start with the most accurate demand forecast possible, calibrate for forecast risk and then determine your optimal inventory position. In a recent webinar, I demonstrated Service Level-Driven Demand Planning and how SmartForecasts can be used to drive this process:
1. Measure the service levels that will be achieved at current inventory levels and with your current inventory policy.
2. Identify items that will achieve high service levels (98%+) but at prohibitively high cost.
3. Identify items that are at high risk of stockout (service levels < 75%).
4. Run multiple what-if scenarios based on a different prioritization of service levels by item or item groups. Choose the scenario that optimizes financial constraints with service objectives.
5. Quantify cash savings from reducing overstocks and the costs to increase inventory when service levels are unacceptably low.
6. Take action to establish new service level-driven reorder points, order quantities and inventory levels to meet your service targets and budget.
To view the webinar replay, please click here and complete the registration request.
Gregory Hartunian serves as President of Smart Software and as a member of the Board of Directors. A graduate of The F.W. Olin School for Business at Babson College, he formerly served as Vice President, Sales and Operations.
You know the situation: You work out the best way to manage each inventory item by computing the proper reorder points and replenishment targets, then average demand increases or decreases, or demand volatility changes, or suppliers’ lead times change, or your own costs change.
Inventory optimization has become an even higher priority in recent months for many of our customers. Some are finding their products in vastly greater demand; more have the opposite problem. In either case, events like the Covid19 pandemic are forcing a reexamination of standard operating conditions, such as choices of reorder points and order quantities.
To make the right decision, you’ll need to know how demand forecasting supports inventory management, choice of which policy to use, and calculation of the inputs that drive these policies.The process of ordering replenishment stock is sufficiently expensive and cumbersome that you also want to minimize the number of purchase orders you must generate.
Smart Software to Help New Jersey Transit Improve Inventory Planning and Service Parts Availability
Belmont, Mass., June 13, 2013 – Smart Software, Inc., provider of industry-leading demand forecasting, planning, and inventory optimization solutions, today announced that New Jersey Transit (NJT) has purchased Smart’s flagship product, SmartForecasts®, for its rail and bus operations as part of a company-wide service improvement and inventory reduction program. NJT is the nation’s third largest provider of bus, rail and light rail transit, and links major points in New Jersey, New York and Philadelphia.
NJT will use SmartForecasts to forecast parts consumption and inventory stocking requirements for its 40,000 active spare and service parts, valued at more than $100 million. Much of NJT’s inventory experiences erratic, intermittent demand which is especially difficult to forecast and can lead to significant over- and under-stocking of critical parts. Early results with SmartForecasts indicate the potential for substantial savings and service level improvements, once full-scale implementation is complete.
Smart Software will implement the NJT project in two stages. The first stage will focus on using SmartForecasts to identify immediate short term benefits for key groups of parts, as well as measure the likely long term benefits for NJT. In the second stage, SmartForecasts will be integrated into the day-to-day planning environment at New Jersey Transit.
SmartForecasts offers unique, patented statistical solutions to forecast intermittent demand, a particularly challenging aspect of service parts management, as well as a complete suite of automated forecasting and planning methodologies. By automatically identifying the right method for each part, SmartForecasts can significantly reduce the amount of inventory required to meet a defined level of service.
“We have had several very strong successes helping transit systems improve their parts inventory planning and provide better service to their customers with better parts availability,” said Nelson Hartunian, CEO of Smart Software. “Organizations like New Jersey Transit are looking for ways to help them reduce their costs without negatively impacting customer service. With ridership trending up, this is ever more important. We look forward to helping NJT achieve its goals.”
About New Jersey Transit
NJ TRANSIT is New Jersey’s public transportation corporation. Its mission is to provide safe, reliable, convenient and cost-effective transit service with a skilled team of employees, dedicated to our customers’ needs and committed to excellence. Covering a service area of 5,325 square miles, NJ Transit is the nation’s third largest provider of bus, rail and light rail transit, linking major points in New Jersey, New York and Philadelphia. The agency operates a fleet of 2,027 buses, 711 trains and 45 light rail vehicles. On 236 bus routes and 11 rail lines statewide, NJ Transit provides nearly 223 million passenger trips each year. In addition, the agency provides support and equipment to privately-owned contract bus carriers. For additional information about NJ Transit, click here.
About Smart Software, Inc.
Founded in 1981, Smart Software, Inc. is a leading provider of 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 Abbott Laboratories, Metro-North Railroad, Siemens, Disney, Nestle, Nikon, GE and The Coca-Cola Company. Smart Software is headquartered in Belmont, Massachusetts and can be found online at www.smartsoftware.wpengine.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
