Strategic Planning
Today’s multi-level service supply chains are marked by wide variations in cost, lead-time and criticality of parts, increasing the difficulty of understanding service demand and determining appropriate stocking levels. Traditional forecasting and planning tools developed for a manufacturing environment do not address the intermittent, contract-driven nature of the service supply chain, and fail to capitalize on the revenue potential of good service.
MCA’s SPO™Strategic Planning uses proprietary, risk-based algorithms to model decisions that impact customer service, inventory investment and logistics, allowing companies to define optimal stocking levels, thereby increasing customer satisfaction while lowering costs and boosting profitability.
Capabilities
SPO Strategic Planning forecasts parts demand and determines optimal stocking lists and stocking levels to achieve maximum levels of service at the lowest possible cost. This component provides the following capabilities:
- Best forecasting technique selection to manage all demand types - intermittent, faster-moving, seasonal
- Composite forecasting which blends historical demand, installed base and service entitlements, and causal data based on data availability and product lifecycle stage
- Multi-echelon, multi-indenture optimization to determine what to stock, at what location, and at what level of the service BOM
- Optimal stocking levels across the extended network including customer, dealer, repair, and supplier locations
- Advanced network analysis and design
- Pooling and rationing of service inventory
- Contract coverage analysis
- Fill rate or availability-driven service levels with budget constraints
- Generation of actual field failure rates to provide feedback to product design
- Collaboration with customers to share information critical to managing the extended supply chain