Acumen Solutions helped a Fortune 100 Global equipment manufacturer that sells products across multiple distribution channels including OEM stores, distributors, and more.

The company needed a way to reduce the lack of visibility between their manufacturing and supply chain organizations. This limited visibility between the two organizations made it difficult to ensure the right products were manufactured and delivered to the right customers.

Business Challenge

As a leading global equipment manufacturer, it’s important to have an accurate and manageable sales forecast. At the time, the company’s sales forecast was cumbersome and imprecise. Their existing forecasting process required manual data entry and relied on information contained in spreadsheets that had very little version control. This issue, coupled with inaccurate short term sales forecasts, were resulting in inaccurate demand and excess inventory, leading to a loss in profit.

Solution

To address these challenges, Acumen Solutions conducted blueprint and vision sessions with the company’s executives to define current and prospective business objectives. Once the goals were defined, our consultants delivered a role-based solution to manage the demand cycle with formal notification cycles and shortened the order entry process. They also enabled the sales forecast to display the Short Term Forecast monthly for up to 27 months ahead, and the Long Term Forecast annually for up to 10 years. The new system retains data on actuals, orders, and business plans for -12 months to +27 months, making it easier for individuals to track and analyze their data.

Return on Investment

Since Acumen Solutions' implementation of the role-based solution, this global manufacturing company has seen a 7.5% increase in operating income. Their total profits have grown $4.2M due to improved sales forecasting accuracy. They have realized a $2.6M reduction in inventory carrying costs and a $0.3M reduction in expedited freight cost.