(SCP) is the process of anticipating the demand for products and planning their materials and components, production, marketing, distribution and sale. Its overall goal is to balance supply and demand so sales revenue opportunities are fully exploited in a timely manner and at the lowest possible cost.
We’re in the midst of a surreal, accelerated, and notably awkward period of supply chain planning. Last year, 55% of companies downgraded their growth outlook, with 94% admitting that they were experiencing significant supply chain disruptions. There’s a microscopic lens hovering above supply chain management that demands smarter, faster, and more purpose-driven planning and management strategies.
Software Solutions are only as good as what you get out of them. StockIQ improves your bottom line, and gives you happier customers. Following are benefits your solution should provide:
- Reduce Stock-outs: By accurately forecasting your items and setting statistically based safety stocks, stock outs are reduced.
- Improve Service Level: By using StockIQ to stratify your inventory based on factors most important to you, you can ensure that you have the right parts in the right places to hit your service level goals.
- Reduce Planning Cycle Time: Gone are the days of only being able to do your purchasing once a month. StockIQ allows daily optimized purchasing for maximum responsiveness to a dynamic world.
- Improve Operations: By providing standard tools with best practices built in, StockIQ helps get everybody working most efficiently towards optimizing your inventory. Eliminate Stock-outs, eliminate excess, and reclaim warehouse space for more products or clients.
- Reduce Inventory: Experience has shown that distributors, manufacturers and 3PL's alike can enjoy 10-35% reduction in inventory levels, all the while improving service level.
Your supply chain planning solution should focus on answering the below questions.
- What are we going to sell? StockIQ's advanced generates accurate, sensible forecasts that you can rely on to anticipate upcoming demand. Enhance the automatic forecast with insight from sales and marketing, and note special events in the past to maximize forecast accuracy.
- What do I need to buy? StockIQ's replenishment engine handles any scenario you might encounter - short lead times, long lead times, demand patterns, special pricing, supplier minimums, container loading and more. Planners create their orders with a few button clicks, and StockIQ handles the rest.
- What haven't I shipped/sold? StockIQ exposes dead inventory so that it can be dealt with, so you can make room for items that will bring in more profit.
- What are we out of? StockIQ prioritizes stock-outs and projected stock outs by lost sales or revenue per day, so you can target the most important shortages first.
- What are my most important items? With advanced, multi-dimensional ABC and XYZ inventory stratification, StockIQ allows you to define target service levels and slotting approaches for the items in each warehouse, and for each shipper.
- How much do I need? StockIQ's sophisticated, statistically based methods for calculating Safety Stock allows you to define safety stock, target stock, and max inventory levels.
- Am I meeting service level targets? By tracking orders and shipments, StockIQ gives you immediate visibility to service level and fill rate performance for your items, shippers, sites, and buyers.
- Is my inventory turning? Distributors, 3PL's, and Manufacturers alike live by their inventory turns. If it's not turning, it's not making money. StockIQ highlights items that are furthest from their target turns, so you can investigate and fix the solution.
If you have been struggling with supply planning, that’s ok — we’re here to help! Reach out and today, as we have been working in the supply chain industry for years. We have seen it all, and can help you avoid the common pitfalls of inventory management.
