Archive for the ‘Jim Piermarini’ Category

Change is hard.

Collapsed Souffle

In the businesses that I help, change comes for several reasons. It may be thrust upon the business from the outside, a change in the competitive landscape for instance, or a new regulation.   It may come from some innovative source within the company, looking for cost savings to increase profitability of productivity, or a new process or product with increased productivity. Change can come from the top down, or from the bottom up. Change can come in a directed way, as part of a larger program, or organically as part of a larger cultural shift.  Change can come that makes your work easier, or harder, and may even eliminate a portion (or all) of the job that you were doing. Change can come to increase the bottom line or the top line. But primarily change comes to continue the adaptation of the company to the business environment.  Change is the response to the Darwinian selector for businesses.  Adapt or decline. Change is necessary.  It is clear to me from my experience that businesses need to change to stay relevant.

This may seem trite or trivial, but accepting that change is not only inevitable, but that it is good, is the shift in attitude that separates the best companies (and best employees) from the others.

So, you say, I see the need to change, it is not the change itself that is so difficult, but rather the way that it is inflicted upon us that makes it hard.  So, why does it have to be so hard?  Good question.

Effective managers know that change is necessary but hard. They are wary of making changes, and rightly so.  Most change projects fail. People generally just don’t like it.  Netflix is a great example.  Recently, Netflix separated their streaming movie service from their DVD rental business. After what I am sure must have been careful planning, they announced the change, and formed Quikster, the DVD rental site, and the response from the customer base was awful. As you likely know, Netflix, faced with the terrible reception from their customer base and stockholders, reversed their decision to separate streaming from DVDs. What was likely planned as a very important change, failed dead. Dead, dead, dead. Change can be risky too.

If change is necessary, but hard and risky… how can you tame this unruly beast?

The secret of change is that it relies on three things: People, Process, and Technology. I name them in the order in which they are important.

People are the most important agents relative to change, since they are the one who decide on the success or failure of the change. People decided that the Netflix change was dead. People decide all the time about whether to adopt change. And people can be capricious and fickle. People are sensitive to the delivery of the change.  They peer into the future to try to understand the affect it will have on them, and if they do not like what they see…  It is the real people in the organization who have to live with the change, who have to make it work, and learn the new, and unlearn the old. It is likely the very same people who have proudly constructed the current situation that will have to let go of their ‘old’ way of doing things to adopt to the new. Barriers to change exist in many directions in the minds of people.  I know this to be true… in making change happen, if you are not sensitive to the people who you are asking to change, and address their fears and concerns, the change will never be accepted.  If you do not give them a clear sense of the future state and where they will be in it, and why it is a better place, they will resist the change and have a very high likely hood of stopping the change, either openly, or more likely passively and quietly, and you may never know why the fabulously planned for change project failed.

Process is the next aspect of a change project that matters.  A better business process is what drives costs down. Avoiding duplication of efforts, and removing extra steps. Looking at alternatives in a ‘what-if’ manner, in order to make better decisions, these are what make businesses smarter, faster, better.  A better business process is like getting a better recipe for the kitchen. Yet, no matter how good a recipe; it still relies on the chef to execute it and the ovens to perform properly. Every business is looking for better business processes, just as every Chef is looking for new recipes.   But putting an expert soufflé recipe, where the soufflé riser higher, in the hands of an inexperienced Chef does not always yield a better soufflé.  People really do matter more than the process.

Technology is the last aspect of the three that effect change. Better technology enables better processes. A better oven does not make a Chef better.  The Chef gets better when they learn to use the new oven in better ways, when they change the way they make the soufflé, since the oven can do it.  A better oven does not do it by itself.  An oven is just an oven. In the same way, better technology is still just technology.  It by itself changes nothing.  New processes can be built that use it, and people can be encouraged to use it in the new process.  Technology changes are the least difficult to implement, and it is likely due to this fact that they are often fixed upon as the simple answer to what are complex business problems requiring a comprehensive approach to changing the business via it people, process, and technology.

Nice Souffle

Change is necessary, but hard and risky. Without change businesses will miss opportunities to adapt to the unforgiving business world, and decline. However, change can be tamed if the attitude towards it is changed to be considered a good thing, and is addressed with a focus on people, process and technology, in that order.  Done right, you can implement the change that will increase the bottom line and avoid a collapse of your soufflé.

This article written by Alan Kosansky and Jim Piermarini was originally published in Supply Chain Brain.

More than a decade has passed since businesses started using Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) for managing data and transactions throughout the supply chain. Traditionally, ERP systems have provided transparency and insight into transaction-level data in the supply chain that support important business planning activities. Now, a new generation of applications is being developed to help fill the gaps between general business planning and business-specific, tactical and strategic decisions. These ERP-connected applications offer supply chain executives previously unavailable analysis and insights into the decisions that directly impact customer service, profitability and competitive advantage.

Supply Chains Differences

Supply chains are as different as the companies and people that run them. Some companies view their supply chain operations as a “utility” that is expected to function without any investment in intellectual capital. These organizations are content to rely on industry best practices in their supply chain operations and follow the leaders (or the features that are added by ERP software providers) in supply chain improvement. Other organizations see their supply chain operations as a strategic opportunity to develop a competitive advantage and increase market share. They know that with some small departures from the norm and a modest investment in intellectual capital, supply chains can provide enhanced performance to the business. These companies understand that there are opportunities for creative and unique ideas in the supply chain to improve company performance and achieve business strategy objectives.

Today, many C-level executives see their ERP systems as key enablers to company productivity, and for the most part, they are correct. Since ERP systems perform many valuable functions, there is a natural assumption that they can handle whatever business strategy the company adopts. However, new business ideas by definition run the risk of stressing the ERP system features beyond their ability to cope. Usually these failures are discovered only during the implementation of a new business strategy. So what happens when the ERP system fails to support the new business strategy in certain critical details? Those working in the trenches know this scenario all too well. But, what can be done to implement strategic supply chain initiatives when ERP is not equipped to handle business-specific initiatives?

Making the ERP Work

There are three possible approaches for implementing supply chain planning activities that offer a company a competitive advantage:

1. Figure out how to get the ERP system to do it. This approach works well if the company’s needs align well with current industry practices supported by ERP systems. Otherwise, companies may find themselves going down a path that consumes significant resources for a poor fit in the end. Companies that adhere to this path typically do so in part because there is a strong C-level edict in favor of simple, clean upgrades for the ERP system. Faced with this, the IT organization has enormous power to shape the nature of the supply chain operation to fit within the established ERP norms, and thus can act as a barrier for business innovation and supply chain improvement.

2.Modify the ERP system to provide new functionality. This is an approach often promoted by IT organizations committed to supporting the fewest number of tools. While this is an important cost management objective, it is important to understand the full cost to implement and support the system over the long term. What can be accomplished is often limited by the lack of flexibility in large ERP systems and IT organizations. Since ERP systems are mission-critical systems, the support and maintenance of the core functions are of paramount importance. This task, placed on a limited IT staff, leads to large backlogs of enhancement work and long queue times. And while IT departments are well-equipped to manage their primary assets, few if any IT departments have the requisite domain knowledge to cross over into supply chain optimization. Given long wait times, organizations will often choose the simplest approximation of the business change that can be ushered to the top of the queue. This approach can result in a quick-fix style of strategy implementation, rather than a priority-based feature development, and may leave the most important aspects of the initiative lingering in the queue.

3. Add an integrated solution to the ERP system that replaces one or more functions that are needed to achieve the business strategy. This could be from an out-of-the-box third-party provider, or for full competitive advantage, a targeted or custom supply chain application that integrates with the company’s ERP data. This approach has the benefit of including priority-based features that the current ERP system lacks, and the additional benefit of avoiding the ERP enhancement queue. The downside, however, is that it suffers from the stigma of being yet another application and not the ERP system itself. This usually presents a hurdle that requires a careful analysis to understand the total cost relative to the strategic benefit. While not all business changes will overcome this roadblock, there are good reasons to look at this approach. These include:

• Ensuring a tight fit between the business strategy and the tool execution
• Minimizing the cost, overhead, and extra setup and maintenance in un-needed functions from a shrink-wrapped general purpose tool
• Providing the marketplace with a specialized and unique operation of the supply chain for competitive advantage.

Example from the Field

A leading consumer electronics company with about $2bn in annual sales implemented an integrated solution to its ERP system to manage its order fulfillment process for competitive advantage. The company had recently modified its corporate strategy to increase retail sales through its “big box” customers (Walmart, Best Buy, Staples, etc.). However, key service level agreements were not being met for these customers due to lower than expected order fulfillment measures. A simple inventory analysis recommended large increases in the stock required at the warehouse, with some method of segregating inventory for each big-box customer so it could not be taken by orders from other customers.

In this case, one of the leading causes of low service for customers was that they ordered “just-in-time”. These JIT orders were not being given any priority over other customers’ orders with longer lead times. The company noted that these important customers may have provided accurate plan information, but that was not being used to assure them any better service. The analysis recommended that separate stocks of inventory be set up based on the big-box planning information, and that other customers not be allowed to take from those inventory locations. This would result in a large increase in overall stocks, but should achieve the desired increase in service levels.

One manager questioned this recommendation, wanting to know why the ERP system did not use the big-box planning information to appropriately manage the company’s service levels. She also questioned what could be done to avoid increasing her inventory risk and yet still achieve the business strategy. This is a question many managers face when their analysts say that to improve service you need to increase inventory levels. Often there are alternatives. This key manager’s insight set the path for her company to make a significant shift in their supply chain operations, with remarkable benefits. What follows will answer the question: Can I raise the service level of my key customers without increasing my inventory and capital risk? The short answer is, “yes”. Significant service benefits and risk reductions can be achieved, but only if you are willing to deviate from your ERP’s standard approach to implementing key supply chain initiatives.

The industry standard approach for assigning available inventory to open orders is to use a FIFO (first in, first out) approach. This approach prioritizes orders based on when the order was received and assigns on-hand inventory to those orders that were received and entered into the system first. While this approach has a degree of fairness to it, and is available in all ERP systems, it did not align well with the business objectives of this company. It actually penalized key customers who issued JIT purchase orders while giving ample planning information. These JIT orders would have to wait until all the older orders, from non-key customers, were allocated before they would be assigned any inventory.

The standard ERP process does not take into consideration the customer’s strategic importance or their planning information. Given this FIFO process, the internal recommendation makes sense: set up separate safety stocks for each big-box customer (based on their planning information), in separate inventory locations, and make a rule that directs big-box orders to their separate inventory.

But having separate safety stocks violates the principle that more customers need lower inventory together, than each does individually. Pooling the inventory helps to avoid unnecessary capital risk. The standard ERP FIFO inventory assignment process could be replaced with one that met customer needs more effectively.

The company embarked on a project to take into account several important factors when deciding how much inventory to assign to each order:

• The priority of the customer
• The amount of inventory actually in the sales channel of the customer, and
• The planning information that the customer shared with the company.

Customer priority is a key and strategic factor in deciding which customers receive product, when inventory availability is limited or delayed. This business need meant that strategic and high-volume customers should typically be serviced before others. However, this may not be the case if a strategic or high-volume customer happens to be sitting on a lot of inventory in their channel. In these cases, it may be preferable to share the wealth with smaller volume resellers to maximize the sell-through to retail customers. Moreover, these rules may apply differently for each SKU in a manufacturer’s product line.

The business rules to implement these sorts of complex trade-offs can get complicated. If one wants to retain a certain amount of flexibility in these rules, then the ERP system is a poor place to make these decisions. However, since most, if not all, of the data resides in the ERP system, these decisions must be tightly integrated with the data and transaction handling within the ERP system. So an application was constructed to manage the inventory assignment process in this way to more closely match the business strategy. The new application is run several times a day, extracting needed info from the ERP system, making the assignment of inventory to all open orders, and sending back the info to the ERP system.

Using this integrated solution, overall service levels for these key customers were sharply increased, prompting several supply chain awards from these big-box customers. As a result of the increase in service level, Walmart (a strategic customer) was so pleased they chose to increase their orders of all this company’s products by 100 percent. The overall inventory did not increase.

The new method demonstrated that pooled inventory was an effective approach to containing inventory levels. In subsequent versions of this application, the integration of point of sale data has allowed even more control over the inventory in the various channels to market. As a result, this company has declared this application a business-critical application. It overcame the hurdle, and the application can defend its spot on the chart of critical business applications alongside the ERP system.

Integrated Solution Success

Using an integrated solution to the ERP system was a win-win approach that allows the business the flexibility to manage order fulfillment for competitive advantage while maintaining the benefits of centralized data and the strong transactional handling capabilities delivered by ERP.

But order fulfillment is not the only area where there is opportunity to supplement the strengths of ERP with flexible and powerful business optimization processes and tools. Other areas where leading companies have decided to enhance their ERP capabilities include optimization-based infrastructure planning, sales and operation planning, distribution route and territory planning, transportation bid optimization, transportation fleet planning, and production scheduling.

These are just some examples of where complex and/or strategic business rules can provide competitive advantage through improved supply chain performance. While ERP systems remain the backbone of all successful large business operations today, they are not the only path available to companies who desire to apply innovative approaches to their business and supporting supply chain activities. Global enterprises that seek a competitive advantage now have the opportunity to leverage their ERP investments by integrating optimization-based solutions to key business strategies.

At Profit Point we are in the ‘Science of Better’, and we are always looking for new ways to do business, both for our clients, and for ourselves.  When we started, we had the challenge of being a virtual company, that is, we have never had a corporate office space. Since 1995, each of us has always worked from home.  While there are numerous benefits of this style of company architecture, including having a family that actually knows who you are, and keeping the company’s overhead to a minimum, it also has its drawbacks. Like forcing each person to make the deliberate decision about when to start work, and harder still, when to stop work each day. We knew when we started this company that we wanted to keep our overhead costs low, so a virtual office seemed like the natural choice.

More recently, we have been faced with another challenge, how to reduce the cost of the projects we do. Projects in the supply chain business require a certain amount of industry and company specific knowledge.  Until recently, we had been building into our projects ample on-site time where the project team could gel and collaborate and build the trust that is needed for the free flow of ideas.  But the world has changed, and we have changed with it.   No longer are big travel budgets a normal part of the projects we see. So the challenge was: how to reduce the travel expense line item, without sacrificing the project speed or quality?

In the consulting business, there is sometimes no substitute for ‘face-time’.  So travel to the customer site perforce happens.  Over the course of the last 15 years, I have seen a marked drop in the amount of time that we need to travel, going from 60-70% a decade ago to less than 20% currently, and this has been brought about primarily by two factors: 1) Companies simply do not want to pay the travel expenses. Since 9/11, most major companies have been slashing their travel budgets, and expect their consultants to follow suit.  One particular project comes to mind where I had seen travel expenses that were as much as the consulting bill each month. But in general, we see pressure to reduce the travel expenses that are generated by projects across the board.  2) ‘Remote Touch’ Technology has provided the means to travel less.  There are some great remote desktop control tools that allow two or more people to have a telephone or VOIP conversation, and look at the same computer screen, to discuss and collaborate on ideas and tools.  These web based telephony and remote control tools have eliminated the need for travel to a greater extent than you might think.   Many of our projects today have only two face to face meetings, one to kick it off, and one to present the results or close it out.  Some of our clients are handled successfully without any face time. I must say though, that in our experience, low face-time projects only work well within the culture and language: that is, when language and culture barriers exist in the project team, face-time is the best way to bridge these gaps, and mitigate the risk of project overruns and delays.

In business, technology comes into being as a means to enable better business processes.  The processes that we use that are enabled by this remote touch technology includes an agile approach to solving business problems or developing software solutions.  We use several readily available web based tools every day in our business, and boy have they allowed us to reduce the travel expenses.  These include:

GotoMeeting.com

This is the best remote touch tool out there in our opinion.  Until a robust free app comes along, this will remain the best value for the money.  The best part of the app is the recent addition of the integrated VOIP, where you can use a head set (I would recommend the Logitech ClearChat PC Wireless Headset: http://www.logitech.com/en-us/webcam-communications/internet-headsets-phones/devices/4226) to join the integrated telecon line.  This has the advantage of freeing up your phone, and being instantly connected to the telecon as soon as you start it.  No more long telecon numbers with their passcodes! We use this many times every day, and it is the primary reason why we can travel less.

Box.net

This is a simple to use and secure web based file storage and sharing application that fosters and supports collaboration with people both in your company and externally.  We love this app, and my clients seem to as well.  Just drop a file into this app, and share it securely with anyone with an email address. Use it when email attachments just will not do, due to size limitations, or just when the email hassle is too much.

PivotalTracker.com

This is a terrific project management tool that is designed for agile projects, and makes it simple to create and manage user stories for tool development.  While inviting new members can be a hassle (since their email seems to get caught in many spam filters), once they are in, these folks have made a stellar user interface to manage the tasks in a project of nearly any size. Use it to track bugs too. We have done several projects using this tool. and we will be using it for many more.  Great tool.

TableauSoftware.com

If you like to look at data, like we like to look at data, then you will want to look at Tableau.  You can think of it like a pivot table / chart on steroids.  You open it, connect to you data, (whereever or what ever data you’ve got, it can connect to it), and then you start to explore your data like you’ve never been able to before. Like a pivot table, you can drag and drop fields, aggregate data along dimensions,  and make sums, etc, but the really cool part of Tableau is the part where it suggests new ways of the looking at the data.   Go ahead, make maps, heat charts, time phased graphs, whatever.  Then you can assemble the graphs into a dashboard. Dashboards are the best.  Want to see a ton of data distilled down into a very compact visually stunning view suitable for management? Get a copy of Tableau, and you can make that view in minutes.

Used appropriately, these tools, and others like them, have enabled us to travel less, and work faster and better. (and more!)

If you have other great apps like these that enable better business processes, I would love to hear about them.

Did you miss Jim Piermarini talk at CSCMP about Logitech’s supply chain distribution methodology? For those that are interested, we are posting the slide deck here for your review. To download the complete presentation click the image below:

To learn more about how Profit Point can help you improve your inventory fulfillment, contact us here.

CSCMP’s Annual Global Conference is in full swing and a couple of our team members are on-site in San Diego.

Jim Piermarini will be speaking at the event tomorrow along with Michele Hermann, the VP of Global Operation Solutions for Logitech.  Please stop by and hear Jim and Michele talk about our efforts to help Logitech improve its supply chain and inventory. You can find the full details below.

And, if you’d like to meet up with Jim at any other time during the conference, you can send us a note here.

Logitech: A Better Way to Assign Inventory to Backlog Orders

Tuesday, 9/28, 3:30 pm to 5:00 pm

• Learn techniques to control assignment of inventory to backlog orders.
• Gain an understanding of the challenges of replacing enterprise resource planning (ERP) functions with offline decision systems.

Michele Hermann, Vice President Global Operation Solutions, Logitech
Jim Piermanni, Chief Executive Officer, Profit Point, Inc.

Jake works in customer service, and the phone rings… It has been a long day already, but he is happy when the phone rings, so he says:

“Hello, this is Jake at Western Chemical Resupply. How can I help you?”

“Hello, Jake, this is Paul, I need to order some pool supplies for my pool business.” says the voice on the other end of the line.

This is great, no problem. After getting Paul’s customer information, he asks:

“So I typically order 150 units of the new chlorine product to start the season, and I am opening my store in a few weeks. Do you have any in stock?” Read the rest of this entry »

Profit Network 4.5 enhances visibility for decision makers and extends modeling capabilities to handle the world’s largest supply chains.

North Brookfield, MA (PRWEB) February 4, 2010 — Profit Point, a leading Supply Chain Optimization company, today announced the introduction of Profit Network 4.5, a major upgrade to their award-winning supply chain network design and modeling software. The software update includes a combination of new features and technical enhancements which combine to support richer scenario testing for larger supply chains over a longer time periods.

“With almost 10 years in the field, Profit Network has been put to the test against some of the world’s largest supply chains,” noted Jim Piermarini, Profit Point’s Chief Technology Officer. “But best practices have expanded over time, so decision makers are looking for more integrated and comprehensive modeling solutions.”

Profit Network 4.5, which is used by many Global 2000 companies to model supply chain plans, has been enhanced to integrate better capital planning, greater control over facilities decisions and improve tracking and modeling of sustainability initiatives. The modeling software now includes improved options for integrated capital spending, facilities decisions, natural resource planning and emissions mitigation.

“Ultimately, the number one priority for our customers remains capital planning and return on investments” said Piermarini. “A company’s infrastructure plan will dictate 80% or more of future costs. So, we added several features that help analysts understand the capital impact of decisions to control costs and maximize the long-term logistics benefits.”

The software update also includes several technical enhancements to improve planning for the largest supply chains, over longer periods of time. “We’ve added a new core optimization process into Profit Network 4.5,” stated Piermarini. “Customers will now have 50% more addressable memory capacity, which will yield deeper visibility in to larger networks and the long term tradeoffs that are being modeled.

To learn more about Profit Network and Profit Point’s supply chain software, visit www.profitpt.com.

About Profit Point:
Profit Point Inc. was founded in 1995 and is now a global leader in supply chain optimization. The company’s team of supply chain consultants includes industry leaders in the fields infrastructure planning, green operations, supply chain planning, distribution, scheduling, transportation, warehouse improvement and business optimization. Profit Point’s has combined software and service solutions that have been successfully applied across a breadth of industries and by a diverse set of companies, including Dow, The Coca-Cola Company, General Electric, Logitech, Sealed Air, Bridgestone and Toyota.

This month’s issue of U.S. Business Review features a supply chain article entitled Balancing Act: Cost, inventory and service in a volatile economy. The article, which was co-authored by Profit Point’s CEO/CTO, Jim Piermarini, and the company’s Senior Account Manager, Cindy Engers, discusses solutions for preserving customer service levels, while reducing costs and inventory risks.

Profit Point’s order fulfillment application reduces inventory write-offs and warehousing costs while maintaining service requirements.

Profit Point, a leading supply chain optimization company, today announced the introduction of Profit Fulfillment, a robust and highly-configurable software tool to help business managers determine an optimal backorder fulfillment and product shipping schedule.

“Just-in-time manufacturing has seen significant growth in the past 15 years, but the challenge of balancing inventory, backlog and service levels persists,” noted Jim Piermarini, Profit Point’s Chief Technology Officer. “Our clients were looking for a solution to help analyze these trade-offs and after real-world testing, we have a cost-effective solution that enables business managers to improve their distribution processes immediately.”

Profit Fulfillment can improve any distribution channel, but it is particularly useful when there are backlog orders to multiple customers, and it is important to determine which customers should get their orders filled immediately and on time, and which customers should enter the backlog queue and for how long. Ensuring that order fulfillment and shipment scheduling departments are executing designated functions consistently with a company’s overall business objectives can have a significant impact on profitability and customer satisfaction.

“Our clients include high-demand, short-cycle product manufacturers as well as more traditional long-cycle manufacturers,” said Piermarini. “And with unpredictable economic conditions, it was essential that we design this application to be highly configurable.”

Profit Fulfillment enables distribution managers to optimize order fulfillment processes consistent with a company’s overall strategic business objectives. It allows decision makers to prioritize customers, implement complex allocation rules amongst customers, dynamically change the allocation rules by region or segment of customers and minimize total backlog days across all customers, or over specific customer segments. And, the application provides forward-looking visibility to quickly and easily view the impact of different allocation rules on customer order fulfillment.

To learn more about Profit Point’s supply chain software and services, visit www.profitpt.com.

About Profit Point:
Profit Point Inc. was founded in 1995 and is now a global leader in supply chain optimization. The company’s team of supply chain consultants includes industry leaders in the fields infrastructure planning, green operations, supply chain planning, distribution, scheduling, transportation, warehouse improvement and business optimization. Profit Point’s has combined software and service solutions that have been successfully applied across a breadth of industries and by a diverse set of companies, including The Coca-Cola Company, General Electric, Logitech, Rohm and Haas and Toyota.

Jim Piermarini Recognized for Ability to Turn Supply Chain Managers in to Supply Chain Heroes

North Brookfield, MA (PRWEB) March 27, 2009

Profit Point, the leading supply chain optimization company, announced that CEO, CTO and Founder Jim Piermarini has been named a 2009 Supply & Demand Chain Executive “Provider Pro to Know.” Supply & Demand Chain Executive, the executive’s user manual for successful supply and demand chain transformation, announced the ninth-annual listing of Pros to Know in its February/March 2009 issue.

“This year’s Provider Pros to Know have shown themselves to be thought-leaders in their respective supply chain segments,” said Andrew K. Reese, editor of Supply & Demand Chain Executive. “Their efforts in developing the tools and processes that enable companies to weather risky economic conditions and place them in a position to surge ahead in better times have earned them a place on this year’s Provider Pros listing.”

The Supply & Demand Chain Executive Provider Pros to Know is a listing of individuals from a software firm or service provider, consultancy, or analyst or research firm who have personally helped clients during the current economic downturn by assisting them in managing risk in the supply chain, providing competitive advantage and/or delivering value to the bottom line.

“I am honored to be recognized by Supply & Demand Chain Executive as a Pro to Know,” said Piermarini. “I believe this award is a reflection of Profit Point’s team and our collective ability to deliver practical solutions to complex supply chain decisions. Our unique combination of supply chain expertise and software, enables us to make heroes out of our clients, especially in these economic uncertain times.”

Profit Point’s supply chain optimization services provide clients with clear, actionable guidance that accounts for the many what-if scenarios facing their businesses in these uncertain economic times. By optimizing the supply chain network design, Profit Point’s clients are able to recoup millions of dollars in annual operating costs.

To learn more about Profit Point’s supply chain software and services, visit www.profitpt.com.

About Profit Point:
Profit Point Inc. was founded in 1995 and is now a global leader in supply chain optimization. The company’s team of supply chain consultants includes industry leaders in the fields infrastructure planning, green operations, supply chain planning, distribution, scheduling, transportation, warehouse improvement and business optimization. Profit Point’s has combined software and service solutions that have been successfully applied across a breadth of industries and by a diverse set of companies, including Rohm and Haas, Dole Foods, Logitech and Toyota.

About Supply & Demand Chain Executive:
Supply & Demand Chain Executive is the executive’s user manual for successful supply and demand chain transformation, utilizing hard-hitting analysis, viewpoints and unbiased case studies to steer executives and supply management professionals through the complicated, yet critical, world of supply and demand chain enablement to gain competitive advantage. On the Web at www.SDCExec.com.

Contact:
Richard Guy
Profit Point
(866) 347-1130

http://www.profitpt.com

Profit Point’s data integration and scheduling optimization services deliver reliable results with reduced operations costs.

North Brookfield, MA

Profit Point today announced that its Profit Data Interface^TM software has been selected by Rohm and Haas Company (NYSE: ROH) to integrate its scheduling processes with the company’s ERP data warehouse. The company, which last reported nearly $9 billion in annual sales, produces innovative products for nine industries worldwide through a network of more than 100 manufacturing, technical research and customer service sites. Optimizing and supporting the production and distribution scheduling across this network is a complex and ever-changing process.

“Rohm and Haas has a history of improving our operations to enhance customer service levels and reduce cost,” said Dave Shaw, the company’s Business Process Manager for MFG and Supply Chain. “Production scheduling, which entails constant change to meet demand, is one of the toughest challenges in the supply chain. In the past, the lack of a reliable data interface has limited our ability to react quickly and with a high degree of confidence in our results. Profit Point’s Data Interface software has given us near real-time access to highly reliable data, so we can respond quickly and know that our plan is right.”

Profit Data Interface is a robust application that helps decision makers boost the effectiveness of their ERP data by extending its usefulness with optimization applications. By leveraging existing ERP systems, the software provides a robust and proven method that supply chain managers can rely upon to optimize their critical business processes and improve profitability.

“Rohm and Haas is a recognized leader in the chemicals industry with a reputation for supply chain excellence,” said Jim Piermarini, Profit Point’s CEO. “We have supported their scheduling processes for years. So, it was clear that the next evolution was to directly connect their optimization software to the date store using our Data Interface product.”

Profit Data Interface, which integrates with SAP® and Oracle® data stores, can be used to optimize the entire supply chain including network planning, production and inventory planning, distribution scheduling, sales planning and vehicle routing.

To learn more about Profit Point’s supply chain software and services, visit www.profitpt.com.

About Profit Point:
Profit Point Inc. was founded in 1995 and is now a global leader in supply chain optimization. The company’s team of supply chain consultants includes industry leaders in the fields infrastructure planning, green operations, supply chain planning, distribution, scheduling, transportation, warehouse improvement and business optimization. Profit Point’s has combined software and service solutions that have been successfully applied across a breadth of industries and by a diverse set of companies, including General Electric, Dole Foods, Logitech and Toyota.

About Rohm and Haas Company:
Leading the way since 1909, Rohm and Haas is a global pioneer in the creation and development of innovative technologies and solutions for the specialty materials industry. The company’s technologies are found in a wide range of industries including: Building and Construction, Electronics and Electronic Devices, Household Goods and Personal Care, Packaging and Paper, Transportation, Pharmaceutical and Medical, Water, Food and Food Related, and Industrial Process. Innovative Rohm and Haas technologies and solutions help to improve life every day, around the world. Visit www.rohmhaas.com for more information.

Contact:
Richard Guy
Profit Point
(866) 347-1130
http://www.profitpt.com

Green Network software is recognized for its role in helping to build environmentally sustainable businesses.

Supply & Demand Chain Executive magazine honored Profit Point, a leading supply chain optimization company , with a 2008 Green Supply Chain Award. The company and its Green Network supply chain design software was recognized as a Green Supply Chain Enabler. Profit Point is showcased with other award winners in the latest issue of Supply & Demand Chain Executive.

Profit Point has been delivering supply chain optimization services and software to Fortune 500 companies for more than a decade. Earlier this year, the company introduced Green Network when it recognized that its clients needed a robust tool to account for and optimize away manufacturing waste, such as industrial pollutants and green house gas emissions.

“Profit Network software has been helping large companies around the world build more robust and profitable supply chains for more than 10 years,” said Jim Piermarini, Profit Point’s CTO. “From our clients’ perspective it makes sense to incorporate environmental byproducts in to the network design to evaluate opportunities and costs and conduct scenario testing in advance of these critical infrastructure decisions.”

The company’s software products are now used to help companies manage the tradeoffs associated with environmental resource constraints, such as limited water supplies in developing countries. Profit Point’s transportation and distribution clients achieve more efficient territory planning and vehicle routes, which mitigates unnecessary fuel consumption and carbon dioxide emissions.

The Green Supply Chain Awards recognize small, midsize and large organizations that are taking steps to realize eco-efficiency goals. Submissions were judged based on the clarity and content of each program’s goals and strategy, the extent of the steps being taken, the impact of the results to date and projected results, and the form and presentation of the information submitted.

“We are honored to be recognized by Supply & Demand Chain Executive for our focus on sustainability and we’re delighted to play a role in helping business managers define and reach environmental sustainability objectives across their supply chain,” said Alan Kosansky, President of Profit Point. “We look forward to any opportunity to help create a more sustainable business environment.”

To learn more about Profit Point’s supply chain software and services, visit www.profitpt.com.

About Profit Point:
Profit Point Inc. was founded in 1995 and is now a global leader in supply chain optimization. The company’s team of supply chain consultants includes industry leaders in the fields infrastructure planning, green operations, supply chain planning, distribution, scheduling, transportation, warehouse improvement and business optimization. Profit Point’s has combined software and service solutions that have been successfully applied across a breadth of industries and by a diverse set of companies, including The Coca-Cola Company, General Electric, Logitech, Rohm and Haas and Toyota.

Profit Point’s territory planning and vehicle routing applications now tailored to meet the needs of both small and large companies.

Profit Point, a leading supply chain optimization company, today announced the introduction of Profit Vehicle Planner (PVP) and Profit Vehicle Router (PVR). PVP, a sales and distribution application designed to service large, nationwide operations, includes territory and cycle planning tools, as well as vehicle routing functions. PVR is designed for businesses that need to optimize their vehicle routing, but do not need the territory and cycle planning features that are included in PVP.

“Many people don’t realize that recent advancements in supply chain technology now allow low cost integration of sophisticated mapping tools to make daily planning activities fast and easy,” noted Jim Piermarini, Profit Point’s Chief Technology Officer. “Rising fuel prices have put pressure on every distributor. By combining advanced optimization algorithms with today’s mapping tools, our clients are able to make significant cost reductions while improving customer service levels.”

Profit Point’s PVR software is a streamlined route optimization tool that enables complete distribution analysis by daily routes. PVP includes all of the features of PVR and adds a number of territory planning functions to meet the needs of regional, national and international distributors. Both products are designed to reduce equipment and fuel costs, overtime pay and increase the volume of product delivered per driver.

“Delivery costs represent a significant percentage of our overall distribution expenses,” said Ken Burkey, Logistics Manager of DS Waters. DS Waters is the U.S. leader in home and office water delivery, including 26 manufacturing facilities which delivers to millions of homes, offices, retailers across the country. “Profit Point’s software and optimization expertise has enabled our company to easily reengineer our distribution plan to cuts costs and improve customer service.”

Learn more about Profit Vehicle Planner and Profit Vehicle Router.

Leading supply chain consulting firm’s entire line of optimization software is now capable of quickly and easily leveraging SAP’s robust ERP data warehouse.

North Brookfield, MA (PRWEB) August 25, 2008 — Profit Point, a leading supply chain optimization consulting firm, today announced the introductions of Profit Connect, an interface that bridges its line of optimization software applications with SAP’s enterprise resource planning (ERP) applications. With more than 46,000 customers worldwide, SAP is the ERP software of choice for thousands of medium and large businesses. By combining SAP’s central data store with Profit Point’s supply chain optimization software, business managers are now able to gain increased visibility to improve the quality of their critical business decisions.

“Historically, data availability and integrity have been the biggest challenge facing business managers that seek to improve their business operations,” stated Alan Kosansky, Profit Point’s President. “Compatibility with the universe of SAP’s real-time data enables our clients to use our industry-leading business optimization tools with easy access to the universe of SAP data.”

Profit Point’s entire line of supply chain optimization software, which includes tools to improve network design, production and distribution planning, scheduling and vehicle routing, is designed to help manufacturing and distribution managers improve the decisions they make using advanced optimization algorithms and proven supply chain methodologies. By leveraging existing ERP systems, Profit Point’s software provides a robust and proven method that supply chain managers can rely upon to optimize their critical business processes and improve profitability.

“In recent years, we have seen our clients increase their use and reliance on SAP for data management,” said Jim Piermarini, Profit Point’s Chief Technology Officer. “We saw an opportunity to access this data store, so that our clients could easily and accurately aggregate data for their optimization projects and increase the frequency of these business improvement efforts.”

Profit Connect solves the data integration challenges by providing an easy, direct bridge to SAP’s data store. Using Profit Point’s SAP-compatible software, business managers can now avoid data duplication and distortion, improve efficiencies and customer service, cut operational costs and improve decision making through accurate analysis and proven optimization techniques.

To learn more about how Profit Point’s supply chain software can help improve your profitability, contact us here:

(866) 347-1130 or
(435) 487-9141

Send us an Email

Swire Beverages, the largest Coca-Cola bottling and distribution franchise in Mainland China will employ more Profit Point infrastructure planning software licenses.

North Brookfield, MA (PRWEB) May 7, 2008 — Profit Point today announced that its Profit Network^TM infrastructure planning software, already in use for 3 years to optimize Swire Beverage’s distribution network throughout China, will be expanded to cover the needs of the operations. Swire Beverages is an anchor bottling franchise of The Coca-Cola Company with bottling operations in 7 provinces in Mainland China, Taiwan, Hong Kong and 10 states in the U.S. The Mainland China market is experiencing significant growth in demand for its products, which has in turn increased pressure on its bottling operations. Sales volume increased 20% in 2007 to exceed 500 million unit cases for Swire Beverages’ Mainland China operations. The population in Swire’s Mainland China territory is over 400 million. Swire will rely upon Profit Point’s proven network optimization software to model infrastructure plans, test projected demand scenarios and maximize its return on infrastructure investments.

“Executing our Customer Service Policy is essential in Mainland China,” said Douglas Holland, Swire’s General Manager of Sales Operations in Mainland China. “Our infrastructure decisions must support the fast changing conditions in the marketplace. Our significant volume shifts by geography and by channel, create a daunting task for our operations to keep pace. And our distribution network design must be based upon clear visibility into our projected growth scenarios and the related impact on our distribution network. With our use of the tool Profit Network, we are able to develop least cost or most profit scenarios from our raw materials suppliers all the way through to our end retail outlets, including support for deciding when we should distribute our products via indirect channels, such as wholesalers and 3rd party distribution partners.”

Profit Network is a robust application that helps decision maker optimize their supply chain for maximum profitability. The proven optimization tool is a stand-alone planning software package that is used to analyze the placement and location of production facilities, distribution centers, and warehouses over a multi-period planning horizon. The system is often used to help firms restructure their supply chains after mergers, periods of rapid growth and in anticipation of geographic or product preference shifts in the market.

“Infrastructure planning for a rapidly-growing operation like Swire is an extremely important process and involves significant mid and long-term investments,” said Jim Piermarini, Profit Point’s CEO. “The infrastructure solutions that we develop using Profit Network will allow Swire to make effective management decisions, reconfigure bottling operations as demand shifts, implement new business processes and realign resources.”

Although the resource investments in value chain network design are significant, the return from an implementation of an optimized infrastructure study can be substantial. “We knew that the choices that we were making today will have a long-term impact on our business success, which is measured, both from a customer service level and cost perspective,” said Holland. “Profit Point brings a compelling combination of optimization software and training experts which allow us to effectively manage the process and gain the greatest benefit from our network design. We initially selected and implemented Profit Network in 2005 focusing mostly on Distribution. Today and in the future we are adding more resources into the Profit Network enabled process to incorporate our entire value chain including manufacturing capacity planning, production line and plant locations.”

About Profit Point:

Profit Point Inc. was founded in 1995 and is now a global leader in supply chain optimization. The company’s team of supply chain consultants includes industry leaders in the fields infrastructure planning, green operations, supply chain planning, distribution, scheduling, transportation, warehouse improvement and business optimization. Profit Point’s has combined software and service solutions that have been successfully applied across a breadth of industries and by a diverse set of companies, including The Coca-Cola Company, General Electric, Rohm and Haas and Toyota.

About Swire Beverages:

Swire Beverages has the franchise to manufacture market and distribute the products of The Coca-Cola Company in Hong Kong and Taiwan, 10 states in the USA and seven provinces in Mainland China. This represents a total franchise population of over 440 million. Swire Beverages is recognized as one of a select group of strategic business partners of The Coca-Cola Company known as the “Anchor Bottlers”. Swire works closely with The Coca-Cola Company on brand development and marketing.

To learn more about how Profit Point’s supply chain consultants can help optimize your supply chain, contact us here:

(866) 347-1130 or
(435) 487-9141

Send us an Email

Profit Point, a leading supply chain optimization firm, announces the introduction of Green Network, a green supply chain network design application.

North Brookfield, MA (PRWEB) April 4, 2008 — Profit Point, Inc., a leading supply chain optimization consultant, today announced the release of Green Network, a supply chain network design application that empowers a supply chain manager to gain visibility in to the trade-offs they will face when designing a green supply chain. Built upon proven technology, Green Network extends the company’s Profit Network application by enabling supply chain managers to include any number of environmental byproducts, including carbon dioxide, nitrogen oxide, particulates, and wastewater, in to the analysis process. The user can also manage total energy consumption or the type of energy consumed (coal, natural gas, hydroelectric, thermal, wind, etc.) in the design of the supply chain.

“Many of our clients have expressed a strong interest in greening their supply chains to meet the growing demand by consumers,” said Alan Kosansky, Profit Point’s President. “Designing a sustainable supply chain is becoming a significant priority for our clients, but not at any cost. The key to building a sustainable supply chain comes in truly understanding the trade-offs that are faced by decision makers.”

Green Network was designed as an out-growth of Profit Network, an industry-leading supply chain network design software system. Profit Network is a robust, yet cost-effective tool that helps companies of all sizes optimize their supply chain for maximum profitability.

“Profit Network software has been helping Fortune 500 companies around the world build more robust and profitable supply chains for more than 10 years,” said Jim Piermarini, Profit Point’s CTO. “By leveraging our work in Profit Network, we were able to build a powerful tool that accounts for environmental impact and profitability.”

In addition to Profit Network and Green Network, Profit Point’s line of supply chain software also includes Profit Vehicle Router, a system for optimizing transportation routing, Profit Distribution Scheduler for easy production and distribution scheduling and Profit Meeting Scheduler, a sophisticated conference scheduler used by major trade organizations.

For additional information about Profit Point’s supply chain design and optimization software and consulting services, contact Richard Guy or visit www.ProfitPt.com.

About Profit Point:

Profit Point Inc. is a supply chain consulting firm founded in 1995 and is now a global leader in supply chain optimization. The company’s team of supply chain consultants includes industry leaders in the fields infrastructure planning, green operation, supply chain planning, distribution, scheduling, transportation, warehouse improvement and business optimization. Profit Point’s has combined software and service solutions that have been successfully applied across a breadth of industries and by a diverse set of companies, including The Coca-Cola Company, General Electric, Rohm and Haas and Toyota.

Contact:

Richard Guy
Profit Point
(866) 347-1130

Download the new article about the “The social side of the supply chain” co-authored by Alan Kosansky and Jim Piermarini from Amazon.com here.