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| Case Study |
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Global leader improves forecasting capability
with SAP APO |
Leveraging Patni's supply chain expertise, a global leader in manufacturing and distribution
of spices achieved a significant reduction in cost and maintenance while improving its
forecasting capability
The Client
The client is a global
leader in manufacturing,
marketing and
distribution of spices,
seasonings and flavors to
the entire food industry.
The Challenge
The IT landscape of the US operations of the client consisted of SAP R/3 as
the ERP solution, Logility as the supply chain management solution, and
Control-M as the infrastructure management solution. While the Logility
application was helping the client forecast demand for its products, the
application was not effective from the parameters of cost and functionality.
The existing Logility application had inadequate support for many
forecasting models such as sophisticated statistical forecasting model and
linear forecasting model.
Further, as each business unit such as Industrial, CPD and VMI maintained
their own instance of the Logility application, it resulted in an increase in
maintenance costs. This also contributed to an increase in batch schedules
as separate batch schedules had to be created for each business unit. As the
existing Logility application did not have the capability to generate reports
specific to certain scenarios, the organization had to rely on using an
external Crystal Reports application.
The Solution
With the objective to improve its forecasting ability and lower maintenance costs,
the client decided to replace the Logility application with SAP APO. SAP APO was a
logical choice as the organization had already gone live with other modules such as
SNP (Supply Network Planning) and PPDS (Production Planning and Detailed
Scheduling).
Before embarking on implementing the forecasting feature for SAP APO, Patni
performed a detailed analysis of the client's business needs across all the three
different units, and identified the gaps in the existing solution. Based on this
assessment, a solution architecture was created by keeping in mind the
organizat ion's business needs, data volumes, and reporting requirements.
This was followed by creating a comprehensive Business datawarehouse. For
fulfilling the reporting needs, Patni leveraged BeX Analyzer which was part of SAP
APO. BeX Analyzer was used as a front-end to generate ad hoc reports to facilitate
the forecasting process and develop a set of standard BW reports such as Forecast
accuracy reports, pricing reports, sales reports, undersell reports, oversell
reports, rolling forecast report, and upcoming quarter reports.
The current IT landscape comprises of SAP BW system 2004s integrated with SAP
R/3 4.6C and APO 3.0.
The Technology
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ERP: SAP R/3
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SCM: SAP APO |
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BW: SAP BW |
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The Benefits
By replacing Logility with SAP APO, the client has lowered the cost of
administration and maintenance, while improving control and
efficiency. Some significant benefits include:
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Ability to support different forecasting models such as sophisticated
statistical forecasting model and linear forecasting model |
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Improved forecasting as demand planners can factor in exceptions
and make changes in the forecasting model |
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Significant reduction in cost and complexity as the entire
infrastructure is based on SAP |
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Cost savings of $2,30,000 a year due to replacement of Logility
application with the existing SAP APO application |
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Improved business productivity and efficiency based on integrated
business process and system architecture. |
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