"Predictive Commerce" Helps Companies Return to Growth

ATLANTA and BOSTON, April 15, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Supply chain planning and optimization software partners, ToolsGroup and ORTEC, are delivering a joint solution for Predictive Commerce, a new strategy to innovate the way companies think about managing customer demand and supply chain performance to deliver business value. Predictive Commerce connects upstream demand sensing with downstream supply chain planning and execution, all in a single model.  

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Many companies are finding that their existing systems aren't helping them sense demand and manage multiple demand signals to maximize revenue and profitability downstream.  "The slow-growth global economy is placing greater pressure on supply chain executives," wrote Gartner research vice president, Steve Steutermann. "There is a growing realization that to meet these objectives requires more than a step-level change in supply chain capabilities and is the primary driver in the significant level of transformation we are witnessing in Consumer Products." (Consumer Products Industry Supply Chain Outlook, February 28, 2014)

ORTEC and ToolsGroup have partnered to provide an innovative technology that helps companies boost their existing supply chain planning capabilities. The two firms are leveraging their optimization capabilities to capitalize on upstream growth opportunities, and downstream cost savings. Further, this provides near real-time decision making from demand through logistics optimization.  The result is a dynamic replenishment process that supports decision making based on reliable trade-offs to deliver the required customer service levels at least cost.

Costa Express, the UK's largest and fastest growing coffee shop brand, was an early adopter of Predictive Commerce technology. At Costa, machine telemetry feeds real-time data for demand sensing and replenishment from 3000 self-serve coffee locations to achieve demand-driven auto-replenishment. The use of real-time downstream data drove better inventory, replenishment, transportation and warehousing decisions that enabled Costa to cut field stock by 20 per cent and scale their business without adding headcount.

In another example, Predictive Commerce enabled a Top 5 global retailer to achieve multi-channel order fulfilment and segment products to maximize demand sensing and sales, including innovating their Home Delivery and In-Store objectives.  Immediate benefits included realizing end-to-end supply chain visibility, increasing capacity utilization, and automating dynamic replenishment, resulting in an estimated annual savings of ~20%.

Predictive Commerce is enabling this transformation by connecting supply chain strategy, planning and execution, which exist today for many organizations in technology and business process silos, into an end-to-end planning process.

• Strategic functions can include network design, business scenario planning and product flow optimization
• Planning functions can include demand modelling, demand sensing, promotion optimization, multi-echelon inventory optimization and predictive ordering
• Operational functions can include order fulfilment load building, transportation route optimization and warehouse execution

In a joint statement, ORTEC North America President Jeff Wilson and ToolsGroup North America General Manager Pat Smith said: "Predictive Commerce is all about helping companies return to growth by connecting upstream demand sensing with downstream supply chain planning and execution all in a single model."

The two companies will be discussing their solution at the Gartner Supply Chain Executive Conference 2014 taking place May 20 – 22 in Phoenix, Arizona (www.gartner.com/technology/summits/na/supply-chain).

About ORTEC
ORTEC is a leading provider of global logistics solutions and services. Our team specializes in helping companies meet big data analytics and optimization challenges in the areas of vehicle fleet routing and dispatch, pallet loading, workforce scheduling, demand driven transportation forecasting, and dynamic network planning ORTEC offers both Windows and SAP® certified and embedded solutions in the cloud. ORTEC was named winner of the 2012 Franz Edelman Award for Operations Research Excellence with TNT Express. ORTEC has over 1,750 customers and 700 employees, worldwide.

About ToolsGroup
ToolsGroup is a global provider of "Powerfully Simple" market-driven demand analytics and supply chain optimization software. Reliable behind-the-screen technology and scalable statistical models supported with machine learning technology, enables highly intelligent data-driven decision making, combined with ease of use. Our customers overcome volatile demand and challenging supply chains through a proprietary demand model that generates accurate forecasts and outstanding customer service levels with less global inventory. ToolsGroup's capabilities span key supply chain planning areas such as Demand Forecasting and Collaboration, S&OP, Demand Sensing, Promotion Forecasting and Multi-Echelon Inventory Optimization.

SOURCE ToolsGroup