Challenges
MilliporeSigmaย is a leading life science and technology company that manufactures biochemical and organic chemical products and kits that are used in scientific research, biotechnology, pharmaceutical development and disease diagnosis. Its customers include life science companies, university and government institutions, hospitals and commercial labs. In the industrial area,ย MilliporeSigmaย markets stains, dyes, fragrances andย flavors.ย
With a large product portfolio,ย MilliporeSigmaย needed better global visibility in order to improve customer service levels, increase forecast accuracy and optimize inventory through a centrally controlled replenishment plan.ย
Managing an extensive portfolio
MilliporeSigma sells around 100,000 chemicals worldwide, equating to 300,000 SKUs stocked at 20 global locations.
Forecasting and inventory management complexities
MilliporeSigma forecasts more than 7 million items for 80,000 customers with multiple ship-to locations, often as very small volumes.
Global growth
Efficient demand and replenishment planning processes are imperative and need to support roughly 100 people all over the world.
MilliporeSigma Manages Complexity
Solutions
MilliporeSigmaโsย growth is mostly due to acquisitions in the fine chemicals, biologicals andย antibodies areas, and through expansion into new markets. Its central planning team works with any new locations to immediately deploy Logility in order to ensure a standard set of capabilities across the company.ย
MilliporeSigmaย replenishes globally on a dailyย basis, andย runs over eight million items through Logility overnight. โLogility keeps up with the pace of our business,โ said Jeff Killion, director of global planning atย MilliporeSigma. โThe ability to get orders in the same day gives us a huge competitive advantage. Our cycle time to our customers, particularly customers in Asia, is as good as, if not better, than any of our competitors.โย
Demand Planning and Optimization
Inventory Planning and Optimization
MilliporeSigmaย forecasts products by region, and at the customer level for bulk business. Approximately seven million items are managed through Logility at a very high accuracy level without any manual intervention. Other core items are โAโ items that the planning teamย has the ability toย tune. โThe flexibility to forecast at the customer level for some items, and forecast the bulk of the others systematically, was a huge advantage for us,โ explained Killion.ย
Logilityโs simulation capabilities have led to increased service levels forย MilliporeSigma. The company uses cost analysis to determine the potential dollar value of increasing the service level, by 10 percentage points, for example.ย MilliporeSigmaย is now better informed when making decisions andย is able toย not only improve service levels, but also meet budgets easily.ย
Initially, the flexibility and speed allowed by Logility to immediately optimize the entire supply chain by looking at factors such as ocean freight and lot sizes, and forecast accuracy was the biggest focus forย MilliporeSigma. Soon after, the company was looking for additional opportunities through Logility to take its supply chain to the next level. The company continues to increase customer service levels, optimize inventory and collapse cash-to-cash cycles. โLogility combines supply chain expertise with technology innovation and really fits the unique demands of our specialized business. There is no โsilver bullet,โ but Logility comes close, giving us tremendous flexibility and tangible payback,โ said Killion.ย
Results
With Logility,ย MilliporeSigmaย was able toย improve forecast accuracy for A, B and C items as well as customer bulk items, and leverage time-phased inventory policies to achieve desired serviceย levels. It has reducedย inventory via alternate sourcing and excess stock utilization, improvedย customer service levels, decreasesย cash-to-cash cyclesย and successfully optimizedย the entire supply chain.ย
