Cloud Based Supply Chain Planning Suite

The Cloud Based Supply Chain Planning Suite by Saddle Point Technologies is a solution designed to enable supply chain digitization and optimize planning and operations. It is aimed at businesses of all sizes, including Fortune 500 companies. According to the vendor, this suite can be beneficial for Supply Chain Managers, Operations Managers, Logistics Managers, Procurement Managers, and Manufacturing Managers in industries such as Consumer Products, Pharma & Chemical, Auto Ancillary, Electricals & Lighting, E-Commerce, and Retail, helping them streamline their supply chain processes.

Key Features

Facilities Location Optimizer: According to the vendor, this feature allows users to plan and optimize the locations of suppliers, plants, distribution centers, and customer locations. It takes into account various cost elements and insights, including sunk costs, fixed and variable costs, and proceedings. Integrated with Google maps, users can visualize the optimized locations and perform what-if analysis for decision making.

Collaborative Demand Planner: The vendor states that this feature enables users to collaborate on demand planning and forecasting. It includes statistical forecasting methods for causal and time-series analysis, as well as an in-built algorithm for sporadic and intermittent demand. Users can also model New Product Introductions (NPI) using Alike and Graphical methods, plan promotions, and leverage integrated sentiment analysis for social media. The spreadsheet functionality makes it easy to use and manage.

Inventory Optimizer: According to the vendor, this feature allows users to optimize inventory levels based on SKU and location-specific requirements. It supports inventory planning for both multi-nodal and multi-echelon networks, considering factors such as demand and supply variability, service level agreements (SLA), and lead times. Heuristics- and Simulation-based algorithms help in determining optimal inventory levels. Integration with Demand Planning and downstream Planning modules ensures efficient inventory management.

Supply Network Optimizer: The vendor states that the Supply Network Optimizer feature optimizes the end-to-end functions of the supply chain using a global optimization engine. It considers various cost elements such as production cost, transportation cost, taxes, inventory cost, stock-out cost, and late delivery cost. This feature models different types of resources like production resources (both batch and discrete), transportation resources, handling resources, and storage resources to ensure an optimized supply chain network.

Dispatch Planner: According to the vendor, this feature maximizes truck utilization while meeting demand. It utilizes an innovative global optimization engine for multi-echelon and multi-node networks. Users can plan dispatches based on channel-specific and shelf life considerations. Demand sensing capabilities help in smoothing out short-term demand fluctuations. The planner also takes into account both fixed and variable transportation costs for efficient dispatch planning.

Procurement Planner: The vendor claims that this feature enables users to efficiently manage procurement processes. It includes quota management for suppliers, Minimum Order Quantity (MoQ) and Lot Sizing capabilities, and a supplier rating matrix based on quality, availability, and SLA adherence. Scenario planning with multiple versions of data allows users to evaluate different procurement strategies. The price negotiation feature further enhances procurement efficiency.

Production Planner & Scheduler: According to the vendor, this feature utilizes advanced algorithms based on Constraint Programming and Meta-heuristics to optimize production planning and scheduling. It enables adaptive planning to revise plans in case of new developments and ensures feasibility in every plan. Users can work with multiple Alternate Bills of Materials (BoM) and alternate routing options. The feature also allows for remodeling various parameters such as setup, changeover, teardown, quality check, order priority, and material lead time.

Global Optimized Order Fulfillment: The vendor claims that this feature operates on the entire supply chain network, not just one plant. It incorporates cost elements like production cost, transportation cost, taxes, inventory cost, and handling cost into the order fulfillment plan. Different types of resources such as production resources, transportation resources, handling resources, and storage resources are modeled to optimize order fulfillment across the network.

Vehicle Route Planner: According to the vendor, users can efficiently schedule routes for multiple supply and demand destinations with this feature. It caters to both pickup and delivery of orders and considers various vehicle types with weight and volumetric capacities. The planner takes into account waiting charges, loading-unloading costs, time windows, working days, and shifts. It ensures order fulfillment within the specified delivery window.

Container Load Optimizer: The vendor states that this feature optimizes the loading of various types of trucks, including open and closed trucks, based on dimensions and maximum capacity. It provides a user-based KPI dashboard to track details like demand satisfaction, volumetric and weight utilization of trucks. The 3D graphical representation of truck loading enhances visualization. Users can also perform scenario planning for what-if analysis to optimize container load utilization.