Tuesday June 17 2:04 PM EDT
Company Press Release
Source: Logility Inc.
Bowman Distribution Chooses Logility For Inventory Forecast Solutions
Leading MRO Outsourcing Distributor Uses Logility for Demand, Replenishment Planning in North America and Europe
ATLANTA, June 17 /PRNewswire/ -- Bowman Distribution has selected Logility Planning Solutions for managing demand and replenishment within its facilities worldwide and at select customer sites.
``For the first time, we will have a worldwide view of demand and inventory, no matter where it's located,'' said Steven Franz, group controller for Bowman Distribution. ``We'll also be able to significantly reduce the error in our forecasts.''
Bowman Distribution is a $213-million distributor of maintenance and repair operations (MRO) products. It is a leading supplier of integrated supply services, which means that it handles the inventory and maintenance of MRO goods on-site at customer locations. Bowman will use the Demand Planning and Replenishment Planning components of Logility Planning Solutions to determine the optimum balance between customer service and inventory levels at both customer storerooms and its own distribution centers.
``Our existing mainframe solution was not sophisticated enough to handle that level of service,'' said Franz. ``We selected Logility Planning Solutions to help us respond rapidly to a marketplace that's changing very quickly. We will have the flexibility to centrally manage orders and inventories worldwide.''
Logility Planning Solutions replaces five non-integrated inventory systems within Bowman's North American and European operations. Logility's integrated suite of supply and demand solutions also are Year 2000-enabled, allowing Bowman to avoid an expensive problem facing other firms, according to Franz. Logility Planning Solutions even has the capability to manage the inventory sold off mobile vans servicing multiple sites, which is the primary method of delivery of MRO product in Europe.
According to Franz, an important feature of Logility Planning Solutions was the ability to reserve inventory for key customers. ``Previously, customers might have had to wait longer than we wanted to get their requirements satisfied,'' he said. ``Now, we will be able to easily ensure that products will always be available when our customers require them.''
Each module of Logility Planning Solutions has two key capabilities that facilitate ease-of-use and a rapid return-on-investment. One is pyramid-based insights that allow the entire organization to view one universal number at multiple levels of complexity. The other is the Enhanced Graphical User Interface (E-GUI(TM)) that supports ``intuitive management control'' and makes functions easy to learn.
Demand Planning offers the capability to reconcile demand history, orders, POS data and other data to produce comprehensive overviews of demand by item, location, customer and/or group. Replenishment Planning enables continuous replenishment policies such as Efficient Consumer Response (ECR) and Vendor Managed Inventory (VMI) with advanced constraint-based, time-phased planning. Other capabilities calculate the optimal balance between inventory quantities and desired levels of service, based on industry best practices.
The agreement is in addition to a substantial transaction American Software, Logility's parent company, signed with Bowman Distribution. For additional details, see the American Software release dated June 17, 1997.
Based in Cleveland, Ohio, since 1927, Bowman Distribution is a leading distributor of MRO products and services that meet the diverse needs of the industrial and transportation markets. Its diverse service offering ranges from system set-ups that are maintained by the customer to a fully integrated supply solution that is completely managed by Bowman.
Bowman's long-term market focus is on developing large, multi-site customers, especially in the railroad, pulp and paper, and electric utility industries, and servicing them with an integrated supply approach. With integrated supply, customers outsource all MRO functions to Bowman. These functions include purchasing, receiving, storeroom management, finance/bookkeeping, distribution and MIS.
Bowman was purchased by Barnes Group Inc. in 1964 and currently employs approximately 1,500 people worldwide. Barnes Group Inc., based in Bristol, Conn., is listed on the New York Stock Exchange (Symbol: B). It serves a broad range of industrial markets from more than 50 locations in seven countries and is the largest precision spring manufacturer in North America.
Headquartered in Atlanta, Logility Inc. develops, markets, installs and supports state-of-the-art applications that optimize operations throughout the value chain. Backed by a global sales and support organization and key industry partners, Logility Planning Solutions deliver advanced collaborative planning and synchronization between demand opportunities and supply constraints. Logility is proud to serve such customers as Eastman Chemical, Heineken USA, Mercury Marine, Pharmacia & Upjohn, Rayovac, Sony Electronics, Timex, VF Corp. and more than 350 other leading firms in multiple industries.
For more information, contact: Logility, Inc.; 470 E. Paces Ferry Rd., Atlanta, GA 30305. Phone: 800-762-5207, Fax: 404-238-8450 or Home page: logility.com.
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SOURCE: Logility Inc.
Contact: Lisa Henriott, Logility, 404-238-8306
It appears that Bowman is going to centralize the computer system they use to manage orders and inventory management.
Sorry it's such a long post.
Regards,
Gary |
