Aspen Pet Products Boosts Fill Rate, Keeps Inventory Low

Pet care company implements Logility solutions to improve inventory management, forecast accuracy

Pet care company implements Logility solutions to improve inventory management, forecast accuracy

Atlanta — August 3, 2004 — Pet care specialist Aspen Pet Products has implemented supply chain solutions from provider Logility as part of an initiative to improve inventory management, forecast accuracy and collaboration, resulting in improved fill rates at its central distribution facility.

Privately held Aspen Pet offers a variety of pet care products under such brands as Booda, Cider Mill, Snuffy's and Buckaroo. Originally based in Aspen, the company now operates out of its home base in Denver, where it has a state-of-the-art, 34-dock distribution facility.

Aspen implemented Logility's Voyager Demand Planning, Inventory Planning and Voyager Collaborate solutions in less than five months. Voyager Demand Planning reconciles demand history, orders and other information to produce overviews of demand by item, location, customer and/or group.

In addition, Voyager Inventory Planning calculates the optimal balance between inventory quantities and desired levels of service based on industry best practices, and Voyager Collaborate uses Internet-based supply chain collaboration techniques to facilitate internal communications between individuals and departments.

"In the short time Logility has been live, we have continued to improve our already low inventory levels," said Paul Silvester, operations and forecasting analyst of Aspen. "Our overall fill rate hit 98 percent for over 3,000 [stock-keeping units (SKUs)] after implementation, and we have been able to maintain that level with the help of Logility."

Silvester said that Aspen's additional goals for Logility involve further reducing inventory levels and increasing turns; decreasing air freight expenses through improved on-time deliveries; and, for the first time, planning at a customer item level to boost overall forecast accuracy.

The Logility solutions at Aspen run on IBM eServer iSeries equipment and are integrated to a J.D. Edwards' enterprise resource planning (ERP) system. The Logility products are maintained and supported by two internal resources.

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