Leading lawn and garden care products marketer extends CBR to optimize transportation, improve demand forecast accuracy
Rockville, MD — April 15, 2004 — The Scotts Co., the leading marketer in consumer lawn and garden care products, said today that it has selected Manugistics Logistics Management solutions and Manugistics Promotions Planning and Optimization solutions to extend the company's capabilities in consumer-based replenishment (CBR).
Scotts will employ the Logistics Management solutions in its transportation operations to ensure reliable customer service and closer collaboration with retail partners on replenishment. The solutions will also automate the process for logistics invoicing and payment.
Scotts will also use the Manugistics' Promotions Planning and Optimization solution in a pilot project designed to improve forecast accuracy and reduce inventory costs by incorporating promotional effects into the demand plan. Using historical data and statistically-derived market response models based on several market variables, the solution is designed to test promotional scenarios and predict the impact on unit sales within the channel.
"These solutions represent the next step in the evolution of the partnership between Scotts and Manugistics," said Michael Kelty, Ph.D., vice chairman and executive vice president, The Scotts Co. "Both the transportation and the promotion solutions will form an integral part of the Manugistics-based consumer replenishment program we embarked on to strengthen our supply chain and to work even more effectively with our retail partners."
Three years ago, The Scotts Co. set out to restructure its entire supply chain. Scotts began its supply chain overhaul with the installation of SAP's enterprise resource planning (ERP) system, followed by the implementation of a Manugistics-based consumer replenishment program with its key retail partners.
After just two years of the program, Wal-Mart named Scotts its "2002 Supplier of the Year" in lawn and garden, a distinction the company repeated in 2003. Scotts was also named "Partner of the Year" in the lawn and garden category by The Home Depot in 2003. Today, The Scotts Co. is a leader in a seasonal market with a major part of its plant-friendly lawn and garden care products business — including Scotts, Miracle-Gro and Ortho — conducted in a seven-month window.
"We are delighted to be working with an innovator like The Scotts Co. and look forward to partnering with them on the next phase of their consumer-based replenishment initiative," said Jeremy Coote, president, Manugistics.
