Hitachi Consulting, Optiant Partner

Consultancy to include provider's supply chain design, optimization solution in offering

Consultancy to include provider's supply chain design, optimization solution in offering

Boston — May 17, 2004 — Solution provider Optiant, specializing in applications for supply chain design and optimization, is partnering with Hitachi Consulting, the business and information technology consulting arm of Hitachi, Ltd., in a bid to help manufacturers improve business performance through better supply chain management.

Hitachi Consulting provides services for the design and implementation of supply chain solutions, and the newly minted partners said that the addition of Optiant's PowerChain Suite for supply chain design to the consultancy's portfolio of manufacturing and distribution solutions would expand Hitachi's offerings for its customers in the consumer packaged goods, industrial and high tech manufacturing industries.

Hitachi said it would tap Optiant's offering in focusing on the design stage, where supply chain strategy is set and a large percentage of a product's costs are locked in.

"Distribution network optimization and effective inventory management policies are critical to a well-managed supply chain," said Stephen Engel, vice president of supply chain solutions for Hitachi, adding that Optiant's solution can help in aligning operational decisions with business strategies.

For companies in the highly competitive markets that Hitachi and Optiant target, the supply chain represents the new frontier in defining performance. These organizations face unprecedented challenges in building and maintaining market leadership, including economic uncertainty, increasingly complex supply chains and channel pressure from large retailers that are increasingly demanding near perfect service and continuous price reductions.

Optiant says its solution offers relief from these forces by helping manufacturers build supply chains that are flexible enough to exploit changing market conditions. By accommodating an end-to-end view of the supply chain and enabling users to evaluate multiple "what-if" scenarios to determine ideal configurations, PowerChain helps companies make decisions that support larger business strategies, such as growth, customer service, functional excellence and improved asset utilization, Optiant says.

Hitachi Consulting has been offering supply chain-related services for more than 15 years, and its clients include such companies as Aviall, Mary Kay and Viking Range.

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