Golf equipment manufacturer deploys Webplan solution to meet increasing customer demands
Ottawa — May 6, 2004 — Golf equipment manufacturer Advanced International Multitech has deployed a planning solution from Webplan in a bid to keep up with rising customer demands and bridge the gap between plans and reality.
Taiwan-based Advanced International is one of the top global manufacturers of golf equipment, with such major customers as TaylorMade and Mizuno. The company has been experiencing annual business growth of 30 percent over the past few years.
With this growth has come an increase in variations between its plans and reality due to constant changes in supply and demand. To augment its existing planning and execution systems, Advanced International had relied on a combination of "people, paper and tools," including Microsoft Excel, to try to keep up with the constant change.
However, as the pace of its business grew, the company realized that this approach was unable to keep pace and was leading to suboptimal decisions.
"As our business continues to grow, we need to ensure rapid response to our customers," said Jeffrey Shiau, head of supply chain management at Advanced International. "We need advanced solutions to help us think before our customers think and, more importantly, act well before our customers needs."
To meet that need, the company has deployed Webplan's RapidResponse on a server in its Taiwan headquarters that also integrates with its manufacturing operations in Dong Guan, China. The company intends to extend this capability to all of its business lines and manufacturing sites.
Webplan said that RapidResponse helps manufacturers anticipate potential problems, review multiple action alternatives and align operations to master the "reality gap" between plans and how events actually develop. The RapidResponse architecture connects to front- and back-end systems and supports a continuous flow of information across multiple sites, Webplan said.
"Webplan RapidResponse gives us a competitive advantage by allowing us to proactively and immediately determine the appropriate response while maintaining alignment between supply and demand," Shiau said.
