Monsanto Aims to Optimize Inventory

Purchases SmartOps solution to improve supply chain performance, maintain service levels

Purchases SmartOps solution to improve supply chain performance, maintain service levels

Pittsburgh — July 5, 2005 — Agribusiness company Monsanto is set to use an inventory planning solution from SmartOps in a bid to reduce inventory levels and improve supply chain performance, the solution provider has announced.

St. Louis-based Monsanto was looking for a solution to minimize the amount of cash it has tied up in inventory while maintaining its customer service levels, according to Ron Cooley, agricultural chemicals manufacturing lead for Monsanto.

Now the company will be implementing SmartOps' Multistage Inventory Planning & Optimization (MIPO) solution, which, SmartOps said, enables customers to determine the best possible inventory and product availability plans given inherent uncertainties, time-varying data, multi-location and inventory stage complexities, and aggressive customer service goals.

"MIPO dynamically generates optimal inventory targets for each stage of the supply chain while providing visibility into each inventory requirement — including safety, cycle, pre-build, pipeline and merchandising stock requirements, by item or stock-keeping unit (SKU) — to meet desired service levels," SmartOps said in announcing the deal.

In addition, MIPO's optimized inventory targets serve as inputs for enterprise resource planning and advanced planning and scheduling systems, providing better intelligence for inventory planning and execution, the solution provider said.

"With SmartOps MIPO, we have a solution that calculates inventory level targets and works with our current sales and operations planning process," said Monsanto's Cooley.

"For a complicated supply chain in a seasonal business like Monsanto, the ability to integrate optimal planning targets into their operation on an ongoing basis is critical," says Dr. Sridhar Tayur, CEO and founder of SmartOps.


Additional Articles of Interest

— Do you only dream of having a supply chain as efficient as Dell's? Then it's time to wake up and manage your inventory liability. To find out how, read the SDCExec.com article "Managing Inventory Liability in an Outsourced Relationship."

— For an in-depth look at how agribusiness Syngenta is reducing inventory while maintaining customer service levels by building a demand planning process based on a collaborative forecasting solution, see the SDCExec.com article " Forecasting Processes from the Ground Up ."

— Demand planners at glove manufacturer Wells Lamont have put their finger on a way to bring new value to the company by leveraging technology that allows them to plan by exception. Read their story in the article " Planning by Exception," in the December 2004/January 2005 issue of Supply & Demand Chain Executive.


Latest