Unilever Poised to Achieve Inventory Reduction Goals

CPG firm selects multistage inventory planning and optimization tool to improve supply chain performance

CPG firm selects multistage inventory planning and optimization tool to improve supply chain performance

Pittsburgh, PA — June 6, 2005 — Unilever, one of the world's largest consumer products companies, said it will be implementing SmartOps' Multistage Inventory Planning & Optimization (MIPO) solution in North America to achieve inventory reduction goals and improve supply chain performance.

"Our goal is to continue providing excellent order fulfillment at even lower levels of inventory," said Stephanie Beal, Unilever, director of best practices, Home and Personal Care. "This is possible because of SmartOps' multi-stage approach for calculating optimal time-varying inventory targets for every item and location throughout our supply chain Furthermore, MIPO enables us to automate the process and drive replenishment through our existing systems."

SmartOps said MIPO determines 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 then 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.

MIPO's optimized inventory targets then serve as inputs for enterprise resource planning (ERP) and advanced planning & scheduling systems, so they deliver better intelligence for inventory planning and execution.

"For large CPG organizations like Unilever, creating value in the supply chain requires the right degree of visibility into the drivers of supply chain performance," said Dr. Sridhar Tayur, CEO and founder of SmartOps. "MIPO gives them that visibility, by using their existing data to analyze and quantify the real costs and benefits of various initiatives, implement the best solutions and achieve results."

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