SupplyChainBrain attended our annual Kinexions user conference, and while there, they completed a number of video interviews with customers, analysts, and Kinaxis executives. And, we’d like to share them!
In this interview, hear Sue Montgomery, senior business analyst with March Networks, speak about the challenges her company faces in gaining full visibility of supply and demand, and in dealing with increasing supply-chain volatility. March needed visibility on a global basis, in order to reach manufacturing and configuration facilities in China, Australia, Mexico, the U.K. and U.S. Vendor purchases depend on a forecast that was difficult to put together. In addition, the company needed to monitor all of its vendor-consigned inventory. March's automated system, obtained from Kinaxis, keeps a close eye on purchasing patterns, making sure that buyers adhere to contracts with preferred vendors. It really helps us to monitor and make sure that [contract manufacturers] are buying our contracts at the right price and right time, Montgomery says. Other benefits of the application include better management of inventory, and a reduction in excess or obsolete materials. Previously, we featured interviews with:
- Jennifer Bell, systems analyst with First Solar, "How First Solar Keeps Pace With Demand"
- Amanpreet Singh, senior director of strategy and operations, Motorola Mobility: "Relieving the Pain Points of Supply Chain Management"
- Jake Barr, chief executive officer of Blue World Supply Chain Consulting; Jim White, vice president of central operations with Applied Materials and CJ Wehlage, vice president of high tech solutions: "Is the forecast really dead?"
- Jim White, Vice President Central Operations at Applied Materials: "Applied Materials: Invisible, But Everywhere – Kinaxis & SupplyChainBrain Interview Series"
- Ethan Hunt, supply chain consultant at Agilent: "How Agilent Technologies Measures Up: Gaining full visibility of supply and demand"
- Mark Zeni, director of fulfillment at First Solar: "Balancing Cost and Customer Service"
- Arpad Hevizi, vice president of supply chain solutions with Celestica: "How Contract Manufacturers Are Expanding Their Service"
- Trevor Miles, vice president of thought leadership, Kinaxis: "How Can Companies Respond Rapidly to Demand?"
March Networks: The World of High-Tech Security – Interview summary
March Networks is a provider of video surveillance equipment. Its products can be found in the retail and banking sectors, as well as on buses and trains. All production is done by contract manufacturers, says Montgomery.
The company's priority was obtaining a consolidated view of supply and demand. When Montgomery joined March Networks, it had three business units with separate enterprise resource planning systems, obtained through acquisition. Getting access to key information could take a couple of weeks, due to manual processes and the use of spreadsheets. The result was a serious data backlog.
March needed visibility on a global basis, in order to reach manufacturing and configuration facilities in China, Australia, Mexico, the U.K. and U.S. Vendor purchases depend on a forecast that was difficult to put together. In addition, the company needed to monitor all of its vendor-consigned inventory.
March's automated system, obtained from Kinaxis, keeps a close eye on purchasing patterns, making sure that buyers adhere to contracts with preferred vendors. RapidResponse really helps us to monitor and make sure that [contract manufacturers] are buying to our contracts at the right price and right time, Montgomery says. Other benefits of the application include better management of inventory, and a reduction in excess or obsolete materials.
March's priority on the supply-chain side is keeping costs down. They are doing effective cost management, and working closely with our R&D group to make sure they're designing with cost-effective components, says Montgomery.
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