SAP SCM includes features and functions to support collaborative supply chain planning processes, including strategic, tactical, and operational planning as well as service parts planning.
Strategic, Tactical, and Operational Planning
With SAP SCM, you can optimize a full range of planning activities, including:
* Demand planning and forecasting – Forecast and plan anticipated demand for products or product characteristics. Use state-of-the-art forecasting algorithms for product life-cycle planning and trade promotion planning.
* Safety stock planning – Assign optimal safety stock and target stock levels in all inventories in the supply network. Meet your desired customer service levels while maintaining a minimum amount of safety stock.
* Supply network planning – Integrate purchasing, manufacturing, distribution, and transportation plans into an overall supply picture – so you can simulate and implement comprehensive tactical planning and sourcing decisions based on a single, globally consistent model. This can involve heuristics and capacity planning, optimization, and multilevel supply and demand matching.
* Distribution planning – Determine the best short-term strategy to allocate available supply to meet demand and to replenish stocking locations. To achieve this, planners can determine which demands can be fulfilled by existing supply elements.
* Supply network collaboration – Work with partners across your supply network. Using collaboration features that improve visibility into supply and demand, you and your partners can reduce inventory buffers, increase the velocity of raw materials and finished goods through the pipeline, improve customer service, and increase revenues.
Service Parts Planning
With SAP SCM, you can also handle service parts planning activities, including:
* Parts demand planning – Improve the accuracy of forecasts through better modeling of demand quantities, events, and their respective deviations. You can select sophisticated forecast models and optimize model parameters to improve forecasting for slow-moving parts or for parts with irregular demand patterns. Through aggregated forecast-parameter profile maintenance, you can make data maintenance more efficient.
* Parts inventory planning – Reduce inventory levels and achieve retail service levels by providing more precise demand modeling. You can distribute inventory optimally within the multi-echelon supply chain to ensure high service levels while keeping inventory levels at a minimum.
* Parts supply planning – Reduce inventory in the supply chain by improving supplier alignment, increasing automation, and developing accurate supply plans. You can also reduce operational cost through efficient purchasing practices.
* Parts distribution planning – Set up stock transfers for parts within a service parts network to reduce stock-out situations and operational costs.
* Parts monitoring – Work with suppliers and customers to exchange information and handle alerts collaboratively.
