Transcript Optimizing Supply Chain and Warehousing with Microsoft

Optimizing Supply Chain and
Warehousing with Microsoft Dynamics AX
Sandeep Walia
CEO
Ignify
Eric Shuss
President – ERP Division
Ignify
Supply Chain and Warehousing Pain Points
»
Forecasting accuracy is becoming more critical as our lead-times are diminishing
»
Our suppliers and business partners are trying to cut cost, maximize resources and reduce intermediation
»
To stay competitive and add value to the chain, integrated business management systems need to have:
»
Infrastructure flexibility,
»
Automation and increased integration requirements
»
Efficiency and coordination with suppliers and buyers,
»
Core business process improvement of financial management, order, warehouse and transportation management, ecommerce and CRM.
The Traditional Linear Supply Chain
is Becoming Demand Driven
Suppliers’
Suppliers
Suppliers
Our Companies
Channels
Consumers
Retailers
Shoppers
HQ
Suppliers
Farms
Contract
Manufacturers
Factories
Plants
Warehouses
DC’s
Distributors
Ingredients
Direct
Raw Material
Suppliers
Web
Consumers
Supply Chain and Warehousing Optimization Goals
» Improve customer service.
» Reduce costs by optimizing supply chain
»
»
»
»
management processes..
Control and streamline inventory.
Increase visibility and cooperation
throughout the supply chain.
Lower the costs of supply chain integration
Better Manage Multi-Channel Challenges
Improve Customer Service
» Increase service levels with more accurate forecasting and demand
management tools to reflect shifting customer and channel needs.
» Leverage Dynamics AX 2009 CRM for marketing campaigns and opportunity
forecasting
» Use Questionnaire for customer surveys and market research
» Take advantage of Excel Pivot Point for integrated forecast analysis
» Enhance the security and reliability of deliveries with the global
available-to-promise (ATP)
» ATP provides up-to date delivery dates tied to the Transport calendar
»
Provides delivery alternatives in the event of unexpected disruptions.
» Integrate your sales and fulfillment across traditional channels,
eCommerce and Retail
» Give your sales teams and customers one version of the truth
» Let them order by Phone, Email, EDI, eCommerce or in retail settings
» Let the customer choose if it is shipped, delivered, picked up, downloaded, etc.
Reduce Costs by Optimizing Processes.
» Improve productivity, adapt internal processes quickly to meet
new demands, and optimize processes across sites in the
supply chain.
» Update or install warehouse automation technologies
» Bar code scanners
» Voice picking, Pick to Light, RFID
» Conveyer integration
» Use Advanced Warehouse features of AX 2009 WMS II
» Store Areas and Zones
» Pallet control
» Consolidated picking and put-away
» Integrate document handling to improve data entry accuracy
and manage quality, shipping, customs, etc. docs.
» Use AX workflow and Alerts
Control and streamline inventory
» Use AX Master Planning to improve forecasting and
»
»
»
»
planning, match supply with customer demand, and
create sales and purchasing forecasts based on specific
items and time periods with seasonality and product mix.
Consider Lean initiatives with Lean Manufacturing for
Dynamics AX
Use Vendor Warehouses to track vendor owned
inventory for better visibility into your supply chain
Extend to Retail environments with AX for Retail
Deploy web services to integrate into your suppliers,
partners and customers inventory systems for up-to-date
inventory levels.
Increase visibility throughout the supply chain
» Deploy Role Centers that provide quick access to tasks
and critical business intelligence (BI) information, such as
key performance indicators (KPIs) and custom reports.
Operational
Tactical
Strategic
Role and Task focus
Process or Team focus
Corporate focus
Increase visibility throughout the supply chain
Deploy Vendor and Customer Self-Service portals to increase
collaboration on forecasts, capacity and delivery
With SharePoint Portal:
• Vendor and Customer
Self Service Portals
• Schedule data refreshes
to keep your analysis
up-to-date
• Secure and Relevant
data delivered to those
who need it.
• Share single or multi-
company reports,
graphs, documents, etc.
Lower the costs of supply chain integration
» Application Integration Framework (AIF) – Exposes business logic to other
internal or external systems. AIF enables you to integrate functionality and exchange
data with other systems.
» Web services (synchronous) - Web services can be generated automatically
from the Microsoft Dynamics AX business logic. Developers with limited Web
experience can easily expose services through Web services.
» Adaptors (asynchronous) – Documents across the systems are moved in
queues and processed by the batch jobs. Adapter transports supported by AIF
are Microsoft Message Queuing (MSMQ) and file system.
» BizTalk integration (allows the use of BizTalk adapters and development
platform).
» Business Connector – Enables external applications to access Microsoft Dynamics
AX data and invoke business logic. Extremely powerful and is a full functionality
client operated through a connector interface
» Common language runtime (CLR) – Provides interoperability with external
components and interfaces
Extensive Integration Technologies Available
BC
.NET
Dynamics AX Service Clients
XML
MSMQ, File
EDI, etc.
SOAP
.NET API
X++ API
IIS
Dynamics AX
Adapter
CLR
Interop
Web
Asynchronous Adapters
Services
Dynamics AX Services and AIF
Manage Multi-Channel Sales and Fulfillment In AX
» Strive for one system, one version of the truth.
» Integrate your Ecommerce directly into AX with a web store
»
»
»
»
e.g. ecommerce for Dynamics http://www.ecommercefordynamics.com
Integrate retail stores, company stores, will call etc. with AX for
Retail
Deploy AX Master Planning for intra and intercompany
forecasting and scheduling
Automated Safety Stock recommendations based on demand
from multiple channels
Use ATP, Sites, coverage groups and shipping integration
functionality to fulfill orders in the most economic method while
still respecting service levels and customer expectations.
CASE STUDY
Ellison
Who is Ellison?
» Ellison is one of the largest manufacturers and
distributors of die-cutting systems for educational
institutions and leading crafts supplier, with its well-known
Sizzix brand of products, and distributes globally.
Business Challenges
» Ellison business has
evolved significantly over
the past 30 years and its
ERP system did not align
with the current business
model. Ellison needed a
system that reflects the
current global business
scenario and processes
that improve operational
efficiencies. Axapta 3.0
was installed but overly
customized and not
optimized
» Business complexity
increased as geographical
boundaries and customer
groups became less defined
» Difficult to forecast with
changing markets
» Lack of visibility into
incoming supply chain and
fulfillment
» Automation was needed in
the warehouse and shipping
Solution
Ignify was engaged to come in and re-imagine the Ellison
environment and streamline existing processes.
By upgrading to Dynamics AX and leveraging the standard
functionality, Ellison was able to eliminate most of the
customizations and take advantage of the power of Microsoft
Dynamics AX
Ellison had a number of third-party applications that helped its
system process sales as smoothly as possible. Microsoft Dynamics
AX has the functionality to integrate with these various products so
Ellison did not have to customize or reinstall key processes.
A major advantage of the new Dynamics AX implementation was
the in-system shipping management that integrates with
Clippership, reducing the amount of shipping stations Ellison
needed in the warehouse by nearly 50%
Benefits
Ellison’s fresh start began with its Microsoft Dynamics AX implementation.
With the new system, the company was able to increase efficiency and
analyze its data more accurately.
Sophisticated forecasting and sales analysis now provides real-time Sales
Revenue, Margin Analysis and Expense reporting like never before.
Not only did processing time improve dramatically with the fresh start but
Customer Service Reps saw an increase in on-time delivery, reduced back
orders and customer satisfaction. Fill rate improved from 75% to over 95%
Improvements made by Ignify in the inbound tracking process allowed for
better tracking and management of in-transit inventory never before
possible. Landed cost values were now accurate and reduced
maintenance of costing by over 50%
What does Ellison say?
“This project is a showcase example of a client-partner
relationship at the highest quality, delivering the project
on time and on budget, with improved business
processes and seamless information flow across
systems, resulting in operational cost efficiencies and
improved sales forecasts.“
Ram Kanagala, IT Director, Ellison
THANK YOU!
Sandeep Walia
CEO
Ignify
Questions: [email protected]
Eric Shuss
President – ERP Division
Ignify