Automotive manufacturer Nissan has implemented database and merchandising solutions from software solutions integrator SPL - a member of the Dimension Data Group - to streamline its supply chain, ensure a common set of figures throughout the company and save millions of Rand per month.
According to Nicholas Hall, Nissan`s general manager for Planning and Research, the project paid for itself within one month of implementation.
"Not only have we seen a 48% decrease in costs, but also a 70% increase in service levels, since the completion of the project," he says.
Other major benefits for Nissan are a substantially reduced company planning cycle, increased supply rate, and better accuracy of delivery.
Previously, the company operated using information silos, and this meant four different sets of numbers for its marketing, finance, production and sales departments.
"We had no basis for comparing figures, were constantly debating which figures were the correct ones, and had several co-ordination problems," he says.
Using Arthur Plan Monitor, an on-line, analytical processing (OLAP) multidimensional database, Nissan has now combined the four sets of figures into one master set.
"Arthur Plan Monitor enables a company to have one version of the truth," says Guy Roberts of SPL, which markets and supports JDA`s Arthur Enterprise Suite in Southern Africa.
"This has enabled us to dramatically reduce our company planning cycle," says Hall. "Previously, it took three weeks to complete while with Arthur Planning Monitor, it takes two days.
"We use Arthur Plan Monitor to draw information from Essbase and look at variances between departments," says Hall. "For example, it might show that our double cab vehicles are selling well and that the market for them is predicted to grow, but that we have a production constraint in this area.
"We then use Production Planning, another module of Arthur, to locate the restraints, which we then manage. Once the problem has been managed, the changed data can be fed back into Essbase, either from the bottom up, or from the top down. We maintain separate databases within Essbase for these approaches, one of which is sales-driven and the other marketing-focused. Arthur Planning allows them to "talk" to each other," he says.
The implementation of Arthur Plan Monitor was business-driven, and structured around strategic business processes, which according to Hall is why the solution has been so effective for Nissan.
In the future, the company plans to extend its planning right down to individual dealer level to further increase efficiency and cost-effectiveness.
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