CASE-IN-POINT: Planning engine manages volatile demand without stockpiling inventory

摘要

Until just a few months ago, PEMSTAR's strategy for dealing with constant changes to incoming orders was to build inventory buffers. But management at the Rochester, Minn.-based electronics services provider knew there had to be a better way. "We needed a solution to do 'What-if?' analysis," says Michael Miller, executive director of corporate business systems at PEMSTAR. "We receive many demand changes, and we would spend an inordinate amount of time analyzing those changes, or drop in [orders]."