When we try to 'see the big picture,' we try to reassemble the fragments in our minds, to list and organize all the pieces...the task is futile...after a while we give up trying to see the whole altogether"

PETER SENGE
The Fifth Discipline

Billions of dollars in potential revenue lie trapped in inefficient supply chains. Intelligent supply chain management represents the single greatest unexploited opportunity for increasing market share, cash flow, and profits.

Excess inventory. Unused Capacity. Missed due dates. Distribution plans out of synch with customer demand. Conflicting objectives among manufacturing, sales, and distribution functions. Expedited shipments as the quick response solution. These are just a few of the Symptoms of inefficient supply chain management -- symptoms that are costing businesses billions of dollars annually.

The Challenge:

Supply chain management is extremely complex. Executives must deftly juggle all assets within their supply chains to satisfy all "stakeholders" -- customers, shareholders, employees, unions, suppliers, and regulators.

Businesses have tried to deal with the problem by breaking it into pieces, fragmenting responsibilities for segments of the supply chain, and using various information tools to track data. Unfortunately, such fragmentation prevents executives from seeing the full consequences of decisions and actions upon the total supply chain -- and their bottom line.

To make truly informed decisions, managers need more than traditional business systems. While useful, the support only localized decisions of separate parts of the business puzzle. And in todayÆs ever-changing marketplace, businesses must have the ability to make informed decisions rapidly -- as new challenges are thrown their way.

The Solution:

Businesses need intelligent decision support to help them instantly understand the global consequences of each local business option and solve complex real-world problems, such as:

• Are materials and capacity being allocated among key customers and channels in the most profitable way?
  
• Which resources would be impacted most by a revised forecast?
  
• What products are truly available-to-promise? On what date?
  
• How will a late supplier, plant, or distribution delivery impact customer orders, inventories, and transportation loads -- as well as profitability?

Managers need an intelligent decision support system that provides global visibility into their total operations -- from suppliers to customers -- on a real-time basis. It must consider real-world constraints and limitations and help managers make multi-million dollar decisions quickly, with a high degree of confidence. They need a buisness solution that understands the key business drivers of their customers' businesses, and can provide a total bottom line business solution that can make intelligent supply chain management a companyÆs most powerful competitive edge.

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