Ghislain Journe
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10 March 2023
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This is the story of two companies whose supply chains are under pressure, facing a more uncertain and volatile environment than ever. At these companies, once-efficient flow management systems, when life was plain sailing, now resemble black boxes. Officially, there is talk of optimisation and competitiveness challenges, but unofficially, it is described as a ‘shit storm’ on a daily basis, with teams at breaking point and emergencies all around.
In the particularly turbulent period we are going through, a challenge arises for most industrial and distribution companies: finding more agile and efficient systems to overcome the complexity of ERP and the unreliability of Excel tools. Consider APS – Advanced Planning System.
Choosing the right APS
Of the two companies we interviewed, the first has had APS software for 10 years but doesn’t know how to use it, while the second would like to have it but hesitates because it seems too complex, justifiably so. Two examples that illustrate, if not the majority, then many situations.
Indeed, APS is often perceived as a complex system, tricky to configure during the project phase. As for its use and updating, they appear equally uncertain, with rarely satisfactory ROI, when money is not simply thrown out the window.
“Behind an APS system, you need to keep in mind the cost it represents. We are talking about an investment of at least 150,000 euros for a company, plus some tens of thousands of euros in licenses per year. All this for a solution that often proves to be little or poorly used, or not used at all!”
questions Jérémy Catteloin, a supply chain management expert engineer at BEVOLTA.
“User focus + Tech + Methodology”, the winning trio
Having acknowledged the need for a solution that addresses ERP and Excel limitations, BEVOLTA wanted to remove the barriers associated with APS by focusing on a crucial often overlooked criterion: the user. Didn’t Steve Jobs say, “everything starts with the customer experience, the technology comes afterwards”? It might seem basic, yet many do the opposite.
This reflection led to the design of a new generation APS that is more powerful, more flexible, and puts the user back at the centre of things. “That is what is truly ‘game-changing’ and explains the success of BEVOLTA,” adds Jérémy Catteloin.
“Most solutions we know were either born from a new technology without innovation on the methodology, or from a new methodology on the basis of old systems. BEVOLTA is the first solution to address the need globally with a solution that brings together both aspects: DDMRP and new technology at the service of the user.”
summarises the engineer.
Expecting everything from the ERP, the classic mistake
ERP providers certainly offer targeted modules like APS, WMS, TMS, etc. However, these solutions aren’t necessarily the best within their functional scope, let alone when it comes to value for money.
As for the Demand Driven MRP method, it can be said that a pure player APS like BEVOLTA is far more efficient than a classic APS attempting DDMRP. Because becoming Demand Driven randomly, as though adding a module suffices, doesn’t work. There’s a whole vision and methodology behind it, which conditions the performance of the overall solution. In this, the pure player model proves more relevant because a solution is never as effective as when it originates from this approach.
The sole advantage of an APS solution by the ERP provider ‘in-house’ is that it integrates more easily with the ERP since the interfaces already exist. The project and license costs remain.
“Can this argument of easy integration alone justify choosing an ‘in-house’ solution? Certainly not. At equal or even lesser cost, the only reasons that should dictate the choice of a solution are business reasons, and the actual coverage of user needs,”
emphasises Jérémy Catteloin.
Recognising warning signs in a Supply Chain
Without an adequate solution, our two companies – like so many others – fall back on Excel and the ERP to manage their flows.
The result for them is a Supply Chain with poorly managed stocks, many references overstocked and understocked, emergencies everywhere, and teams often suffering, constantly asked to extinguish fires they themselves lit the day before...
“This is exactly the kind of context in which we intervene. Either companies approach us in an upstream reflection phase because they need a solution to regain control of their Supply Chain, without knowing anything about DDMRP, or they have already advanced their thinking with their advisor and have thus discovered the Demand Driven methodology,”
observes Jérémy Catteloin.
Are you in this situation of losing control or suffering within your teams? Request a demo!
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