BEVOLTA vs EXCEL, or how to re-enchant the management of a supply chain

Although it has earned its stripes as a strategic business function in light of recent crises, the Supply Chain is still largely driven by technical and inflexible custom EXCEL architectures. Starting from this observation, BEVOLTA has imagined a true user experience by absorbing the complexity of this arid universe. Jérémy Catteloin, Supply Chain expert at BEVOLTA, tells us more.

- Are companies that use EXCEL necessarily poorly equipped?

"Not necessarily, as they are often equipped with an ERP, or even a reference ERP. But the more complex the supply chain, the less reliable and usable the standard MRP calculation becomes. Consequently, each one develops their own solutions to compensate for the functional weaknesses of the MRP calculation.

The weakness of historical ERP tools is that they were created by engineers for engineers, with fairly narrow and complex optimal usage conditions, whereas for the past ten years we have been operating in an increasingly open and volatile world. In short, fixed solutions no longer work! The same observation applies to MRP2 tools whose field of use is shrinking.

In this context, the Demand Driven vision – with the core idea of putting the user back at the centre by relying on the fundamentals of Lean – appears much better adapted. With visual performance management, we indeed help users solve problems more easily while entering a continuous improvement logic. Among the testimonials that often come from companies that have adopted a DDMRP solution like BEVOLTA, there is the impression of having escaped the complex project framework. Enough said!

- Does this solution target large groups or rather SMEs and mid-sized companies?

All three, Captain! And I specify: practically all cases, both in industry and distribution.

Large groups first because they are very sensitive to the argument of a flexible and easy-to-deploy solution that produces immediate effects. As for SMEs, they are attracted to a competitive solution compared to a generally out-of-reach MRP2 offer given the pricing position and complexity.

BEVOLTA provides a real advantage for these companies that do not have the means to have an APS and an army of master's degree holders who develop EXCEL enhanced with "business intelligence." Here they have access to a real competitive advantage because they not only have a powerful new generation tool and a much more agile DDMRP methodology that will allow them to gain competitiveness.

- However, some are still devoted to EXCEL…

… and vinyl records! More seriously, I think it is truly time, in 2022, to become aware of the at least relative effectiveness of EXCEL in an area that continues to expand in an ever more volatile environment.

Indeed, if an EXCEL file can prove very effective in a limited scope, as soon as we extend the business cases it can become extremely complex to manage.

Let's remember what an EXCEL file is: it is a calculation in cells that have often been enriched, potentially automated while being rarely documented. As a result, the maintenance of the file is almost impossible. The files are often built around a process that is perpetuated without challenging the status quo, whereas in a tool like BEVOLTA we precisely challenge practices.

As for the ergonomics, a key criterion for enabling a solution to be easily taken in hand and deployed, under EXCEL it completely depends on the designer. However, one can be comfortable with EXCEL, that does not make one a developer of structured applications.

Only a good information system can combine power, reliability, and speed of calculation, good user interface, clear and solid databases. So many criteria rarely – if ever – found in an EXCEL file which remains, let us remember, an office tool.

- What seems to attract the die-hards of EXCEL is this total flexibility in the construction of calculations that an APS-type solution does not offer. We fear having to adopt a solution "as a whole," which implies a lot of changes that we might not be ready to undertake…

On the contrary, we are in a resolutely flexible and progressive approach! However, it does, in fact, require being ready to reshuffle the deck, because that's the very essence of a Demand Driven solution.

This is the whole point of the preliminary advice/improvement phase to practices to which we are very attached at BEVOLTA, since it is an opportunity to revisit more fundamental questions about flow management. Addressing these questions, while being accompanied in a structured approach, generates a lot of added value!

In the end, you have a tool perfectly adapted to the specific needs of the company, with concrete and immediate results.

We generally determine a pilot perimeter before widening the scope. We are able to re-simulate past activity and play "what-if" scenarios, there are a lot of possible configurations. This allows us to determine the best deployment path to meet the client's ambitions.

- Among the nightmares of the company manager or supply chain director, the loss of the person who masters EXCEL is often cited. Does a solution like BEVOLTA solve this key person issue?

Regardless of the solution chosen, the departure of the "key person" is always a challenge.

Nevertheless, it is indisputable that with a solution like ours, we are in a very different situation, since the tool has been designed to be understood and used by several people within the company, even several departments.

However, we traditionally have a preferred interlocutor in the company. Especially to evolve the application and ensure that it follows the changes in needs within the company. But it is indeed much more flexible and agile, with the BEVOLTA team as a backup to ensure continuity.

I remind you that what founds BEVOLTA is the understanding of the supply chain as a strategic function of the company. In this logic, we wanted to simplify the management and optimization of flows by absorbing complexity. This is a fundamental point."

Comments collected by Ghislain Journé.

Main photo (from left to right): Zahir Bouchaala and Camille Wanty, co-founders of BEVOLTA, respectively CEO and CTO.