Distribution

Actionable information on your supply chain performance.

Leading distribution companies globally use Cognos to understand their supply chain performance, throughput, quality, productivity, inventory, and costs.

Distribution companies use Cognos software and KPI services to:

Answer key questions such as:

Which suppliers are the most reliable? Which have balances outstanding?
How many days of inventory exists in each warehouse? Are we meeting demand?
How close are my inventory forecasts to actual results?
What lead times are required to fulfill an order?
Which buying offices have most accurately determined inventory demand?

With the information found in Cognos Supply Chain Analytics reports and metrics, monitor and report on performance using these key areas:

Stock overview and valuation—see the stock you are carrying, its location, and value. Understand your inventory investment and how it is distributed.
Demand—determine whether your stock levels and fluctuations let you meet customer demand.
Quality and yield—Understand yield and yield losses across all plants or for specific operations. Analyze the relationship between scrap, quantity, cost, and lost profits.
Organizational effectiveness—Analyze and report on time-to-delivery, quality, and costs by distribution center. plant, department, or shift.
Material usage and cost—Make better decisions about routing, material usage, and substitutions.
Time-to-delivery—Monitor and analyze product cycle time, inventory aging, and downtime.
Procurement—Evaluate buyer volume, budget distribution, and relationships to consolidate or redistribute purchasing.
Material demand—Understand what's required and when. Improve purchasing effectiveness by analyzing internal demand patterns for specific materials.

Benefits and Value

Cognos integrated performance management software and services deliver value to the world’s leading distribution companies.

Reporting, analysis, and business intelligence
Cognos offers the most comprehensive business intelligence and reporting coverage in the industry.

You can use BI software to:

Increase efficiency, revenues, and profits
Improve demand planning and inventory turns
Reduce costs
Reduce carrying costs, overstock, and obsolete inventory
To make logistics more predictable.
Refined and optimized sourcing efforts
Ability to rationalize suppliers
Share information with key partners and suppliers through a BI extranet.

Cognos Inventory Analysis
You can have a better understanding of your inventory investment, turns, returns, and material movements.

With Cognos Inventory Analysis , you can:

Examine and Value Stock
- What has been our average investment in stock this period, and over time?
- How many units of inventory do we have? In which locations? Plants? Warehouses?
- How many days of inventory do we have in each warehouse? Are we meeting demand in each region?
Monitor Material Movement Activity
- How many movements have been processed this period, compared to last?
- What types of issues have been processed? What proportion of materials have been issues to order fulfillment, consignment, and scrap?
- How many receipts have been processed by employees this period?
Determine Demand
- How many goods issues were processed this period versus last?
- What specific material segments were issued? How did this compare across the company?
- How much lead time is there between the request for stock and the required date for stock? Has this changed over time?
Examine Material Reservations
- How effectively has confirmed stock met requirements for material this period?
- How do our warehouses rank in terms of meeting requests for inventory in full? Are some warehouses consistently underperforming?
- Are excess inventory reservations prevalent in warehouses or material segments?
Determine Physical Inventory Accuracy
- How accurate have our physical counts been across the organization?
- On average, how large have our shortages been, and where have they occurred?
- Are there any warehouses or storage locations that are not meeting standards for physical count accuracy?
Forecast Inventory
- How close was this period's inventory forecast to actual results?
- How accurate have forecasts been for "A" class materials in a specific warehouse?
- How have forecasts for specific items changed over time?

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