Optimize forecast accuracy and business visibility

Optimize forecast accuracy and business visibility

The Dutch registered automotive group, Bosal, is a well- known tier one supplier to the automotive industry worldwide.   From its 34 manufacturing plants and 18 distribution centers, the company supplies a large variety of products to OEM’s like Audi, Volkswagenand General Motors.  Bosal has decided to further professionalize their integral  Sales  &  Operations  Planning  (S&OP)  process toreduce stock levels, increase customer service and to create the ability to match the operational S&OP planning to a financial forecast.  To achieve these objectives, Bosal has chosen a fast innovative solution by outsourcing the complete process of the creation of a statistical forecast and the S&OP reports to EyeOn.

Using  the  cloud  based  Anaplan  planning  tool,  EyeOn and   Bosal   worked   together in standardizing   all   the operational planning processes and providing enterprise- wide  visibility of forecasts and plans.  Anaplan provides detailed, SKU level forecasts and plans to all entities of Bosal and supports strategic and tactical supply chain planning.  Using Bosal’s actuals, EyeOn is able tocreate a realistic sales forecast in which products were categorized according to nine buckets.  For mature products, visibility is achieved into the specific actions necessary to satisfy annual sales per country.   Different procedures were adopted for new and alsoend-of-life products, deriving in a monthly output based on annual figures.

Today’s solution simply requires the regular loading of stock information, pricing and master data into Anaplan, which can be loggedonto at any time by Bosal staff via the Internet.  The information output gives an immediate and accurate insight into product-levels, actual sales and forecasts to enable Bosal to react quickly to changing markets and stock-level situations.   As EyeOn’s first software customer in the Benelux, Bosal has experienced several  benefits  resulting  from  the  strategic  and operational planning support improvements, as Bosal’s Jon Kuiper, Group Sourcing & Supply Director, explains.

“Together with EyeOn and the Anaplan software we have been able to drive significant improvements in our planning processes.    Within a  timeframe  of  6  months  we  have been able to give our sales and manufacturing operations integral visibility.” Bosal’sArthur van Bergen, Supply Chain Manager After Market, says: “By implementing Anaplan we have been able to fundamentally change and improve our new product introduction (NPI) process giving real- time information to key stakeholders, like our salesforce.”