Kinaxis® Inc. (TSX: KXS), the leader in empowering people to make confident supply chain decisions, and Lippert Components, Inc. (LCI®), a tier-one manufacturer and supplier of highly engineered components for the leisure and mobile transportation industries, have been named a recipient of Supply & Demand Chain Executive’s SDCE 100 Award for 2019. Supply & Demand Chain Executive, the executive’s user manual for successful supply and demand chain transformation, has recognized LCI and their partnership with Kinaxis, for their ability to plan with greater visibility, reduce material shortages, improve on-time delivery, and empower collaboration across multiple teams and geographies.

With more than 9,000 team members across 65 facilities around the world and completing more than 60 acquisitions in the past 15 years, LCI needed a supply chain solution that could provide statistical forecasting and consensus demand planning along with supply and scenario planning. The solution also needed to be fast, user-friendly, and agnostic to the enterprise resource planning (ERP) platform.

“We chose Kinaxis as they could provide us with a comprehensive and connected view of LCI’s entire supply chain, which helped us achieve our goals of reducing decision latency and increasing collaboration throughout the organization,” said Kristen LeBaron, Director of Supply Chain at LCI. “This meant instilling an elevated sense of urgency and accountability, viewing the business from the outside-in, and then understanding what the market wants to satisfy the future demand.”

Collaborating with Kinaxis through a five-phased project approach, LCI now has a clear view of the company’s demand and supply. Using the Kinaxis RapidResponse® platform and its unique concurrent planning technique, LCI increased monthly inventory turns, improved reporting processes, increased the number of ways in which the company can analyze supply chain information in support of faster, more confident decision-making, and helped team members improve work-life balance. The project also increased overall productivity, including reducing the monthly planning process from two weeks down to a couple of days.

“The concept of truly connecting all planning activities wouldn’t have been possible without Kinaxis, its experienced and collaborative team, and the support of LCI’s executive leadership and operational teams,” stated LeBaron. “Kinaxis has given us the ability to see and connect hundreds of data points concurrently. Now we can quickly and easily build custom reports for any department, providing a holistic view of the entire global supply chain, which has enabled simpler, faster planning of demand, inventory, supply, and capacity. We often find ourselves saying, ‘If you can think it, you can build it in RapidResponse.’”

The SDCE 100 is an annual list of 100 great supply chain projects. These projects can serve as a map for supply chain executives who are looking for new opportunities to drive improvement in their own operations. These projects show how supply chain solution and service providers help their customers and clients achieve supply chain excellence and prepare their supply chains for success.

“Every year our list of submissions for the SDCE 100 continues to grow as more companies rely on the expertise of supply management for innovative decision-making. Our winners raise the bar for what is achievable in the supply chain,” said John R. Yuva, Editor for Supply & Demand Chain Executive. “With a variety of company sizes and industry sectors represented, our Top 100 are leading examples for how to approach and solve supply chain challenges. Congratulations to our 2019 winners and the projects that delivered greater operational efficiencies and bottom-line results across the supply chain.”

“It is an honor to work with Lippert Components to help them move along their supply chain maturity and drive more confident decisions, better business results, and happier customers. We are proud to be recognized by Supply & Demand Chain Executive,” said John Sicard, Chief Executive Officer, Kinaxis. “We look forward to continuing to help create positive, long-term outcomes for all of our customers.”

SOURCE Kinaxis Inc.