Improving Sales and Operations Planning at SanDisk Corporation
"We produce 1,000,000 units a day, and without i2's advanced planning solution, we could not do that. This truly has been our lifesaver, and has given us the ability to continue our very rapid and aggressive growth rate."
-Cecilia Claudio
Chief Information Officer
SanDisk
Challenges
Product commoditization
Declines in sales prices
Rapid influx of new competitors
Goals
Increase customer satisfaction
Improve profit margins
Enable expansion of product offerings
i2's Contribution
SanDisk implemented i2’s suite of supply chain management solutions. These solutions have enabled SanDisk to establish demand visibility and supply chain flexibility necessary to improve forecasting and integrate planning with manufacturing.
In addition, i2’s solutions assist with inventory optimization, allocation planning, demand-supply balancing and data management that SanDisk needed to improve its sales and operations planning (S&OP) processes.
“We are now able to see where demand is coming from regionally, and we’re able to make the right allocations based on that increased visibility,” Claudio said. “As part of the supply planning process, we also now can generate a master production plan, and we can do it on a daily basis, if need be. So, we have the ability to know what production needs to look like, and we can take into account any type of capacity or material constraints, the business unit allocations that have been made, and all of the inventory that’s available or that we need to build in order to meet the demand.”
SanDisk’s Results
Since its implementation of i2 solutions, SanDisk has been able to:
Conduct end-to-end S&OP planning process on a monthly basis
Increase demand visibility
Improve forecast accuracy by more than 25 percent
Enhance decision-making through improved plan quality and alignment
i2 solutions also provided the supply chain flexibility necessary for end-to-end planning and build-to-order manufacturing execution. Improved on-time delivery of SanDisk’s products has resulted in enhanced customer satisfaction and expansion of business partnerships. In addition, i2 solutions have also produced higher inventory turns and a lower cost structure for SanDisk’s supply chain.
This case study is based on a presentation Cecilia Claudio gave during the i2 Planet 2008 General Session. Claudio is no longer with SanDisk.
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