Sharing forecasts with logistics service providers
Bouwmaat has chosen to outsource the logistics operation to logistics service provider Ceva Logistics, one of the largest players in the global supply chain services industry. “It is also important to share supply chain information with them,” says De Haan.
“Based on the purchasing and sales forecasts from Slim4, they can see how busy they are going to get and how many staff they need to schedule. Employees no longer accept it if they only hear in the morning whether they have to work that day, or not. As a result, capacity planning is becoming increasingly important in this sector. This is particularly important for fully or semi-automated warehouses where the capacity is fixed. Therefore, varying levels of high and low demand must be managed carefully.”
In addition to forecasting, Slim4 contains even more functionality that benefits the collaboration with a logistics service provider. “By having Slim4 calculate the optimal order moments and order quantities, we can limit the inbound and outbound tasks at Ceva and save money immediately. Ceva charges us for all logistics activities, so we see the impact of this immediately on the invoice.”