Megger USA empower supply chain team with Slim4

For over 130 years, Megger has led the way in electrical testing and maintenance equipment. From power stations to the power outlets in your home, the electrical components specialist covers almost every application within the electrical supply industry.

To boost operational efficiency, Megger turned to Slimstock to help streamline the business’s complex inventory management processes.

As part of a business-wide initiative to improve customer service levels, Megger USA undertook a major supply chain development programme. Lisa Costantini, Customer services & planning manager at Megger explains: “A key focus of this project was around transforming our supply chain to bring our products closer to the customer. However, to establish a successful make-to-stock operation, we needed to implement more effective tools to manage the inventory.”

In the past, the team relied on spreadsheets in combination with their existing ERP system to control inventory levels. “As the complexity of our business increased, it was clear that we needed to adopt a more modern approach to inventory management. Most importantly, we needed a solution that would complement our SAP ERP system.”

Proven results

“After seeing how the inventory experts at Slimstock had helped our counterparts at Megger UK to optimise their inventory processes, we decided to implement Slimstock’s inventory management solution, Slim4 to enhance our demand forecasting process in the USA,” explains Lisa.

Following the successful implementation of Slim4, the planning team immediately started to benefit from the solutions advanced functionality. “We now depend on Slim4 to help us forecast future demand for finished goods as well determine the optimal level of safety stock,” adds Lisa.

Robust S&OP process

As an organisation that understands the importance of collaboration, Megger already had a structured S&OP process in place. Explaining how the process ensures alignment across the business, Lisa adds: “In a business as dynamic as ours, we need input from across the business to make effective decisions around inventory. However, in the past, our team would have to invest a huge amount of time to prepare all of the analysis required to support the process.”

Given that Slimstock’s inventory optimisation solution automatically generates the best possible forecast based on the specific demand profile of each item, Lisa and her team now have far more confidence in the data. “Thanks to Slim4, we now have easy access to robust forecasts the whole business can trust. Given that we no longer have to manually review every item, the time it takes to prepare for our S&OP meetings has been reduced from up to 7 days to just 2 days. As a result, we now have more time to act on these insights.”

Enhanced availability

As part of the move towards a make-to-stock model, inventory levels of finished goods have naturally increased. However, as highlighted by Lisa: “This is a strategic move to improve the service we provide our customers. So, although we have invested in inventory, we have attained significant service level improvements. Ultimately, Slim4 has helped us to increase the availability of finished goods has increased from 75% to over 90%”.

In addition to optimising inventory of finished goods, Slim4 has also helped Lisa and her team to deliver other operational improvements across the business. “Slim4 has helped us to bring greater harmony to our complex operation. With greater insight into our inventory requirements at a finished goods level, this has reduced the need for fire-fighting and panic buying at a raw materials and component level. As a result, we have also seen impressive reductions in inventory across our manufacturing process.”

Increasing forecast accuracy

Satisfied with the initial results of Slim4, Lisa and her team are now working hard to attain further performance improvements. “Now that we can track the accuracy of our forecast, we can take proactive steps to further improve them. With Slimstock as our partner for inventory optimisation, I look forward to delivering further operational efficiency improvements,” concludes Lisa.