Demand Forecasting & Network Review

Optimising Tomorrow: Aspen Pumps Revolutionises Supply Chain, Saving Time & Costs.

Background

Aspen Pumps are based in Hailsham, UK with subsidiary businesses in Basingstoke, Teeside, Northern France, Germany, Australia, India, Malaysia and USA.

They are market leaders across a range of condensate removal pumps and ancillary equipment for the HVAC/R (heating, ventilation, air conditioning and refrigeration industry.

Challenge

Aspen Pumps have seen considerable growth over the past 5 years. An increasing number of acquisitions, suppliers and customers have resulted in complexities that the existing demand planning processes were inadequate for.

The manual forecasting and demand planning processes drove ineffective stock management, ultimately leading to either excessive inventory or stockouts.

Libra Europe were engaged to complete a deep dive into root causes of these outcomes. Following that, Libra would provide a change transition plan to help Aspen Pumps improve their demand planning processes.

Solution

To start, an end-to-end process mapping exercise was carried out. This captured the demand planning and interdependent processes, meeting forums, documentation and information flows.

Workshops were held with all key stakeholders throughout Sales, Finance, Operations and Planning, to identify gaps in current processes. The output of which, then formed the basis of an improvement plan.

Several key themes were identified

• Lack of standardised communication processes between sales and demand planning

• Under utilisation of the existing demand planning system functionality

• Inaccuracy of key demand planning data

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Using workshops to interrogate each of these issues, action plans were generated to start finding solutions

A cutting-edge AI solution was identified to address the forecast inaccuracy. It considered multiple real-world variables to allocate each product to its optimal forecasting algorithm enabling huge improvements.

Libra created standard operating procedures to ensure that Aspen could deliver and sustain the improvements identified.

Libra’s role was critical in identifying root causes to the issues and creating deliverable plans across multiple departments.

The result was a business progressing towards optimised processes and using intelligent data to enhance their demand planning decisions.

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Results

Libra Europe successfully established frameworks and implemented meeting structures to enhance the S&OP process. We took a proactive approach by redesigning forecasting processes, ensuring they now factor in real-world external variables. We innovated by creating automated forms that streamline the sharing of sales intelligence with demand planning. Furthermore, we refined the safety stock calculation, introducing a maintenance methodology that optimally manages stock holding levels. Significant improvements were identified within the supply chain KPI suite. Notably, we boosted the accuracy of the supply chain master data and laid out a robust governance strategy for the future. After conducting a thorough data management audit, Aspen is now equipped to pinpoint areas of vulnerability within their data management processes. Additionally, we've delineated the requirements and capabilities for a future ERP system, ensuring it aligns seamlessly with their growth ambitions.