Key Benefits of Quintiq Macro Planner

Product Mix Optimization

Any decision to change your product portfolio must be based on substantiated data. Macro Planner facilitates a long-term assessment of your product portfolio's performance that takes into account changing customer needs. Macro Planner provides the solid information you need to create an optimal product portfolio. While considering sales contingencies and future margins, Macro Planner oversees the necessary capacities and main routings, as well as the targeted supply, such as the number of blooms, billets or slabs to be produced for a certain period.

Supply Chain Design

When considering the design of your supply chain, the following questions need careful consideration:

  • What company structure best facilitates optimal customer service?
  • In which facility should each product be produced?
  • Will the current organizational structure be able to fulfill future demand?
  • From a geographical perspective, can we meet the needs of current and future customers?

With production often spread across multiple locations and organizations, including offshore and outsourced suppliers, companies need more than category-specific or occasional spending analyses. An effective supply chain design is driven by the need for large markets that sustain economies of scale while at the same time ensuring that production is located close to customers to reduce transportation costs. Hence, the logistical planning of end-product transportation must be an integral part of your supply chain design.

Quintiq understands how difficult it is to predict the effects of a merger or acquisition on the supply chain design. When planning such an investment, Macro Planner provides concrete data to help you draw accurate conclusions regarding how the change will affect production output and what synergies will result. Having insight into the consequences of an investment beforehand allows you to make more informed, correct decisions.

Sourcing Strategy

For sourcing efficiency, determining from where and how to get your raw materials or semi-finished products must be considered on a strategic level. Your sourcing strategy should include leveraging purchasing power by creating transparency in the total demand of all your plants and minimizing supplier maintenance cost through a rationalized supply base. In addition, keeping track of supplier operations in terms of delivery accuracy and performance allows you to make informed sourcing strategy decisions when choosing raw material sources. Macro Planner takes these factors into consideration and creates an optimal sourcing strategy for your company.

Customer Service Strategy

Metal companies face exacting customers who demand high-quality results, on-time delivery and competitive pricing. To meet these demands, management must coordinate organizations and processes (including sales, engineering, procurement, suppliers, production, transportation, and service delivery) to find the right balance between customer service and manufacturing costs. The Quintiq Macro Planner helps managers find the correct balance through rational modeling and what-if scenarios. For example, it shows the effects of a selected delivery performance level (90% or 95%) in terms of required inventory levels, production costs and capacity utilization.