"VOLMA", manufacturer of building and finishing materials, uses NF Enterprise to improve the planning accuracy in the S&OP process
About VOLMA
In Russia and in the countries of the Eurasian Economic Union, VOLMA holds the key positions in the following markets:
- gypsum partition blocks – №1
- gypsum boards – №2
- gypsum dry mix mortars – №2
Today VOLMA comprises 7 plants with more than 2000 employees. The company pays special attention to the protection of the environment, producing environmentally friendly products, as well as increasing production energy efficiency. The company aims at upgrading production and increasing production capacity by launching new production sites. As a result, VOLMA will provide the best system solution for world-class building and decoration works.
Implementation effects
"The company realized that further development is impossible without improving the quality of both operational and annual planning," says Sergey Malakhov, Head of the VOLMA Planning Management Department. "We were looking for a solution that would allow us to collect, account for, and coordinate various factors affecting the demand forecast accuracy.
In early 2018, we decided to implement the Novo Forecast Enterprise forecasting system by Novo BI. We were attracted by its functionality, as well as the possibility of easy integration with the existing IT architecture, which would allow us to use NF Enterprise as part of the S&OP process. The calculated forecasts are the source data for production scenario planning, which will be carried out by other software applications."
"VOLMA has chosen a rational project implementation strategy and divided the process into 2 stages: embedding a ready-made solution allowing to get sales forecasts in a short time, and then expanding the system functionality according to the tasks," says Alexey Baturin, Novo BI CEO. "Such an approach has a number of advantages for the client:
- quick launch of the forecasting process, which allows you to almost instantly increase the sales forecast accuracy, and consequently adjust production plans;
- involvement of employees from different departments.
When the system has already started to work and a real operating experience has been gained, you can make requests for additional functionality. Now you know exactly what else should there be in the system."
“I would like to note how convenient and user-friendly this program is. The system of factor input and coordination is rather informative and easy to use, offering a variety of parameters. Cross links are also extremely convenient, when the factor time period coincides with the range of products within one location.„
Development of additional functions
The analytics server allows you to quickly make the reasoned decision of high quality. At the second stage of the project implementation, we asked Novo BI to add a factor previously absent in the system – trade promotions. A workplace for trade marketers was agreed upon and created specifically for this purpose. It included all the main parameters of trade promotions (quantitative and cost). This significantly facilitated the work of trade marketers, because previously they had to plan trade promotions in Excel, agree upon them on paper (or in digital form), and integrate coordinated trade promotions into SAP ERP.
Now it is enough for an employee to log into the Novo Forecast Enterprise workplace, where they add and agree upon a promotion. It then will be automatically taken into account during the forecast calculation and correction, and subsequently transferred to SAP ERP."
“A huge advantage of Novo Forecast Enterprise is that it automatically chooses the best forecasting models in terms of accuracy. This dramatically increases the accuracy of the decisions and the speed of interaction with related departments„
Project goals:
- Reduce the time needed to react to external and internal changes in the market by using an automated sales forecasting system.
- Integrate the sales forecasting system into the Sales & Operation Planning process.
- Regulate the sales plan approval process, make it manageable and understandable for all participants.
- Create a library of factors that affect sales, assess the impact of the factors on demand.
- Provide the company with a unified planning environment.
Results:
- The economic impact of the system implementation amounted to 288 million rubles per year;
- The company's employees use the forecasts in their daily production planning;
- Stocks at the plants have normalized (the turnover of stocks has increased);
- Sales staff benefit from the transparency of the planning system because the factors they propose are personalized production orders;
- The level of customer service has increased;
- The risks of transport shortage have reduced; product storage costs have decreased;
- The number of adjustments to production plans has lowered.
