Blue Yonder Case Studies Creating a Flexible Supply Chain at Western Digital

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	Creating a Flexible Supply Chain at Western Digital Blue Yonder

Creating a Flexible Supply Chain at Western Digital

Blue Yonder

Technology Category	Platform as a Service (PaaS) - Application Development Platforms
Applicable Industries	Electronics
Applicable Functions	Discrete Manufacturing Logistics & Transportation
Use Cases	Supply Chain Visibility Inventory Management Demand Planning & Forecasting
Services	Cloud Planning, Design & Implementation Services Data Science Services
Challenge	Western Digital Corporation, a global leader in flash memory storage solutions, was facing challenges with its resource-intensive spreadsheet-based planning process. The process involved four-week planning cycles with only basic planning assumptions. The company wanted a daily integrated supply chain plan that includes demand, material supply and capacity constraints and utilization, allocation and execution objectives. They also wanted visibility into demand and supply across the entire organization, including the inventory in each segment and channel, promotion plans and supply and production plans. Furthermore, they wanted to use customer segmentation and a multilayered postponement strategy to reduce overall inventory levels while better positioning products and materials to support improved customer service. Read More
About Customer	Western Digital Corporation (formerly SanDisk) is a global leader in flash memory storage solutions. Their products can be found in many of the world’s largest data centers, embedded in advanced smartphones, tablets and PCs and at hundreds of thousands of retail stores worldwide. As their business grew, they needed to migrate from homegrown, spreadsheet-based planning tools to robust, scalable solutions that would support their expanding original equipment manufacturer (OEM) channels and retail presence. They sought an integrated advanced planning solution that would help them maintain profitable growth and maximize margins while continuing to meet customer demand and increase customer satisfaction. Read More
Solution	As Western Digital’s business grew, they needed to migrate from homegrown, spreadsheet-based planning tools to robust, scalable solutions that would support their expanding original equipment manufacturer (OEM) channels and retail presence. They chose Blue Yonder’s Luminate™ Planning solution to transform their planning processes. Western Digital leverages Blue Yonder’s advanced planning capabilities to manage demand, compute statistical forecasts and translate sell-through forecast data and actuals to sell. This allows them to effectively identify optimal inventory levels and stages and manage silicon allocation. The solution is also used to manage complex demand prioritizations, optimize supply and demand responses based on material, capacity, cost and service levels and support re-planning multiple times per day based on demand signals and what-if analysis. Western Digital leverages Blue Yonder’s Planning suite to profitably balance supply to meet demand through deployment of its carefully planned manufacturing and inventory postponement strategy. Read More Log in to view content
Contents

Technology Category

Platform as a Service (PaaS) - Application Development Platforms

Applicable Industries

Electronics

Applicable Functions

Discrete Manufacturing

Logistics & Transportation

Use Cases

Supply Chain Visibility

Inventory Management

Demand Planning & Forecasting

Services

Cloud Planning, Design & Implementation Services

Data Science Services

Challenge

Western Digital Corporation, a global leader in flash memory storage solutions, was facing challenges with its resource-intensive spreadsheet-based planning process. The process involved four-week planning cycles with only basic planning assumptions. The company wanted a daily integrated supply chain plan that includes demand, material supply and capacity constraints and utilization, allocation and execution objectives. They also wanted visibility into demand and supply across the entire organization, including the inventory in each segment and channel, promotion plans and supply and production plans. Furthermore, they wanted to use customer segmentation and a multilayered postponement strategy to reduce overall inventory levels while better positioning products and materials to support improved customer service.

About Customer

Western Digital Corporation (formerly SanDisk) is a global leader in flash memory storage solutions. Their products can be found in many of the world’s largest data centers, embedded in advanced smartphones, tablets and PCs and at hundreds of thousands of retail stores worldwide. As their business grew, they needed to migrate from homegrown, spreadsheet-based planning tools to robust, scalable solutions that would support their expanding original equipment manufacturer (OEM) channels and retail presence. They sought an integrated advanced planning solution that would help them maintain profitable growth and maximize margins while continuing to meet customer demand and increase customer satisfaction.

Solution

As Western Digital’s business grew, they needed to migrate from homegrown, spreadsheet-based planning tools to robust, scalable solutions that would support their expanding original equipment manufacturer (OEM) channels and retail presence. They chose Blue Yonder’s Luminate™ Planning solution to transform their planning processes. Western Digital leverages Blue Yonder’s advanced planning capabilities to manage demand, compute statistical forecasts and translate sell-through forecast data and actuals to sell. This allows them to effectively identify optimal inventory levels and stages and manage silicon allocation. The solution is also used to manage complex demand prioritizations, optimize supply and demand responses based on material, capacity, cost and service levels and support re-planning multiple times per day based on demand signals and what-if analysis. Western Digital leverages Blue Yonder’s Planning suite to profitably balance supply to meet demand through deployment of its carefully planned manufacturing and inventory postponement strategy.

Impact #1	Improved safety-stock inventory and on-time delivery performance metrics by more than 10%
Impact #2	Consistently delivered above 95% performance to the original customer promise date
Impact #3	Improved inventory turns and response to demand changes through strategic postponement

Impact #1

Improved safety-stock inventory and on-time delivery performance metrics by more than 10%

Impact #2

Consistently delivered above 95% performance to the original customer promise date

Impact #3

Improved inventory turns and response to demand changes through strategic postponement

Benefit #1	10%+ improvement in safety stock and on-time delivery metrics
Benefit #2	95%+ performance to promised delivery dates
Benefit #3	Significant improvement in inventory turns and response to demand changes

Benefit #1

10%+ improvement in safety stock and on-time delivery metrics

Benefit #2

95%+ performance to promised delivery dates

Benefit #3

Significant improvement in inventory turns and response to demand changes

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Overview

Creating a Flexible Supply Chain at Western Digital

Operational Impact

Quantitative Benefit