Qlik Case Studies FE Global Electronics improves profitability with QlikView

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	FE Global Electronics improves profitability with QlikView Qlik

FE Global Electronics improves profitability with QlikView

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Technology Category	Analytics & Modeling - Real Time Analytics Application Infrastructure & Middleware - Data Exchange & Integration
Applicable Industries	Electronics Retail
Applicable Functions	Logistics & Transportation Sales & Marketing
Use Cases	Inventory Management Real-Time Location System (RTLS) Supply Chain Visibility
Services	Data Science Services System Integration
Challenge	FE Global Electronics, a leading electronic components distributor in the pan-Asia region, faced challenges due to its broad distribution coverage and complex web of supplier and customer relationships. The company had trouble getting consistent, timely, and visual information from its legacy systems and other data sources, in addition to its SAP ERP system. This lack of timely and correct information made managing inventory a major headache. The organization faced several problems of increasing and aging inventory, identifying and managing demand and consumption patterns, and managing obsolescence. Managers lacked timely and enough information on receivables aging, which affected cash flow and increased bad debt. Compounding the problem, the company had been unable to get its A/R information in foreign currencies to understand exposure and minimize currency exchange losses. Read More
About Customer	Established in 1990, FE Global Electronics is one of the leading electronic components distributors in the pan-Asia region, spanning 10 countries (China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Korea, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan and Thailand) with more than 45 regional offices. The company provides products and value-added services of material management solutions, design and development to customers in information technology, consumer electronics and telecommunications. The business runs at very competitive margins, so cash flow is critical to its success. FE Global has undergone lightningspeed growth, from $5 million in 1991 to $550 million in 2004. It has more than 700 experienced staff worldwide and deals with more than 80 major suppliers and 1,000 active customers. Read More
Solution	FE Global embarked on a Business Intelligence (BI) initiative to better analyze – and therefore improve – performance. The team looked at the traditional OLAP-based products, but selected QlikView to extract and consolidate data from their various business sources and provide a common view of the various business Key Performance Indicators to their decision makers. QlikView would eliminate this problem through consolidated reporting – extracting data from the sales, financial and inventory modules in the company’s ERP systems, and budgeting and forecasting information from spreadsheets – with easy to understand visual elements like graphs, charts and dashboard gauges. Moreover, the resulting information would be timely enough to provide actionable views of the business. The team developed “proof of concepts” for each functional area to help guide the users along. Read More Log in to view content
Contents

Technology Category

Analytics & Modeling - Real Time Analytics

Application Infrastructure & Middleware - Data Exchange & Integration

Applicable Industries

Electronics

Retail

Applicable Functions

Logistics & Transportation

Sales & Marketing

Use Cases

Inventory Management

Real-Time Location System (RTLS)

Supply Chain Visibility

Services

Data Science Services

System Integration

Challenge

FE Global Electronics, a leading electronic components distributor in the pan-Asia region, faced challenges due to its broad distribution coverage and complex web of supplier and customer relationships. The company had trouble getting consistent, timely, and visual information from its legacy systems and other data sources, in addition to its SAP ERP system. This lack of timely and correct information made managing inventory a major headache. The organization faced several problems of increasing and aging inventory, identifying and managing demand and consumption patterns, and managing obsolescence. Managers lacked timely and enough information on receivables aging, which affected cash flow and increased bad debt. Compounding the problem, the company had been unable to get its A/R information in foreign currencies to understand exposure and minimize currency exchange losses.

About Customer

Established in 1990, FE Global Electronics is one of the leading electronic components distributors in the pan-Asia region, spanning 10 countries (China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Korea, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan and Thailand) with more than 45 regional offices. The company provides products and value-added services of material management solutions, design and development to customers in information technology, consumer electronics and telecommunications. The business runs at very competitive margins, so cash flow is critical to its success. FE Global has undergone lightningspeed growth, from $5 million in 1991 to $550 million in 2004. It has more than 700 experienced staff worldwide and deals with more than 80 major suppliers and 1,000 active customers.

Solution

FE Global embarked on a Business Intelligence (BI) initiative to better analyze – and therefore improve – performance. The team looked at the traditional OLAP-based products, but selected QlikView to extract and consolidate data from their various business sources and provide a common view of the various business Key Performance Indicators to their decision makers. QlikView would eliminate this problem through consolidated reporting – extracting data from the sales, financial and inventory modules in the company’s ERP systems, and budgeting and forecasting information from spreadsheets – with easy to understand visual elements like graphs, charts and dashboard gauges. Moreover, the resulting information would be timely enough to provide actionable views of the business. The team developed “proof of concepts” for each functional area to help guide the users along.

Impact #1	With QlikView, the most current information is always available to users, who can identify inventory problems before they affect supplies to their customers.
Impact #2	QlikView provides FE Global with a multi-currency view, eliminating exchange issues.
Impact #3	Now, users from the finance department can track Accounts Receivable on the click of a button.

Impact #1

With QlikView, the most current information is always available to users, who can identify inventory problems before they affect supplies to their customers.

Impact #2

QlikView provides FE Global with a multi-currency view, eliminating exchange issues.

Impact #3

Now, users from the finance department can track Accounts Receivable on the click of a button.

Benefit #1	FE Global has increased inventory turns and reduced average inventory by about 15 %.
Benefit #2	The company has reduced the aging of receivables by 20 % – significantly strengthening its cash flow position.

Benefit #1

FE Global has increased inventory turns and reduced average inventory by about 15 %.

Benefit #2

The company has reduced the aging of receivables by 20 % – significantly strengthening its cash flow position.

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Overview

FE Global Electronics improves profitability with QlikView

Operational Impact

Quantitative Benefit