Case Studies Vanguard Predictive Planning Case Study

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	Vanguard Predictive Planning Case Study

Vanguard Predictive Planning Case Study

Technology Category	Analytics & Modeling - Predictive Analytics Functional Applications - Enterprise Resource Planning Systems (ERP) Platform as a Service (PaaS) - Data Management Platforms
Applicable Industries	Healthcare & Hospitals Life Sciences
Applicable Functions	Business Operation Product Research & Development
Use Cases	Demand Planning & Forecasting Inventory Management Supply Chain Visibility
Services	Software Design & Engineering Services System Integration
Challenge	By 2013, when MicroVention opened its manufacturing facility in Costa Rica, unit sales and product-line growth had already begun to outstrip management’s ability to meet global demand cost effectively. The reason was simple. MicroVention was operating with inadequate technology and outdated processes for forecasting demand and planning operations. Prior to August of that year, when MicroVention implemented Vanguard Predictive Planning, sales and operations planners had to hustle through manual processes for gathering data and preparing forecasts each month. These processes were not only labor intensive, but rife with guesswork, input error and formatting inconsistencies. The result was unreliable sales forecasts, which led to faulty demand planning, ill-timed production scheduling, and unsustainably high operating costs. The company was not only wasting valuable human resources on the compilation and management of spreadsheets, the output of those spreadsheets was difficult to interpret and unfit for critical planning purposes. The situation had become untenable. Read More
About Customer	MicroVention, a subsidiary of the Japanese Terumo Medical Corporation, develops devices and technologies that treat vascular diseases and associated complications, such as brain aneurysms. MicroVention has grown rapidly since being founded in 1997 and now sells products in more than 60 countries worldwide. The company continues to introduce new products including different types of stents, occlusion balloons, polymer coils, and drainage catheters. Based in Tustin, California, MicroVention has expanded its physical footprint to include manufacturing and administrative facilities in Santa Ana and Aliso Viejo, California, and in San Jose, Costa Rica. Read More
Solution	MicroVention needed a unified, enterprise-grade solution that could reduce forecast effort, increase forecast accuracy, and streamline operations to reduce production costs and maximize sales. To do that, they would need an automated system that could expand their forecast capability with best-in-class statistical methods. This would enable planners to spot growth trends, manage new product releases and product transitions, and understand product dependencies. Management chose Vanguard Software on a trial basis to see how well its business forecasting and planning platform could improve forecast accuracy while accommodating some unique custom requirements. The software handily captured all monthly historical data and auto-generated unprecedentedly accurate baseline forecasts. From there, users learned how easily they could make adjustments and overrides in the system workflow to fine-tune historical baselines. Adjustments are generally based on sales-team foreknowledge of buyer plans and marketplace activity. Users were also able to use the system’s dynamic reporting capability to analyze forecasts by revenue, unit, region, product family, and SKU. Demand planning and production scheduling improved markedly as a result. The company now looks to install Vanguard Software’s Supply Planning module, with the expectation of lowering inventory carrying costs by 15 to 20 percent within six months of implementation. Currently, MicroVention uses Vanguard Software globally to determine business trends, allocate resources, and prioritize capital investments. Read More Log in to view content
Contents

Technology Category

Analytics & Modeling - Predictive Analytics

Functional Applications - Enterprise Resource Planning Systems (ERP)

Platform as a Service (PaaS) - Data Management Platforms

Applicable Industries

Healthcare & Hospitals

Life Sciences

Applicable Functions

Business Operation

Product Research & Development

Use Cases

Demand Planning & Forecasting

Inventory Management

Supply Chain Visibility

Services

Software Design & Engineering Services

System Integration

Challenge

By 2013, when MicroVention opened its manufacturing facility in Costa Rica, unit sales and product-line growth had already begun to outstrip management’s ability to meet global demand cost effectively. The reason was simple. MicroVention was operating with inadequate technology and outdated processes for forecasting demand and planning operations. Prior to August of that year, when MicroVention implemented Vanguard Predictive Planning, sales and operations planners had to hustle through manual processes for gathering data and preparing forecasts each month. These processes were not only labor intensive, but rife with guesswork, input error and formatting inconsistencies. The result was unreliable sales forecasts, which led to faulty demand planning, ill-timed production scheduling, and unsustainably high operating costs. The company was not only wasting valuable human resources on the compilation and management of spreadsheets, the output of those spreadsheets was difficult to interpret and unfit for critical planning purposes. The situation had become untenable.

About Customer

MicroVention, a subsidiary of the Japanese Terumo Medical Corporation, develops devices and technologies that treat vascular diseases and associated complications, such as brain aneurysms. MicroVention has grown rapidly since being founded in 1997 and now sells products in more than 60 countries worldwide. The company continues to introduce new products including different types of stents, occlusion balloons, polymer coils, and drainage catheters. Based in Tustin, California, MicroVention has expanded its physical footprint to include manufacturing and administrative facilities in Santa Ana and Aliso Viejo, California, and in San Jose, Costa Rica.

Solution

MicroVention needed a unified, enterprise-grade solution that could reduce forecast effort, increase forecast accuracy, and streamline operations to reduce production costs and maximize sales. To do that, they would need an automated system that could expand their forecast capability with best-in-class statistical methods. This would enable planners to spot growth trends, manage new product releases and product transitions, and understand product dependencies. Management chose Vanguard Software on a trial basis to see how well its business forecasting and planning platform could improve forecast accuracy while accommodating some unique custom requirements. The software handily captured all monthly historical data and auto-generated unprecedentedly accurate baseline forecasts. From there, users learned how easily they could make adjustments and overrides in the system workflow to fine-tune historical baselines. Adjustments are generally based on sales-team foreknowledge of buyer plans and marketplace activity. Users were also able to use the system’s dynamic reporting capability to analyze forecasts by revenue, unit, region, product family, and SKU. Demand planning and production scheduling improved markedly as a result. The company now looks to install Vanguard Software’s Supply Planning module, with the expectation of lowering inventory carrying costs by 15 to 20 percent within six months of implementation. Currently, MicroVention uses Vanguard Software globally to determine business trends, allocate resources, and prioritize capital investments.

Impact #1	Implementing Vanguard Predictive Planning has yielded a positive net return on investment within one year.
Impact #2	The labor hours dedicated to forecasting preparation have decreased by 90%, allowing employees to focus on more strategic tasks.
Impact #3	The forecast production and reporting cycle has been reduced from weeks to mere minutes, significantly improving operational efficiency.

Impact #1

Implementing Vanguard Predictive Planning has yielded a positive net return on investment within one year.

Impact #2

The labor hours dedicated to forecasting preparation have decreased by 90%, allowing employees to focus on more strategic tasks.

Impact #3

The forecast production and reporting cycle has been reduced from weeks to mere minutes, significantly improving operational efficiency.

Benefit #1	One Year Payback - positive net return on investment
Benefit #2	90% decrease in labor hours dedicated to forecasting preparation
Benefit #3	Reduction of forecast production and reporting cycled from weeks to minutes

Benefit #1

One Year Payback - positive net return on investment

Benefit #2

90% decrease in labor hours dedicated to forecasting preparation

Benefit #3

Reduction of forecast production and reporting cycled from weeks to minutes

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Overview

Vanguard Predictive Planning Case Study

Operational Impact

Quantitative Benefit