Optimized warehouse at 230 locations


The international software and business consulting company Orbis has introduced an SAP-based business intelligence solution at ZF Friedrichshafen: the Inventory Measure Tracking Tool (IMTT).
Inventory turnover rate
In this way, ZF is creating a uniform database for end-to-end IT-supported, standardized, and transparent planning of measures, for simulations to optimize inventory at its more than 230 locations worldwide, and for efficient reporting of the inventory turnover rate (ITR).
This is an important prerequisite for increasing ITR, reducing capital tied up in inventories, and increasing free cash flow and thus profitability.
The IMTT, which is fully integrated into the central SAP Business Warehouse (BW), consists of the IMTT Action Plan application based on SAP BusinessObjects Analysis for Microsoft Office for planning and the IMTT ITR Reporting tool based on SAP Design Studio.
IMTT Action Plan simplifies planning for inventory improvement at sites. The actions can be recorded both in figures and in the form of texts and saved in SAP BW. Management can view them at any time and track them seamlessly.
Since everyone involved now has access to the same information, coordination between the central departments and the sites has improved noticeably. Based on the inventory change planning, a simulation is used to calculate how the inventory and ITR key figures will develop by the end of the fiscal year.
A comparison of the planning data with the simulation then provides information on whether a location needs to take action with regard to inventory levels and inventory turnover.
Mobile queries
Within the framework of ITR reporting, management can conveniently call up current key figures on sales, inventory, ITR or simulations at the touch of a button, on the desktop PC as well as mobile via smartphone or tablet, and is therefore always well informed.
If desired, only those sites are displayed whose ITR ratios exceed or fall below defined thresholds and which must be requested to plan appropriate measures. This is a big plus - as is the option of downloading all planned measures to an Excel spreadsheet.
The success of the BI project was due to the partnership between the ZF project team and the experts from Orbis, who solved even unusual requirements thanks to their know-how in the SAP environment and innovative consulting.
This is, for example, the currency split between the sites that work with local currency and the central ITR reporting, which is done in euros, or the development of a customer-specific Excel ribbon and Excel forms that give the action planner exactly the functions he needs.
The BI solution, which is currently used by around 350 users in the central divisions and at 150 ZF locations, is being expanded and improved. In the future, it will be possible to track inventory development broken down by raw material, finished parts, and WIP parts and to define target inventories at the monthly level.