Metals supply chain planning: Enhancing service, reducing costs, and lowering inventories
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What makes metals supply chains so complex?
Metals industries are in a constant struggle to raise service levels while keeping inventory levels down and reducing costs. This arises from the inherent complexities of the metals supply chain. The good news is that this doesn’t have to be too troubling. OMP can emphatically improve delivery by aligning your various operations across plants, maximizing asset utilization and minimizing scrap and inventory.
A very complex supply chain
Yes, the metals industry relies on very complex supply chains. The market is highly volatile, typically generating large numbers of relatively small orders, varying greatly in size and complexity. Technical feasibility must be validated, and capacity must be reserved before accepting an order.
Operations are complex too, combining process and discrete manufacturing. They might even involve multiple consecutive production stages across multiple plants, some of which are operated by subcontractors.
The mix of make-to-order, make-to-stock and finish-to-order policies further complicates matters.
In addition, rising global competition and the resulting pressure on competitiveness, home markets and raw material availability mean that producers must be particularly agile and flexible. It is therefore of utmost importance that the different actors in the supply chain work closely together.
Transforming operations with advanced planning
OMP's advanced metals supply chain planning solution makes that happen. We help you and your people understand, manage, and improve every aspect of the metals supply chain planning. We give you the solution to design and manage all your operations in perfect unison.
Key processes such as forecasting, sales and operations planning, campaign planning, order promising, and detailed order planning and scheduling are perfectly harmonized, leading to continuous improvement.
Where needed, bills of material and complex routing plans are generated dynamically. And where circumstances call for it, materials can be automatically allocated to orders based on material and order attributes.
Unlock enhanced visibility and efficiency today
The results are impressive. Order confirmation is accelerated, customer lead times become shorter, and on time in full goes up. Machine utilization rates go up too, boosting labor productivity. Material margins improve, and inventory and conversion costs go down. And working capital is reduced because inventory levels are tuned to the actual order book, forecasts and available resources.
Full end-to-end supply chain visibility encourages cross-department and cross-plant collaboration, energizing everyone within your organization to embrace the comprehensive optimization of strategy, tactics and operations.
Want to unlock enhanced visibility and collaboration for your organization?
A tailored solution
Meet the experts
We understand how complex your business can be, with all the difficult trade-offs you have to make day by day. Meet our metals team.
Challenges of the metals supply chain
The market is extremely volatile, processes are long and complex, and working capital is a primary concern. Discover how OMP for Metals tackles these challenges.
Ask our experts
How does OMP for Metals address your challenges? Browse through our FAQ or submit your own question.
Check the FAQE-book: sales & operations planning in the metals industry
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Success stories
Case study
OMP drives next-level tactical planning in Outokumpu’s European business lines
Outokumpu has chosen OMP’s Unison Planning™ as a vital driver of its digital supply chain transformation. OMP will support Outokumpu’s move towards more integrated end-to-end approach in sales and operations planning.
Read the newsCase study
VDM Metals – Supply chain transparency is the key to continuous improvement
VDM Metals successfully made the challenging switch from reactive to proactive production planning. This allowed the company to shorter lead times, improve service, and reduce inventory. A remarkable achievement.
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Buderus Edelstahl improves customer service with OMP
Special steels manufacturer Buderus Edelstahl selected OMP as the partner of choice for advanced supply chain planning at their Wetzlar site. OMP assists the company in a transformation project to improve customer service and operational efficiency through standardization.
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Betafence optimizes inventory with OMP
Betafence, a leader in integrated perimeter security solutions and fencing systems, implemented OMP’s solution for supply chain planning. The company started using OMP for Inventory Optimization and Forecasting in its European Operations.
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ArcelorMittal in the cloud with OMP
ArcelorMittal had been a satisfied customer of OMP for many years, using OMP for Sales and Operations Planning. To meet the challenges of an internal IT reorganization, ArcelorMittal turned to the OMP Cloud to obtain an agile hosting solution for OMP.
Read the newsWhat our customers say
"OMP solved the right issues for our business case."
Filip Gheysens, RM&OP, S&OP and Demand Planning at ArcelorMittal
“Planners have seen that the proactive way of working is much more satisfactory.”
Michael Schickentanz, Head of Operations Planning & Master Data Management at VDM Metals
“Our goal was to reach lower stocks while maintaining the same service level for our customers. We already see the first benefits. We need less change-overs, we produce less rush orders and have less stock ruptures.”
Heidi Behiels, Group Planning Manager at Betafence
“They convinced us to work with them because we felt that they understood our business.”
Erwin Bussi, Supply Chain Manager at Industeel
“Supply chain performance analysis allows us to continuously implement further improvements.”
Marcell Sehner, Senior Vice-President of Digital Transformation and Services at VDM Metals
"OMP demonstrated their ability to deliver exactly what we need, functionally and technically. We particularly appreciate the speed and flexibility with which OMP provided us with this solution.”
David Toulotte, Head of IT Europe at ArcelorMittal