Sibelco, a leading provider of industrial minerals and material solutions, has begun to use OMP Plus for Forecasting in their European operations, after an implementation period of only four months. Good forecasting is essential to work more proactively, and prepare for what customers need before they have actually placed their orders. OMP Plus helps Sibelco focus on a wider time horizon than just the current order book.

As a company upstream in the supply chain, Sibelco attaches great importance not only to advanced statistical forecasting, but also to collaborative forecasting with all stakeholders. After a convincing demonstration of OMP Plus’ capabilities in these areas, Sibelco was delighted with OM Partners’ powerful and advanced solution. A joint decision was made to use a phased approach, focusing first on the current forecasting process and a gradual onboarding of all business units. The project kicked off at the end of October, and has already gone live in February. Later stages of the project will focus on continuous improvements of the process as well as on financial forecasting.

Sibelco appreciated that OM Partners could provide advice and coaching on Sibelco’s responsibilities, such as data and change management, and test planning. Kurt De Kempeneer explains: “We selected OMP Plus for Forecasting knowing it was a state-of-the-art tool with a top class user interface. But during the project, we were also impressed by OM Partners excellent project management abilities.”

Øystein Gulliksen, European Supply Planning Manager at Sibelco explains: “At Sibelco, operational excellence is one of our core values. We take pride in being a global material solutions company with focus on our customer needs and requirements. As a consequence, forecasting is an essential building block in our Sales & Operations Planning. One of the challenges in our day to day business is to react to and serve faster our customers’ ever changing needs while lowering costs and optimizing inventories. To respond to this, the OMP Plus application helps us take our process to a more mature level by providing a structured forecasting environment, facilitating for a more time efficient process and greater cross-functional collaboration."

Gulliksen adds: "During the project we also experienced that OM Partners’ commitment goes beyond just delivering a tool. We are pleased to see that OM Partners has shown a true understanding of our business and challenges, and a strong commitment to help us achieve these goals. We believe we have found a genuine business partner who helps us improve our business and deliver on our core values.”

Luc Bongaerts, Senior Business Development Manager at OM Partners says: “Sibelco has a clear vision on their supply chain roadmap and is ready to embark on a journey to improve its worldwide operations. It is a pleasure to work with such a small and strong team, dedicated to succeed and empowered by the top management. We are pleased that Sibelco connects the supply chain of raw materials with that of many of our other customers. This journey will undoubtedly improve planning in the extended enterprise.”

 

About OM Partners

OM Partners is the best-in-class software and consulting company that offers Supply Chain Planning Solutions for the metals, plastics, floor covering, paper & packaging, chemical, pharmaceutical, food & beverage, consumer goods and other industries worldwide.

OM Partners has developed into one of the most important players in the Supply Chain Planning market since its founding in 1985.

OM Partners’ flagship product, OMP Plus, is a comprehensive solution for all planning related issues, from the strategic down to the operational level. OMP Plus makes integrated demand planning, supply planning and scheduling a reality.

OM Partners has headquarters in Belgium and offices in the USA, China, the United Arab Emirates, Brazil, France, the Netherlands, Germany and the United Kingdom.  

Contact

Luc Bongaerts, Business Development Manager
Phone: +32 3 650 22 44
E-mail: Lbongaerts@ompartners.com