Elekta, manufacturer of equipment for the treatment of cancer and brain disorders, has selected advanced inventory planning and forecasting technology from INFORM to ensure replacement parts can be delivered to customers in the quickest possible timescales.

INFORM’s add*ONE Inventory Optimizer will enable the company to forecast demand for spare parts, despite the complex nature of the equipment and customers that are spread across 60 countries.

Project manager at Elekta, Mark Purchase, says: “We run a low-volume but complex operation to install, maintain and support 2,000 sites globally. Because of the mission-critical nature of the parts support operation, we need to ensure all of our customers maintain maximum use of their investment in patient treatment systems.”

Elekta’s central spares division is located in Holland and distributes 12,000-15,000 shipments per year to customers in the American, European and Asia Pacific regions. INFORM’s product will be integrated into Elekta’s existing Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system, to enable 98 per cent in-region availability of spare parts – so that engineers can resolve customer problems within hours, confident that they will always have the right parts to hand.

“We have worked closely with Elekta to create a specific demand and inventory model. It’s based on our standard software and proprietary forecast and optimisation engines. These will allow them to accurately predict fluctuations in customer demand and propose cost-optimised replenishments from their global central warehouse into the regions,” adds Cathy Humphreys, UK country manager at INFORM. “This will reduce the overall stock levels and associated cost, and – crucially – provide a turbo-boost to its service levels.”

Installation and testing will begin in February and the anticipated go-live date is April 2010.