Infor SCM Demand Planning to Improve Forecasting, Inventory and Service for Global Pharmaceutical Company

Infor, a leading provider of business application software serving over 70,000 customers, today announced that global pharmaceutical organisation, Mundipharma International, has selected Infor SCM Demand Planning to improve the alignment of supply and demand across eight European countries, whilst optimising inventory and service levels.

News points
• Infor SCM Demand Planning will replace Mundipharma’s spreadsheet-based planning system, which hampered visibility and no longer supported the company’s needs.
• The solution will increase visibility across Mundipharma’s complex supply chain which is comprised of independent associated companies (IACs) which are responsible for sales, marketing and logistics in their respective countries; a European distribution centre in Holland; and multiple third party suppliers.
• Infor SCM Demand Planning will improve Mundipharma’s demand forecast accuracy, helping to improve availability of its products and reduce inventory.
• IACs will have the ability to add local market intelligence to demand forecasts enabling demand to be managed more tightly.
• Mundipharma selected Infor from a shortlist of seven, having initially discussed its requirements with leading analyst, Gartner.
• Mundipharma cites the user-friendliness of Infor SCM Demand Planning; third party collaborative capabilities; system security; ability to scale to meet growth plans; and proven capabilities in the pharmaceutical industry as key to its investment.
• The system is expected to go live in November 2011 for 21 users across the UK, France, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Holland, Belgium, Ireland, Austria, Denmark, and Switzerland.

Mundipharma quote
“Ensuring the availability of products is absolutely imperative in our industry, therefore we need a demand planning system which leaves no margin for error, and enables us to meet demand, while minimising oversupply,” comments Warren Eagling, European supply chain manager, Mundipharma. “We were impressed by the capabilities of Infor SCM Demand Planning, in particular, its ability to support our complex supply chain, which is comprised of numerous third parties.”

Infor quote
“Any company which works with third party sales & distribution and manufacturing organisations in their supply chain, faces complexity in aligning demand precisely with supply,” comments Pieter Leijten, vice president supply chain EMEA, Infor. “In the pharmaceutical industry, where product availability is absolutely critical, spreadsheets simply cannot facilitate this alignment effectively. To optimise service whilst reducing inventory and obsolescence costs, proven demand planning software is key.”