Procurement and Logistics

Customer Demand Management

The ability to respond to customer demand is a revenue enabler for any business. Successful companies ensure their supply chain is fully aligned to provide this response and thereby satisfy customers and shareholders. At SerCom solutions we encounter significant demand volatility due to the diverse range of customers and industries that we support. Many of our customers struggle to identify demand trends and we have to concentrate on other supply chain tactics to enable greater flexibility to support unplanned increases and decreases in demand.

At SerCom Solutions, we recognise that each customer has their own unique characteristics and perspectives on key supply chain areas - product life cycles, inventory goals, end customer response times, and design- driven component lead times - and that those characteristics must be at the core of our solution. We work with our customers to design a customised inventory model that supports the dynamics of their particular business. Our model focuses on the information, physical and financial flows that drive the supply chain. The availability and frequency of demand information along with required service levels allow us define the inventory rules necessary to support their end customers. The objective of this dynamic model is to ensure that the right inventory is available when and where it is needed.

We use customer forecasts and real time demand information to drive purchase order, assembly and inventory replenishment activity. The cycle time from receipt of customer demand to physical delivery can range from hours to days, depending on the customer model.

All of SerComs worldwide inventory locations are managed to very high security and warehousing standards. Initiation of material movement between SerCom and its customers is automated and can be managed by designated personnel from either party. Our SAP system is used to manage inventory transactions real-time. Our system's ability to integrate with external partners and to handle data from a wide variety of external sources, provides our customers with the ultimate in flexibility. We can have sophisticated IT integration or simply automate information from an excel document! In any case, we get customer demand information on to our systems simply and rapidly in order to initiate the response of the rest of the supply chain. Replenishment models are coded on to our SAP system and MRP is run at a frequency determined by customer information flow.

SerCom's suppliers actively respond to changes in demand and our procurement team works with them to prioritise and expedite urgent requests. We track supplier shipments and monitor short-/medium-term material shortages daily. Potential risks are proactively identified and micro-managed. All in all, customers can be assured of SerCom's proven ability to significantly enhance their supply chain performance.