Company: YKK (U.S.A.) Inc.
Website: www.ykk-usa.com
Industry: Manufacturing
Technology Platforms: SQL Server

 

Atlas Planning Suite’s advanced features and flexiblity help YKK achieve greater efficiency.

If you’ve ever touched a zipper, chances are you’ve used a YKK® product. Georgia-based YKK USA manufactures fabric fasteners such as zippers and the machines to attach them. Their YKK AP division also produces architectural products that provide crucial support for homes, offices, and other buildings. YKK USA employs more than 2,500 workers across America.

In 2005, YKK USA had hit a wall with its existing forecasting software. The $70,000 annual license fee proved to be oppressive, and its database and data loading system required that 16 hours be spent each month on formatting and setup. To move forward, YKK sought a solution that would require little or no data formatting, have a generally high level of performance, feature a strong hierarchy tool, and operate through an easy, one-time license fee.

John Galt’s Atlas Planning Suite met YKK’s speed, data loading, and hierarchy requirements with impressive value. YKK’s planners were even more surprised by some of the more advanced features of the Demand Management Engine, including on-fly hierarchy and nightly data loading through an ODBC (Open Data Base Connectivity) connection.

YKK wanted to transition directly to Atlas without significant process change, and they managed to do so smoothly in early 2006. As a result, its planners were able to save up to 5 man-hours each month on data formatting alone. The absence of steep annual license fees saved YKK an estimated $50,000 annually. Furthermore, Atlas Planning’s ability to pull numerous opinion lines from different areas of the company allowed manufacturing and planning to speak in the same terms, leading to greater efficiency.