Trek Manages Global Demand and Inventory Process with Atlas Planning Suite
COMPANY: Trek Bicycles
WEBSITE: www.trekbikes.com
INDUSTRY: Consumer Goods
COMPANY TYPE: Privately Held
JOHN GALT SOLUTION: Atlas Planning Suite
Company
Trek is one of the largest and most respected bicycle manufacturers in the world. It builds and distributes hundreds of different bicycles and related equipment globally. To optimize this complex supply chain in an efficient and responsible way, Trek uses over a dozen distribution centers strategically placed in markets and near manufacturing.
Challenge
By the nature of their business, Trek faced a host of difficulties in building effective demand plans. Their product line is large and diverse, with very frequent turnover and new product introductions. Trek also faces a major global planning challenge, because similar product models may require different part configurations for different regions. Complicating the issue further is Trek’s global supply chain, which involves lengthy lead times from numerous global suppliers and manufacturing locations. Although Trek owned a demand and inventory management software platform, that tool had reached its limit in scalability in support of Trek’s business, and was unable to support the growing needs of Trek’s combined demand and supply planners.
Solution
Trek needed a system that could manage this global process more effectively, allowing for more data to be grouped and forecasted, and with superior ease of use. After a long search, Trek chose the Atlas Planning Suite to address their global planning needs. The Atlas Planning data warehouse gave Trek the flexibility they needed to plan their demand at any effective level of grouping, across a broad range of time zones and regions, and with the potential for future expansion. Atlas Planning also offered a superior user experience, with a streamlined interface and powerful exception management that allowed Trek’s planners to zero in on the most important products and areas of focus. To take advantage of Atlas, Trek immediately rolled out the system to 6 global offices, including 12 major business segments.
Benefit
Atlas Planning delivered value to Trek immediately. Within the first year, the savings and improvements experienced by Trek paid for the large global implementation. Trek has been able to initiate an S&OP process through the improved reporting offered by Atlas. Moreover, Trek integrated an entirely new division into its new solution in less than 2 months, building a planning process where none had existed before and ensuring that enterprise planning would remain integrated. In the future, Trek plans to expand its John Galt implementation to include capacity planning, raw material planning at the supplier level, and extended S&OP. “Atlas has delivered everything we need for our global process, and more,” said Ross Stevens, Senior Demand Planning Analyst at Trek Bicycle.
“Atlas has delivered everything we need for our global process, and more.”
Ross Stevens, Senior Demand Planning Analyst, Trek Bicycle
