John Deere starts up five-plant response-management deployment

Kinaxis RapidResponse will integrate with John Deere’s SAP ERP environment, facilitating immediate impact analysis of shifting demand.

By Manufacturing Business Technology Staff

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John Deere will deploy Kinaxis RapidResponse across all five manufacturing plants within its Consumer and Commercial Equipment (C&CE) division. The solution is expected to enhance this prominent manufacturer's ability to align supply with volatile demand.
RapidResponse will integrate with John Deere’s SAP ERP environment, facilitating immediate impact analysis of shifting demand. Users will access manufacturing information in an easy-to-use spreadsheet interface embedded with analytics and automatically populated with live data feeds from SAP. As demand changes, buyers and planners across five plants will be able to model ERP data to simulate inventory and component shortage conditions, determine alternate courses of action, and implement appropriate production schedule adjustments.
With broad visibility into manufacturing operations and real-time “what-if?” scenario simulation capabilities, John Deere will increase the flexibility of its manufacturing plants, minimize inventory risks, and reduce manufacturing time fences and lead times. By responding to constant change, C&CE will drive improvements in both operating performance and customer service.
“Our response management solution will help John Deere ensure its supply chain is as reliable as its products are so well known to be,” says Randy Littleson, a Kinaxis VP. “RapidResponse can provide the visibility, coordination, and decision-support tools to empower front-line staff to respond to change with speed and confidence, ultimately impacting the company’s top and bottom line.”
With a rapid time-to-value proposition, RapidResponse is expected to be operational by early 2008, in time for the company’s peak season.