A family affair: SYSPRO unveils another “pragmatic” inventory optimization solution

Midmarket ERP software supplier SYSPRO is continuing its campaign to offer what it terms “pragmatic” solutions with the release of a new inventory optimization module. The company says the newly unveiled Families and Groupings module is the second in a series of three solutions that will be known as the SYSPRO Inventory Optimization Suite.

By Manufacturing Business Technology Staff December 13, 2007

Midmarket ERP software supplier SYSPRO is continuing its campaign to offer what it terms “pragmatic” solutions with the release of a new inventory optimization module. The company says the newly unveiled Families and Groupings module is the second in a series of three solutions that will be known as the SYSPRO Inventory Optimization Suite.This suite seeks to improve business forecasting and leverage Lean Manufacturing principles, the company says.The Families and Groupings module collects and aggregates common inventory stock codes into sophisticated categories designed to predict and forecast business inventory more accurately, according to a SYSPRO press release.The release also described the module as “an important component of SYSPRO’s new micro-vertical marketing strategy aimed at midmarket manufacturing companies in the food, electronics, machinery & equipment, and medical device industries.” The release noted, however, that the solution is “completely customizable to any manufacturing environment where a high number of stock codes or stock keeping units (SKU) impact the forecasting of individual stock items.”The SYSPRO Inventory Optimization suite is comprised of:•••SYSPRO officials say the Families and Groupings module was built in recognition of the fact that the manufacturing industry operates around sophisticated category groupings that can significantly impact a company’s ability to forecast and manage needs versus profits.A “family” generally refers to a collection of SKUs where a hierarchy and a logical relationship exist between them. For example: Apple juice is packaged in 300ml, 500ml, 1L, 1.5L and 2L plastic bottles. This product also would be a member of the Pure Fruit Juice “family.” Families are best observed by examining an organization’s price list and are mostly used in the outbound’ or sales view of the SKUs.A “group” generally refers to a single level collection of SKUs that is used when arranging SKUs for storage or internal analysis. For example: the 300ml plastic bottle would be a member of the Plastic Packaging ‘group’ of SKUs. Groups are best observed by examining an organization’s logistics view and may be used to create ‘inbound’ (i.e., supplier) ‘home’ or ‘outbound’ views of collections of SKUs.The SYSPRO Families and Groupings module also enables a demand history view, as well as a Pareto analysis of levels of families and groupings.