ILOG Empowers Companies to Deal with Rising Transportation and Inventory Supply Chain Costs

Logistics Insight Asia - Top Story, 7/7/2008

ILOG Inventory Analyst 7.0 and ILOG Product Flow Optimizer 7.0 bring ease of use, optimization technology and flexible reporting to supply chain customers.

ILOG has launched ILOG LogicTools Inventory Analyst 7.0 and ILOG LogicTools Product Flow Optimizer 7.0, the latest versions of ILOG's LogicTools Suite of Supply Chain Applications that help companies reduce costs while maintaining high customer service levels for manufacturers, retailers and distributors. The ease-of-use features address frequent integration issues that prevent organizations from adopting an inventory optimization tool. ILOG Product Flow Optimizer 7.0 allows supply chain managers to evaluate the trade-offs between logistic and inventory costs to determine the optimal path of each product from the distribution center to the customers.

The costs associated with storing and managing inventory are rising rapidly. According to the 18th Annual State of Logistics Report, published by the Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals, inventory carrying costs rose 49 percent between 2002 and 2006. Globalization and increased complexity in supply chain management make it difficult to identify the true drivers of inventory costs. Tools like ILOG Inventory Analyst help develop global inventory optimization strategies to improve inventory turns and free up working capital, increasing cash availability as a result. ILOG Product Flow Optimizer enables the creation of stocking and distribution strategies that analyze trade-offs between transportation, warehousing, inventory carrying costs and service requirements, providing the optimal path of delivery from the source directly to consumers.

"While the value of inventory optimization is unchallenged, rising fuel costs have placed even more attention on every aspect of cost within the supply chain," said David Simchi-Levi, professor at MIT, co-author of "Designing and Managing the Supply Chain" and Chief Science Officer at ILOG. "The ability to manage your inventory and customer service levels more effectively will reduce unnecessary expediting and hence transportation costs. ILOG's Inventory Analyst 7.0 and ILOG Product Flow Optimizer 7.0 address these challenges, integrate easily with existing enterprise resource planning (ERP) solutions and complement ILOG's advanced planning and scheduling software. The enhanced ease of integration and ease-of-use features improve the return on investment in inventory optimization and eliminate the barriers to broader adoption of the technology."

ILOG, www.ilog.com.