Meyyappan Ramanathan, VP Enterprise Applications, discusses how S/4HANA® Fashion was used to address issues faced by a European Sportswear brand in our webcast series, Insights from the Field.
The global sportswear brand was operating with an aging back-end IT system, which limited its ability to increase speed-to-market and achieve real-time inventory visibility.
To overcome some of the problems in running real-time inventory checks and confirmation, custom solutions were developed but these solutions were reaching its shelf-life due to the increasing demand for greater visibility, agility, and frictionless operations.
Business Problem
- Legacy ERP wasn’t capable of providing real-time availability checks and confirmation
- The customer couldn’t run through the entire order book and reconfirm orders based on priority
- Legacy system didn’t have out-of-the-box stock assignment capability
SAP S/4HANA In Action
This sportswear company’s supply assignment, order allocation, and inventory planning processes were already under pressure from managing an increasing number of items and locations. It became crucial to respond to changes in the supply chain and balance supply and demand without incurring losses.
With the help of S/4HANA Fashion, the process was completely revamped, enabling real-time inventory visibility, and significantly enhancing on-time delivery for fulfillment commitments and real-time order confirmations.
Back Order Processing
Furthermore, Advance ATP combined with ‘BOP (Back Order Processing) engine’ was used to run availability checks, reconfirm, and complete all order book requirements.
This gave them greater visibility into inventory and the ability to prioritize sales orders for the most important customers while improving inventory turnover and orchestrating deliveries in a timely manner.
They were able to prioritize sales orders for the most crucial clients, improve inventory turnover, and coordinated deliveries.
Supply Assignment
Another area of focus for the company was “Supply assignment,” which was also carried out in conjunction with advanced ATP.
This easily solved the need for out-of-the-box stock assignment, ensuring that supply is distributed to open requirements in sales orders and stock transport orders.
Future Growth
SAP S/4HANA Fashion optimized this sportswear company’s order fulfillment process, paving the way for future growth and innovation, all while overcoming challenges from loss prevention and inventory tracking to omnichannel fulfillment.