WEST CHESTER, Penn. – June 23, 2004 – Prescient, a leading provider of retailer-centric software and services for consumer products companies, announced major supply chain and customer service-level improvements achieved by its client PaperPak Products Inc., a $160-million global manufacturer in the consumer products industry. By leveraging Prescient’s supply chain planning suite, PaperPak transformed a critical relationship from mere tactical compliance to a truly collaborative partnership, culminating in the company’s receipt of “Supplier of the Year” status from its largest trading partner Cardinal Health.
Facilitating a compliance-to-collaboration approach to supply chain planning, Prescient’s award-winning software is uniquely tailored to help manufacturers and distributors meet the varied initiatives and compliance mandates of their trading partners without compromising their own business objectives.
Through its comprehensive suite of software modules focused on planning, collaboration and measurement, Prescient’s software has driven supply chain efficiencies across the board for PaperPak. This has allowed PaperPak to improve its relationship with Cardinal Health, the publicly held, $50-billion provider of products and services supporting the health care industry. PaperPak turned to Prescient when Cardinal required the manufacturer to implement a vendor-managed inventory (VMI) program. Cardinal was clear about expected results: lowered inventory levels at Cardinal distribution centers and a significant improvement in supply chain performance metrics, guaranteeing Cardinal a minimum 98-percent service level.
“We knew we needed a technology partner with the right combination of functionality, flexibility and cost to collaborate with Cardinal on its terms without raising our own inventory risk or shouldering additional costs,” said Lisa Anderson, vice president of product supply, PaperPak Products. “We evaluated the supply chain software heavyweights, but they didn’t stack up to Prescient. Prescient’s software ultimately usurped a temporary solution, IBM Inforem system, because of its ability to cost-effectively support the many forecasting nuances that were critical to our ability to drive a successful and mutually beneficial VMI relationship with Cardinal.”
Through its partnership with Prescient, PaperPak has facilitated a world-class VMI program, obtaining a real-time view of demand, optimizing pallets and truckloads, lowering inventory, and increasing service levels. PaperPak’s demand planners can now view orders and resolve supply chain issues in real time, like those relating to seasonality and backorders, to make better-informed forecasting and replenishment decisions.
The improvements PaperPak has achieved in the areas of service, lead time, and inventory turnover have enabled the company to obtain the coveted status of preferred supplier from Cardinal without experiencing a drain on internal resources or profitability. Based on the success of its VMI program, today PaperPak relies on Prescient not only to drive improvements with trading partners but also to support internal forecasting. PaperPak expects to increase its own productivity and manufacturing efficiencies through the development of more accurate forecasts and budgets.
“PaperPak represents an excellent case study on Prescient’s ability to foster collaborative relationships out of compliance mandates,” said Jane Hoffer, president and CEO of Prescient. “Trading partners that are agile enough to collaborate in a way that makes the most sense for each relationship and address each partner’s unique requirements are poised to take maximum competitive advantage.”
