COMPANY: Fram
WEBSITE: www.fram.com
INDUSTRY: Consumer Goods, Automotive
COMPANY TYPE: Public
JOHN GALT SOLUTION: Atlas Planning Suite
Company
Known as America’s number one oil filter brand, Fram is a leading producer of a variety of quality oil, air and fuel filters, as well as many accessories and car care products. With headquarters in Cleveland, OH, the company serves international markets across the world with its automotive aftermarket and OEM products, which include category leaders such as Autolite® Spark Plugs and Ignition Wire Sets, FRAM® Oil, Air, Transmission and Fuel Filters, Prestone® Antifreeze/Coolant, as well as Holts® Car Care products.
Fram is a $2 billion global business within Fram Transportation Systems with six premium automotive brands and approximately 7,500 employees. The company’s products are sold at thousands of retail locations including Wal-mart, Pep Boys and AutoZone through its eleven distribution locations.
Challenge
As Fram’s business grew across multiple distribution locations, the company found itself with an inefficient planning process and forecasting requirements that went beyond the capabilities of their ERP system.
Incorporating input from the sales team became increasingly difficult and laborious, making it hard for the demand planners to establish an accurate baseline forecast and maintain a lean supply chain.
Fram’s time-consuming planning process was prone to errors, leading to inaccurate forecasts that made it challenging to plan for future demand. This process also affected production schedules and led to increased costs and reduced line fill rates, which could cause delays in customer orders and negatively impact customer experience.
After careful consideration, the planners at Fram decided to search for a new solution that could offer superior forecasting capabilities and extend the capabilities of their ERP solution.
Solution
Fram selected the end-to-end supply chain planning solution Atlas Planning Platform from John Galt Solutions based on its powerful forecasting capabilities and high flexibility to grow with the company’s expanding supply chain process.
The implementation of Atlas provided Fram with advanced capabilities for demand planning with the ability to create accurate forecasts. With increased visibility into future demand, the company is able to make better decisions about inventory levels and production schedules, as well as respond quickly to changes in demand to better meet customer needs.
Benefit
Since the implementation of the Atlas Planning Platform and integration with SAP ERP, Fram has consistently improved forecast accuracy. Forecast error has dropped by 25%, which has led to a reduction in excess inventory and improved line fill rates.
The platform has also provided the company with real-time visibility into inventory levels, which has improved the team’s ability to respond to changes in demand quickly.
Fram has established a more robust demand planning process that supports decision-making for superior business outcomes.
