With a complex product portfolio and multiple sales and service units, Metso Minerals needed to provide supply chain plan-ners around the world with a tool to decide which items to stock and where. A multitude of data ar-ticles in numerous ERP systems inhibited inven-tory visibility. Syncron helped Metso Minerals create a unified view of its global supply chain, with automatic replen-ishment based on actual sales activity. The result: decreased inventory levels and increased end cus-tomer item availability.

Since its origins in the 1860’s, evolv-ing technologies, mergers and ac-quisitions have contributed to mak-ing Metso Minerals a leading service parts supplier for equipment used

in basic industry. Today, the com-pany has manufacturing units on all continents. Regional hubs channel products and services through local sales and service units to customers around the globe.

The Customer Services department is responsible for aftermarket services and inventory fulfillment throughout the global supply chain. In order to improve its economies of scale, Metso Minerals decided some years ago to centralize its warehousing. By bringing items into fewer warehouses, Metso Minerals wished to achieve a critical mass of inventory for all markets. How-ever, inventories often proved inaccu-rate and costly, with limited availability to fast-moving items while obsolete articles were in stock.

“As for all heavy equipment manu-facturers, a key challenge for us is to optimize inventory replenishment for slow-moving items,” explains Mikko Vepsalainen, Director of Business Process Development and Informa-tion Management at the Customer Services department of the Metso Minerals Construction business line. “With certain pieces of equipment sold only 15-20 times in their lifetime, many parts are unique, adding complexity to global spare parts planning.” The main

For more information about Syncron and its solutions, visit www.syncron.com.

Metso Mineralsunifies global sup-ply chain planning

The challengeMetso Minerals has multiple manu-facturing, sales and service loca-tions worldwide, and an advanced mix of slow and fast-moving items in its product portfolio. With multi-ple ERP systems, the lack of global inventory visibility and inefficient stock levels created the need for a unified global process for supply chain planning.

The solutionSyncron’s Global Inventory Management solution

The results● Automated process for inventory replenishment● Decreased inventory levels for both slow and frequently mov- ing items● Increased item availability at the customer level● Decreased stock obsolescence● Improved visibility through- out the global supply chain, despite multiple ERP systems

About Metso MineralsMetso Minerals is the global leader in solutions for rock and minerals processing and metal recycling. Headquartered in Helsinki in Finland, Metso Miner-als has 35 manufacturing plants, as well as 135 sales and service units in 45 countries worldwide. With more than 9 000 employ-ees, Metso Minerals forms part of Metso Corporation – a US$ 7 billion-a-year group (2006) listed on the Helsinki and New York Stock Exchanges. Find out more at

www.metso.com

SYNCRON CASE STUDY

obstacle to optimizing inventory levels was the lack of global supply chain vis-ibility. Hundreds of thousands of data articles in ten different ERP systems made it difficult to achieve a unified view of items in stock.

Tool to support global growth

With accelerating business growth, Metso Minerals saw the need to cre-ate a global process for supply chain planning, to improve customer ser-vice levels and process efficiency. The company looked for a centralized supply chain planning tool that would help analyze inventory data based on actual sales activity, to generate au-tomatic replenishment orders.

“We had several critical require-ments: simplicity in user interface and implementation as well as flexibility in global adjustment,” says Mikko Vep-salainen. “More specifically, we wanted a tool that could manage planning pa-rameters not only for consumables, but also for slow-moving items that are so critical to our business perfor-mance.”

Multiple benefits with Syncron

Metso Minerals required a partner that could be relied upon for long term continuity. After evaluating sev-eral global solutions providers, Metso Minerals decided to go with Syncron, whose Global Inventory Management solution best met the business case, and where no changes to existing ERP systems were required.

”The implementation went very smoothly, with professional resources from Syncron at our disposal through-out the process,” reports Mikko Vep-

salainen. ”Within only three to six months of using the Syncron solution, our sales and service units started to realize multiple benefits; the order management process runs quicker and with less mistakes – ultimately paying off in our sales people’s bonus schemes!”

Automatic replenishment and unified view

Today, Metso Minerals can easily man-age its global supply chain through a simple web-based user interface. Purchase orders in the various ERP systems automatically generate re-plenishment proposals, securing item availability at the customer level as well as decreased inventory levels, not least of obsolete stock items.

“Without the solution from Syn-cron, we would not be in such good shape, considering our dramatic annual growth of over 20 %,” says Mikko Vepsalainen. “Also, thanks to the integrated global view of our Key Performance Indicators, Syncron’s Global Inventory Management solu-tion has improved our management information enabling better business decisions.”

Extending the supply chain network

Metso Mineral’s dealer network is an indispensable element of its custom-er interface. Consequently, the next step in unifying the company’s supply chain process is to extend the use of Syncron’s Global Inventory Manage-ment solution beyond the internal sales and service organization, to in-clude authorized dealers worldwide.

For more information about Syncron and its solutions, visit www.syncron.com.

“Without the solution from Syncron, we would not be in such good shape, considering our dramatic annual growth of over 20 %”

SYNCRON CASE STUDYMETSO

About Syncron

Syncron maximizes global supply chain performance, easily. Our groundbreaking IT solution, lev-eraging existing IT infrastructure, is rapidly implemented. Within six to twelve months, it yields perfor-mance improvements of 20-30% in three major areas: customer service levels, supply chain pro-cess efficiencies and stock level reductions. We deliver superior results to our customers through combining software expertise with extensive experience from selected industry sectors within manufacturing and distribution. To stay ahead, many world-lead-ing global companies have chosen Syncron: Alfa Laval, Atlas Copco, Electrolux, Metso, Renault Trucks, Sandvik, Smiths Aerospace, Tetra Pak, Toyota, Trelleborg, Volvo and VW. Syncron has offices around the world.

Contact SyncronFor more information and to contact Syncron, please visit syncron.com and choose your local office.