Apparel Brand Improves Sales Visibility to Increase Responsiveness

Challenge

A manufacturer and distributor of apparel and accessories was seeking greater profitability and operating efficiency. The company turned to Alexion Partners  to identify ways to reduce its working capital and improve inventory management efficiency.

Approach

Alexion Partners worked closely with stakeholders in multiple areas of the company’s operations to examine its current business processes. Based on this research and the Alexion Partners senior  team’s previous experience in this area, the team identified a number of root causes behind the company’s sub-optimal inventory management including:

• A lack of coordination across seasonal demand peaks and troughs,
• A disconnect between the sales and operations departments,
• Insufficient visibility into demand and inventory throughout the business.

The Alexion Partners team addressed these root causes by designing new systems, processes and organizational responsibilities. Through a redesigned Sales and Operations Planning (S&OP) framework and a suite of database tools, the client could now coordinate across multiple departments more efficiently and link long-term strategic plans and expectations to day-to-day operations.

Results

Alexion Partners’  recommendations for a redesigned S&OP and the set of tools were implemented by the client immediately before the project’s completion. Within months, the manufacturer gained a real-time awareness of its sales trends, which enabled the manufacturer to improve its inventory management capabilities.