Press Release

Manufacturer Tames Spare Part Mix
Forecast Reduction Project Part of Company-Wide Process Improvements

Contact: Tim McGraw
media@avercast.com

March 17, 2011 - For immediate release.

Oxbo International Corporation develops and manufactures specialized harvesters for corn, beans and peas, and exports equipment to more than 20 countries. The company also orders factory repair and reconditioning for a wide range of used harvesting and application equipment sold the world over.

The company realized the value of MRP and deployed an ERP system to tighten its supply chain and implement lean manufacturing principles and practices. Through growth and mergers, the company's roster of parts became more complex and required more than managing spreadsheets based on historical and anticipated requirements. The team's challenge is to reduce inventory by 8 percent.

Much of the company's inventory is comprised of low-volume parts because of the nature of the harvesting equipment business and the limited scope of manufacturing customized replacement parts. The ERP system, though very capable, was more suitable for high-volume operations and shipped with only four forecasting formulas.

Spare parts is an important part of Oxbo's business and the team began forecasting simulations using available tools before committing to an expensive module or system. For less than the add-on module offered by the ERP system provider, Avercast with its 185 formulas offered the most options for creating and measuring forecasts. The team and company planners believe it is a giant step for containing inventory costs while increasing customer service levels.

With more than 150,000 part numbers, the company's forecast is still awork in progress. The company's six buyers and five planners use Avercast to feed a stable, predictable flow of inventory to three manufacturing facilities and five distribution centers. The team has built in the flexibility for the realities of this distributed environment without sacrificing accountability. Oxbo's re-vamped forecasting and planning contributes to a company-wide campaign to improve business practices.

About Avercast, LLC

Avercast, LLC's Enterprise level inventory forecasting and demand planning software solutions are the world’s first easy-to-use tools for companies that want to optimize inventories based on true demand. Avercast's proprietary forecasting technology includes an industry leading 185 forecasting algorithms to handle product trending, sales seasonality, new product introductions, mature and aging products, intermittent product demand, low volume and slow moving products, product promotions, and much more. Avercast, LLC is headquartered in Rexburg, Idaho USA and can be reached at 208-538-5380. Please call or visit www.avercast.com for more information and/or to schedule a personal demonstration using your company’s inventory and demand data.

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