CAST Aurora Software for Supply Chain Modelling
Why CAST Aurora software?
CAST Aurora is a powerful supply chain planning software
application used for global supply chain network modelling,
strategic network design and supply chain optimisation. Driven by
our proprietary e-licensing, CAST Aurora is used world-wide by
third party logistics, manufacturing, consulting and retail
companies to evaluate and identify different supply chain
strategies, leading to supply chain cost savings and service
improvements. With over 200 licenses & 1000 trained users, our
clients typically achieve a 10-15% saving on their supply chain
costs through the application of supply chain network optimisation.
CAST Aurora users are supported by experienced, local supply chain
consultants based in North America, Europe, Asia, Middle East and
Africa.
Optimising the Supply Chain Network
Supply chain network optimisation trades-off competing costs,
such as warehousing & transportation, to identify the optimal
supply chain configuration. This takes into consideration target
service lead times for forecast, or actual, supply & demand
volumes by location.
Optimising the Network Migration & Implementation Plan
By optimising the supply chain in weekly, monthly and yearly
time horizons, CAST can identify not only what the optimal supply
chain should be, but also when changes to the network should occur,
thereby optimising the network migration and implementation plan,
and realising all the potential savings identified in the strategic
review.
Optimising Supply Chain resources in a Seasonal Business
From holiday peaks in consumer markets, to harvest periods in
agriculture, seasonal variability in supply and demand puts strain
on the supply chain, resulting in higher operating costs and
reduced profit margins.
CAST Aurora can identify cost savings in a seasonal network
by:
• building stock across the network to meet seasonal peaks in
demand and seasonal falls in supply
• tactically sizing network resources by time period
• flexing capacities in the network such as adding shifts and
opening overflow warehousing
CAST Aurora can also maximise profitability in capacity
constrained networks, where demand allocation decisions need to be
made.
Perfect for Manufacturers and Retailers
Our manufacturing clients have been using CAST Aurora supply
chain network modelling software to evaluate the cost and service
impacts of alternative global manufacturing footprints, moving
operations from high cost countries in the West to low cost
manufacturing bases in Asia, Latin America and Eastern Europe.
Manufacturers are not only looking at developing markets such as
India & China as a source for low cost manufacturing, but also
as increasingly important domestic consumer markets for their
products and use CAST Aurora to identify the optimal warehouse
configuration for each market.
CAST Aurora is also used by manufacturers for medium and long
term capacity planning, to optimise the production mix by line
& plant, to customise service level offerings across their
market channels and to maximise profitability when planning for
seasonal volatility or for capacity constraints across the
network.
The world's most progressive retailers deploy CAST Aurora to
identify optimal distribution infrastructures for their national
supply chain networks, particularly as they expand product ranges;
change store configurations and develop new market channels in
response to changing consumer demands and supply chain costs.
Retailers are also using CAST Aurora supply chain modelling
software to design supply chains for overseas market expansion,
expanding home delivery and internet shopping networks and to
evaluate alternative and collaborative sourcing strategies.
Next Generation Network Optimisation:
Key Functionality & Features
Technology Platform: CAST Aurora is developed
in an advanced, 3 tiered-client server architecture. This
facilitates bigger, faster and more complex model building to match
today's increasingly globalised & fragmented supply chains. The
new architecture also offers much greater flexibility in the
deployment options available across the organisation.
Map Displays: A simple & intuitive
map-driven model building interface enables faster & easier
model building. Advanced GIS mapping capabilities enhance
visibility & understanding of supply and demand data, allowing
users to validate the supply chain.
Centre of Gravity Modelling: Calculates the
optimal number & location of warehouses for target service
delivery lead-times to customers and suppliers, considering
regional warehouse locations costs and capacities, and transport
costs.
Service Lead Time Analysis: Global geo-coding
capability allows mapping of customer service levels and transport
lead-times across actual road networks, for each supply chain
configuration tested.
Supply Chain Strategy Modelling: Multi-time
period, Mixed Integer Programming Optimisation is used to identify
the best multi-echelon, supply chain configuration to save costs,
improve service levels and maximise profits. It includes:
• Multi-units of measure, capacities, currencies & time
periods
• Multi-level Bill of Materials & Production Modelling
• Demand Allocation Profit Maximisation
• Freight consolidation optimisation
• Dedicated Transport Fleet sizing & multi-drop delivery
operations
• Inventory optimisation & stock building over time
• Stock-In-Transit Optimisation
• Fulfilment service level & Transport Lead-time service
levels
• Differentiated service levels by Customer Tier demand
classes
• Warehouse storage capacity & sizing optimisation
• Multi-modal transportation modelling
• Soft & hard constraint options
• Supply Chain Tax Optimisation
Reporting: A fully customisable Visibility
Layer permits the creation of user defined reports with an
unlimited range of formats & content. This enables rapid
interpretation of network results and cost drivers, which
accelerates the strategic decision support process in the
boardroom. Results can be exported into HTML, PDF, XLS or CSV
file formats for further review.
Please see the CAST Aurora product sheet, below