Strategic Planning Software

SLIM (Strategic Logistics plannIng systeM) provides powerful and flexible supply chain optimisation tools for managing distribution and transportation networks at the tactical and strategic levels. SLIM minimises logistics costs while taking account of relevant constraints and can be used for applications such as strategic optimisation of fixed delivery/collection routes, calculation of the ideal locations and capacities for distribution centres or factories, optimisation of allocation of resources and assets across the network, negotiation of supply contracts, forward planning of agency or third party haulage contracts, optimisation of trunk routes and strategic supply chain planning.

SLIM provides a wide range of strategic planning software tools, including strategic supply chain optimisation, strategic network optimisation and strategic modelling tools. For further information please see the following sections.

Given forecast or actual demands by customer site or delivery point, SLIM can allocate delivery points to production or distribution centres based on supply price and transport cost. A typical example would be the supply of petrol from terminals to retail sites. Based on the supply price at each terminal, the positions of the terminals relative to the petrol station, and the total capacity of each terminal, SLIM assigns the supply to each petrol station to the best terminal.

SLIM can operate in two modes:

• It can use existing storage capacities, rules and constraints by product group (or agreed maxima and minima to be delivered from RDCs) to produce a solution; or
• It can be run unconstrained by supply, allowing the strategic planning model to calculate the ideal volumes to be taken from each RDC or production site, as well as advising on minimum/maximum stocking levels at branches and intermediate distribution points.

Commonly SLIM is also used as a price negotiation tool for situations where several suppliers offer the same product at different prices from different locations. Through consideration of transport costs, available volumes and current/projected demands, SLIM may be used to optimise the allocation of orders to suppliers. This may be done on a daily basis to make best use of existing contracts, or at a strategic level to make informed decisions about new agreements.

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MJC²'s advanced strategic planning and modelling tools can be used to address complex network optimisation problems. Our systems include powerful optimisation algorithms which can be configured to model specific operational rules and constraints to ensure accurate results. Typical applications of SLIM in this area include:

• Where is the best place to build a new production facility?
• What is the ideal location for a new depot or distribution centre?
• How should resources and assets be distributed throughout the network?
• How many more vehicles would be required to service a 10% uplift in demand?
• What is the impact of new driver regulations on the network?
• etc.

SLIM can model a wide range of businesses and operations, including logistics networks, transport operations, freight/express networks, distribution, field service operations, etc. SLIM is designed for very large, highly complex networks which cannot be modelled by conventional optimisation software, and for which it is necessary to model all rules and constraints accurately to obtain real strategic benefits.

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The SLIM toolset contains powerful optimisation systems which can be used to schedule even highly complex networks with many thousand distribution points and hundreds of supply points and depot locations. As with all our systems, SLIM is fully configurable, allowing all business rules and operational constraints to be precisely defined and implemented.

SLIM is driven by a top level graphical display of the relevant country or region, from which all data can be accessed and edited. SLIM can easily access data from other databases, and reports can be produced to suit the needs of the user, allowing company-specific management measures to be introduced and reported. Parallel 'what if' planning can be used to model the effect of different pricing strategies, new supply contracts or changing depot capacities.

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