Company/Time frame: MWV(WestRock), Richmond, VA January 2015 – March 2016
Position: Project Manager
Project description: The chemical division uses a vast about of supplies and produces product sold around the world. Estimating demand is critical in order to insure that sufficient materials are on hand order to meet customer delivery expectations.
The current capabilities in SAP were insufficient when it came to the demand planning (anticipating sales), and supply chain planning (having the necessary supplies on hand).
Challenge: OM Partners was a European based company and so we had to overcome language and cultural differences. In addition, the software would run only in a Citrix front-end and a Oracle backend. Getting the necessary servers with the right configuration and access turned out to be a significant challenge.
Action: We embarked on a multiple phase project to fully implement the OM Partners integrated planning product. We held a kick-off meeting in Charleston, SC of all the participating parties. In addition to managing the project, I also acted as the primary interface to the infrastructure folks which were primarily based in Richmond, VA.
Result: I left WestRock before the project was completed, but I did complete the “Demand Planning” phase of the project. This enabled the chemical division to much more accurately anticipate demand (sales) by as much as 20%. These numbers directly impacted the division finances both in terms of capital requirements and revenue.