SHELL
centre in Krakow . We ’ re currently working with Russia , North America , Malaysia and the Philippines .”
TECHNOLOGICAL DRIVE Nonetheless , although the results from the North America simulation looked positive , Lynch explains that both the European and Asia Pacific management teams required the simulation to also be undertaken in these areas for further assurance . Tests were therefore undertaken at plants in Ghent , Belgium , as well as Shell ’ s Hong Kong plant and network .
“ They are all very different , with very different supply chains in terms of the customers they serve , the geography , the product portfolio , the networking , etc ., but all simulations produced very positive results ,” Lynch adds . With such positive test results , senior leaders tasked Lynch to source essential software to further transform the company ’ s supply chain . “ There was no way we could support this with a planner ’ s favourite tool … MS Excel ,” Lynch adds with a smile .
Whilst material requirement planning ( MRP ) capabilities in traditional enterprise resource planning systems such as SAP and Oracle remain forecast-driven , Shell looked at industry software endorsed by the Demand Driven Institute , which could not only remain compliant with Shell ’ s IT standards , but conform to the demand-driven way of doing planning across its entire business portfolio .
“ The Demand Driven Institute is run by Carol Ptak and Chad Smith , who are the authors of the bible of MRP in its current form . They have introduced demand-driven MRP as a new chapter , where they have codified the structure for how demand-driven planning should be implemented ,” explains Lynch .
“ The software had to be globally scalable , match the strict Shell IT strategy of how to buy software , and had to be cloud-based .”
Narrowing its options down in late 2016 , the company undertook extensive demos and tests , bringing demand-driven planning to fruition in under two years .
Partnering with Orchestr8 , Lynch gained leadership support and submitted the group investment proposal required to proceed
20 June 2018