Supply chain management specialist Logility this week released version 8 of its flagship Voyager Solutions offering, a suite of SCM and planning tools that benefits from the integration of the inventory management software Logility acquired in its March takeover of Optiant, Inc.
The company is still working behind the scenes to integrate the look-and-feel of the Inventory Optimization module, but Voyager 8 features full integration of the associated functionality, officials told Managing Automation. The module is well-suited to planning multi-echelon inventory optimization and product postponement strategies, according to Ron Burnette, Logility’s product director.
In the postponement arena, Burnette offered the example of a drill maker that differentiates a core product by adding different color grips and triggers to its drills. When those finishing touches are added, the company limits its delivery options to those retailers that sell that precise model. Voyager 8, he said, allows the drill maker to make those decisions based on demand at the retail level.
“If I hold back and manage that postponement back before I put that product differentiation on,” Burnette said in a recent briefing, “I don’t have as much cost added to it and I can then more quickly deploy that product to other customers based on what their demand patterns are going to be.”