Elekta, which manufactures equipment for cancer treatments, says it is implementing inventory planning and forecasting technology to help speed up replacement parts for customers. Mark Purchase, project manager at Elekta, reckons the Inform system AddOne Inventory Optimiser will enable his firm to forecast demand for spare parts, despite the complex nature of the equipment and customers spread across 60 countries.
"We run a low-volume but complex operation to install, maintain and support 2,000 sites globally," explains Purchase. "Because of the mission-critical nature of the parts support operation, we need to ensure all of our customers maintain maximum use of their investment in patient treatment systems," he adds.
Elekta's central spares division is located in Holland and distributes 12,000—15,000 shipments per year to customers in the American, European and Asia Pacific regions.
The new system will, he says, be integrated into Elekta's existing ERP system, and is expected to enable 98% in-region availability of spare parts, so that engineers can resolve customer problems within hours.
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