The document discusses challenges faced by a company around customer service levels, escalating inventories, stocking network optimization, fixed expenses, IT support costs, and short term profit goals. It then proposes solutions provided by Baxter Planning Systems to optimize service levels and inventory, determine optimal warehouse locations, convert fixed planning expenses to variable through outsourcing, provide a hosted IT solution to reduce costs, and implement profit initiatives for short term gains.

2. Baxter Planning Systems Specifically targeting solutions to today’s challenges ; Improve Customer Service Levels Stop Escalating Inventories Optimize Stocking Network Convert Fixed Expenses to Variable Implement Profit Initiatives for Short Term Lack of IT Support / Pressure to Reduce IT Costs

3. Challenge: Service Level Customers are complaining. Increasing management escalations. Poor service influencing product sales. Penalty clauses translating to negative cash flow. “ We can’t afford downtime. Our customers have no tolerance for missed service calls .”

4. Solution: Service Level Baxter’s Field Planning to optimize service levels. Optimize inventory by location. Integrate attributes of customers, contracts, parts, products and locations into the stocking decision. Intelligent prioritization of backlog / replenishment / rebalancing 99% same-day part hit rates

5. Challenge: Escalating Inventory Inventory levels are too high. Return on Investment does not justify the Cost of Capital. Local input is often to stock full kits but that approach exceeds the local revenue. Too many parts, often positioned in the wrong location. “ We must increase the value of our business by producing returns which exceed the cost of capital used to generate those returns .”

6. Solution: Inventory Reduction Prophet compares the cost of capital with cost of missing a service call to decide on an optimal inventory plan. Prophet can take a financial plan and suggest areas to decrease stocking with minimal impact to service levels. Many businesses have reduced inventories by 40 – 50%.

7. Challenge: Stocking Network High distribution network costs. Excessive replenishment lead times. Too many / Too few warehouses to service installed base. No view of which warehouse covers which contract. “ Inventory warehouses are not keeping pace with the changing needs of our customers and the growth of our business . I need assistance deciding where to create stocking points and where to close them .”

8. Solution: Site Planning Determine optimal warehouse locations based on current installed base/contracts all possible warehouse locations target coverage/response minimum/maximum warehouses allowed Worldwide warehouse planning View results through maps Provides variety of import/export capabilities

9. Challenge: Fixed Expenses High cost to retain full Planning resources. High training costs related to resource turnover. Can’t adjust Planning resources fast enough to mirror business expansion or contraction. “ I would like to reduce the Planning staff and retain a few resources to concentrate on strategic planning and special new product introductions .”

10. Solution: Variable Expenses Outsource Planning responsibilities to Baxter Planning Systems. Reduce planning department costs with a highly efficient and effective alternative. BPS has seasoned planning professionals with vast experience with BPS tools and the service parts industry/environment. Allows for rapid implementation and ROI.

11. Challenge: Reduce IT Support Escalating IT costs under scrutiny. Lack of IT support. Inexperienced IT organization can not develop nor maintain state-of-the-art inventory planning system at cost effective levels. Long developmental lead times.

12. Solution: BPS Hosted IT ASP (application software provider) hosted solution from BPS. Hosting hardware, systems software, database software. Web interface for easy client access. Cut costs and headaches. Simplify a solution.

13. Challenge: Short Term Profit Escalating costs and revenue pressures have management scrambling to find ways to improve the profit picture. “ We need a solution in the next few weeks, not a plan that is months away .”

14. Solution: Short Term Profit Service Parts Planning can become more than a balance sheet burden but rather a viable category for profit improvement. Outsourced Planning Freight cost reduction of replenishment / rebalancing Net requirements forecasting driving repair and purchase orders to optimal levels. Minimize new purchases and repairs. Lower inventory – reduced cost of capital Higher customer satisfaction – business retention and business growth Reduction in IT related costs BPS will generate RAPID results