News: Travis Perkins is first in UK to deploy Barloworld SCS’s CAST Aurora Software
The Travis Perkins Group has become the first UK company
to deploy the new CAST Aurora supply chain network modelling
software, from Barloworld Supply Chain Software (SCS).
The leading builders' merchant and home improvement retailer has
employed Barloworld SCS's CAST software for over five years to help
optimise its supply chain network, and has now upgraded to the
recently launched CAST Aurora, a software package that is said to
help companies achieve typical savings of 10-15% within their
supply chains.
The Travis Perkins Group comprises 18 businesses including
Travis Perkins, Wickes, BSS Pipeline and Heating Solutions, PTS
Plumbing Trade Supplies, City Plumbing Supplies, Tile Giant and
Toolstation, and its supply chain operation services the daily
requirements of more than 1,850 retail and distribution sites
across the UK.
"Accelerated investment in CAST Aurora allows us to maximise the
benefits the software can bring to our Group and puts us at the
leading edge of supply chain design in the UK," says Richard
Horton, Transport Development and Planning Manager, at The Travis
Perkins Group.
"Previously you had to present candidate depot locations for the
software to consider, but the latest developments to CAST enable us
to identify the required number of locations, their ideal position
geographically and timings revolving around their opening." Richard
adds.
CAST is a well-established decision support software
application, which is used for supply chain modelling, strategic
network design and optimisation. New CAST Aurora offers even faster
and more complex modelling capabilities, as Fraser Ironside, Head
of Strategic Modelling at Barloworld SCS, explains.
"Technological developments have helped to enhance the
software's capabilities. Scenarios that previously may have
taken hours to run through the software can now be carried out in
minutes, in a single sitting" says Fraser, explaining that users
can now try more scenarios, more regularly.
A key feature delivered by the new CAST Aurora, is the multi
time period function, which enables companies to not only identify
the ideal location for warehouses, for example, but also the ideal
times to open and close warehousing facilities. It also considers
seasonal peaks and falls in demand and supply. "CAST Aurora can
flex capacities in the network and tactically size resources by
time period" Fraser says.
"Having worked with the CAST software for over ten years, I've
found Barloworld SCS to be a great company to work with," Richard
Horton adds. "The company involves its customers in the
development of software, with user forums providing the opportunity
for suggestions, which are usually then incorporated into
subsequent software releases"
Barloworld SCS has acknowledged Travis Perkins for being the
first UK company to fully deploy CAST Aurora. Jim Wilson,
Strategic Planning Product Manager at Barloworld SCS, presented
Richard Horton with the award in June.
"We invite all Barloworld SCS users to share their
feedback and experiences through an annual forum and we endeavour
to incorporate their suggestions and requirements into our
software" says Fraser. "Involving such leading UK companies as
Travis Perkins in the development of CAST is key to its continued
success as the premier supply chain decision support software."
CAST Aurora was officially launched at the Multimodal exhibition
at Birmingham's NEC in April 2011, and is the latest addition to
Barloworld SCS's suite of supply chain modelling and inventory
optimisation software products, and can be used by third party
logistics, manufacturing, consulting and retail companies to
evaluate and identify different supply chain strategies, leading to
significant cost savings & service level improvements.