Inventory In, Insights Out: How an Industrial Giant Unlocked US$ 20 M with DC-Level Planning Precision

Client

The client is a global manufacturer of industrial equipment, serving sectors such as construction, utilities, recycling, and materials processing. With operations across North America, Europe, and Asia Pacific, the company designs and supports mobile elevating work platforms and specialized machinery used in maintenance, energy, and infrastructure projects. Its focus on innovation and sustainability drives the development of electric and hybrid equipment, along with digital solutions that enhance operational efficiency.

Market dynamics

Operating in a capital-intensive, asset-heavy industry, the client faces increasing pressure to optimize supply-chain performance and improve planning accuracy. Global demand is volatile, product complexity is increasing, and distribution-center-level insight has become essential for maintaining operational agility and rigorous agile supply chain management.

At the same time, manufacturers are contending with rising customer expectations, sustainability demands, and greater localization across markets. Legacy systems, often built on hard-coded logic and static forecasts, no longer support the responsiveness that modern distribution center planning demands. 

Recognizing these shifts, the client saw an urgent need to modernize its planning capabilities taking localization needs into consideration and build a foundation for DC-level visibility and decision-making.

Need for change

Planning challenge: From mega region to DC-level visibility

Despite a growing global footprint, the client’s planning capabilities were constrained by a legacy setup that aggregated demand at the mega region level. As the business expanded and localization increased, this model no longer provided the granularity needed for effective planning.

Operating with six mega regions, the organization struggled to respond quickly to market changes. The ability to plan at the distribution center (DC) level had become essential not only for better forecast accuracy, but also for balanced inventory and faster delivery.

The existing system, built on hardcoded transformation logic and static forecasts, offered limited adaptability. As a result, the organization lacked the agility and visibility required for a modern, responsive supply chain.

Key pain points included:

• Hardcoded transformation logic that limited flexibility and scalability.
• Manual, Excel-based forecasting using historical data, which slowed responsiveness.
• Lack of DC-level visibility, making it difficult to plan accurately or optimize inventory.

Our solution

LTM partnered with the client to reshape planning from mega-region aggregation to true DC-level precision by leveraging
Kinaxis Maestro™:

• Dynamic data transformation

Replaced rigid, hard-coded rules with flexible business logic, enabling scalable, distribution center planning.

• Stronger data integrity

Streamlined data flows between ERP and Kinaxis to ensure consistent, reliable inputs for every plan run.

• Maestro™ enablement

Introduced user-defined planning and reporting features so teams can model scenarios and act quickly at the DC level.

• Process reconfiguration

Redesigned planning workflows to deliver granular visibility and real-time reporting, supporting faster, more accurate decisions.

Business Benefits

The transformation delivered tangible outcomes across planning, visibility, and scalability:

• Achieved 40% improvement in data integrity​ through consistent, reliable inputs
• Unlocked ~US$ 20 million via a 20% boost in inventory visibility and tracking
• New India sites onboarded seamlessly into the planning network​
• Custom dashboards deployed to track overall market share using external third-party data.
• Strategic Maestro™ roadmap defined, aligning platform capabilities with evolving business needs.

Conclusion

Kinaxis Maestro™ has replaced static, region-wide guesswork with a live, distribution-center pulse. Clean data now feeds quick decisions, turning tied-up inventory into working capital and shortening the path from plan to delivery. With expansion-ready workflows, market-share dashboards, and an adaptable roadmap, the client is equipped for truly agile supply chain management, confident it can meet demand at speed and scale.