The Dinex transformation
It all started back in 2019, when Mads Kaa Schou Nielsen became responsible for the group supply chain for the OEM segment at Dinex. It was clear that a change needed to happen. A more digitalized and automated solution was long overdue.
This was the start of a transformation in the way Dinex works (and has continued to work) with their supply chain. Today, Dinex operates with an end-to-end Sales & Operation Planning including everything from customer involvement in forecasting to the purchasing and production.
Continue reading and gain insight into Mads Kaa Schou Nielsen’s consideration for the collaboration with Perito Consulting, as well as an overview of the Dinex setup and end results.
Who is Dinex?
Company: Dinex
Customer since: 2019
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Dinex Group is a leading global manufacturer of innovative exhaust and emission systems for diesel engine commercial vehicles and gas engine industry. Dinex Group produces more than 95% of all material for its complete exhaust systems – from turbo to tailpipe – including advanced emission technologies.
Data overload at Dinex
Back in 2019 when Mads Kaa Schou Nielsen started at Dinex, the first thing he noticed was the short planning horizon they were working with. The company was rarely looking more than twelve weeks ahead. This meant that the decisions they made regarding capacity were always extremely risky. Mads wanted to lengthen this timeframe and started off by having sales and operations put in place.
“We started producing lots and lots of spreadsheets and having meeting after meeting trying to figure things out: ‘How are we actually going to do this, and how do we make things work for us?.”
Once they started with the sales and operations planning, they ended up with an excess amount of data. The spreadsheets helped Dinex to pinpoint the crucial areas of their datasets. They tried to focus on the data that mattered and called the strategy the “management by exception” principle. However, the spreadsheets soon became a very heavy workload. In the end, the data became too overwhelming to handle manually. They needed a more intelligent way to handle their data:
“The spreadsheets got too heavy for us to work with. We knew we needed to optimize, we knew we needed a more digitalized and smarter solution than what we were doing.”
To fulfill its needs, Dinex scouted the environment for the right partner. On this journey, the company came across Perito Consulting and their Integrated Business Planning solution.
S&OP: Succeeding in management by exception
The initial goal was to figure out how to digitalize their spreadsheets and eliminate time spent arguing about the numbers. Instead, the focus should switch to what to do with those numbers. This is what the Perito IBP 360° solution is created for. Mads elaborates:
“This tool really helped us regarding manifesting this management by exception principle. It also helped us fill in the blanks in our spreadsheets, making our overall datasets more accurate.”
Dinex operates in different markets. In Europe, business operates according to a long customer forecast. However, in Asia, Russia etc. the environments are much more unstable, creating shorter timeframes to work with. Dinex therefore needed to fill in the gaps using forecasting:
“We needed to move to a more advanced system and get the whole cycle plotted out. We included everything we could, also inventory planning.”
Mads explains that Dinex is planning even further integration of other processes, like budgeting. Dinex’s goal is to involve more and more stakeholders as they move toward creating an even more resilient yet efficient supply chain.
Automating the management by exception principle
An automation of the ‘management by exception’ strategy was implemented into Dinex’s supply chain. This functionality would help respond to abnormal situations by automating supply chain processes. Basically, instead of focusing on all data, only the exceptions are handled manually, as they deviate from the automated and “business-as-usual” data.
Mads explains why this automation was useful for them:
“We have 1000s of SKUs, making it impossible to go through every single one of them. We basically just concluded that could never happen. Instead, we have highlighted data that needed manual attention,” he explains, and continues. We know when to react and when it is necessary to contact our customers. We can locate the specific customers we need to investigate to understand what is going on.“
Furthermore, Mads explains how once the specific customers are pinpointed, the solution makes it possible to readjust the inventories. They can tell if the inventories need an adjustment at any given time. They can redirect before it is too late.
Key results for Dinex’s S&OP
The key results of Dinex’s switch to a Perito IBP 360° solution is clear to Mads, who emphasizes especially how beneficial the transparency of their data across the company has been:
”The one thing I’m the proudest of is how everybody is included in where Dinex is heading. Everybody is looking at the same data across our different teams and locations. People are taking up more responsibility, as they can see the positive outcomes.”
Moreover, using a more intelligent system has enabled Dinex to make better and more proactive decisions. This has been particularly crucial during and in the aftermath of the Corona crisis. Along with the improvements to decision making, Dinex’s overall understanding of data has improved. By understanding the complexities of their supply chain figures, they have experienced more accurate numbers across the board:
“We have reduced our inventories quite a lot, same goes for the expedite of shipments and the like. We see the effects of having organized and upgraded from our previously poor planning.”
We are looking forward to seeing what intelligent and optimized solutions the future holds for Dinex and its supply chain, and we are excited to be part of their journey.
