Cost containment and profit generation have always been the priorities of service parts operations. With the right strategies, support, and planning in place to maintain a robust service parts business, the potential for organizational growth and profitability is infinite. In fact, for many companies, service and parts sales are often far more profitable than the sales of their manufactured goods. And in times of economic downturn, service and parts sales are often far more robust than the main business: Assets are utilized longer – increasing the demand for service parts.

By synchronizing parts planning, warehousing, and fulfillment processes in real-time, companies have been able to:

• Increase margin through reduced supply chain costs, increased inventory turns, and optimized parts prices
• Optimize working capital through decreased inventory levels, lower obsolescence and loss, and reduced in-transit inventory
• Increased service supply chain efficiency through high process automation, management by exception, and efficient operations of warehouses
• Deliver superior and profitable customer service via quick response to customer requirements and improved on-time delivery

SAP Solutions for Service Parts Planning and Logistics

SAP solutions for service parts planning and logistics achieve these results by integrating parts planning, procurement, order administration, warehouse management, reverse logistics, and analytic activities into one comprehensive service parts management solution. Your system can be made accessible to everyone in your extended service parts supply chain – employees, partners, suppliers, and customers alike.

With SAP solutions, you are enabled to excel in the following business processes:

• Service parts planning and procurement – Leverage the latest parts-demand forecasting, inventory planning, and distribution models integrated with external procurement management and supplier collaboration.
• Service parts warehousing – Efficiently handle processes for receiving, storing, and delivering service parts.
• Service parts fulfillment – Consistently market and sell highly profitable service parts and use global availability-to- promise to increase visibility into parts fulfilment operations.
• Reverse logistics – Implement an integrated end-to-end solution for managing reverse logistics, including returns, repairs, refurbishments, resale/remarketing, and disposal of parts.

SAP solutions for service parts planning and logistics provide integrated end-to-end after-sales processes that can be deployed in a flexible phased approach based on your business needs and priorities. For example, companies can start with service parts planning than add service parts warehousing later or vice-versa.