Bell and Kinaxis Named Supply & Demand Chain Executive's 2021 Top Supply Chain Project

Kinaxis® Inc. (TSX: KXS), the authority in driving agility for fast, confident decision-making in an unpredictable world, and Bell, an 85-year global manufacturer of military and commercial vertical-lift aircrafts, have been selected by Supply & Demand Chain Executive, the only publication covering the entire global supply chain, as a recipient of the Top Supply Chain Projects Award for 2021.

Headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas, Bell has employees in 90 countries and offers breakthrough innovations and exceptional experiences to customers from 120 countries. As the only helicopter Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) in Canada, Bell celebrates 35 years of building aircraft that are truly Canadian.

Bell wanted to eliminate their manual, spreadsheet-centric process to manage its extremely complex aerospace and defense supply chain in favor of a solution that allowed them to monitor and respond to changes in real time and improve its S&OP process. The company selected the Kinaxis RapidResponse® platform and concurrent planning to boost the speed and efficiency of their processes and provide better information for planning decisions. Bell utilized the supply, demand and S&OP planning capabilities within the platform and leveraged the expertise of the Kinaxis professional services team to deploy.

"Since implementing Kinaxis and RapidResponse, we have streamlined our planning processes, gained deeper insight into our supply chain, and improved the agility of our business," said Michael Loeffler, Vice President, Materials Management, Bell. "With powerful planning tools and richer information, we have improved the pace and quality of our decision-making."

With Kinaxis, Bell's S&OP process tasks have moved into RapidResponse, simplifying the aggregation of data and the collaboration around scenario analysis. The increase in speed has allowed them to shift from a bi-annual S&OP process to a monthly cadence, increasing forecast accuracy, decreasing latency in planning, reducing lead times, and enhancing overall agility.

"This past year has proven that historical planning approaches are inadequate against the challenges companies face. What is needed is built-in supply chain agility to help tackle any problem in the moment and take advantage of new opportunities," said John Sicard, Chief Executive Officer, Kinaxis. "It is an honor to work with Bell to help them build resiliency and transparency in their supply chain. We are proud to be recognized alongside them by Supply & Demand Chain Executive."

The Top Supply Chain Projects (formerly known as SDCE 100) spotlights successful and innovative transformation projects that deliver bottom-line value to small, medium and large enterprises across a range of supply chain functions. These projects show how supply chain solution and service providers help their customers and clients achieve supply chain excellence and prepare their supply chains for success.

"The supply chain industry has been challenged with a host of supply chain disruptions over the last year. Yet, the winners on this list continued to re-tool and innovate," says Marina Mayer, editor for Supply & Demand Chain Executive and Food Logistics. "Whether it be moving a customer to a cloud-based solution or implementing a more sustainable shipping option, these top supply chain projects reflect the supply chain industry's strength and resilience to overcome disruptions and work better, smarter and more efficiently in the years ahead."

Go to www.sdcexec.com to view the full list of all 2021 Top Supply Chain Projects winners.

Learn more about the Bell project.