Case Study: JFE Steel (JFE Pipe Fitting) achieves faster planning and 80% real-time delivery-date responses with Demand Solutions APS

JFE Handles 18,000 Pipe Products with Advanced Planning & Scheduling

JFE Steel, through its JFE Pipe Fitting Mfg. Co., Ltd., produces 18,000 pipe products from two factories and ships about 65 million units a year. Facing fragmented, decades-old mainframe systems that required six planners and five working days to create monthly plans—and forced planners to check inventories 10–20 times daily—JFE Steel turned to Demand Solutions and its Advanced Planning & Scheduling (DS APS) to improve delivery-date responsiveness.

Demand Solutions’ APS was implemented and integrated with JFE’s order-fulfillment, production management and MES systems in about six months, automating CTP (Capable to Promise) calculations and enabling scenario-based planning. The result: real-time delivery-date responses now cover 80% of inquiries (goal 95%), planners no longer spend days compiling plans, and JFE Steel has reduced emergency shipments and air‑freight costs while improving capacity utilization, inventory levels and on-time delivery.

JFE Steel

Masanori Shigi

JFE Pipe Fitting Manager of Business Administration