Case Study: Shimano achieves faster, more agile forecasting and inventory optimization with Demand Works' Cloud Smoothie

Shimano’s North American Bicycle Business Rides with Cloud Smoothie

Shimano’s North American bicycle business, which manufactures and distributes thousands of high‑end components through bike shops, national chains, distributors and direct‑to‑consumer channels, needed to optimize assortments and availability across 60,000 item‑locations and rapidly respond to changing channels and consumer preferences. After evaluating alternatives, Shimano selected Cloud Smoothie® from Demand Works to replace the sales, inventory and operations planning functionality in its Oracle ERP because the cloud‑centric, scalable solution supported multi‑channel, attribute‑based planning.

Demand Works implemented Cloud Smoothie®, using its Pivot Forecasting® multi‑level, attribute‑based planning to enable channel‑specific forecasting, inventory optimization and faster new‑product planning across Shimano’s large SKU base. The solution integrated with Shimano’s Oracle ERP in about a month, produced first‑week improvements to Amazon channel planning, allowed quick addition of customers and hierarchies without IT, improved forecast accuracy, and helped prioritize inventory levels, placement and production timing—delivering measurably more agile and precise planning.

Shimano

Rick Barrosa

Senior Manager of Supply Chain