Case Study: Nissan Australia improves forecasting and car flow planning with IBM Cognos Express

Aligning sales, marketing, supply chain and operations to boost market share with IBM Analytics

Nissan Australia, the national importer and distributor of Nissan vehicles, aimed to grow its market share by improving its ability to import the right vehicles at the right time. Its challenge was managing the extreme complexity of its "car flow," the process of ordering, importing, and delivering thousands of vehicles in various models and configurations. The company relied on a legacy tool and spreadsheets, which made version control difficult and hindered its ability to make agile, informed decisions to maximize sales opportunities.

The vendor, IBM, with its partner Cornerstone, implemented the IBM Cognos Express solution to create a sophisticated supply chain model. This provided Nissan Australia with granular insight into its entire car flow, from production months to specific vehicle grades and colors. The solution improved the accuracy of forecasting and profit and loss reporting, enabling smarter import and marketing decisions to move inventory more quickly. IBM's technology transformed the planning process, leading to better decision-making across sales, marketing, and operations.

Nissan Australia

Peng Tan

GM – Finance