Case Study: First Solar achieves end-to-end supply chain visibility and inventory reduction with Kinaxis RapidResponse

First Solar - Customer Case Study

First Solar, a Tempe-based maker of solar panels and builder/operator of utility-scale power plants, manages a complex global supply chain with thousands of suppliers and tens of thousands of people in its network. As their constraint shifted from supply to demand, they struggled with weak demand planning, poor inventory visibility and slow, spreadsheet-driven processes that took up to a week and couldn’t answer basic questions like “what do we have to sell?” or “when is it available?”

They implemented Kinaxis RapidResponse (cloud) in eight weeks to create a single source of truth, model orders/forecasts/shipments, and automate production triggers. The solution delivered inventory visibility in minutes, roughly an 8–10% reduction in overall inventory and an 84% drop in aged finished goods, elimination of multiple legacy tools (saving about $1M), a 50% reduction in S&OP headcount while maintaining performance, and significant improvements in planning response and on‑time delivery.

First Solar

Shellie Molina

VP