Case Study: Leading Automotive Manufacturing Company achieves 90%+ service levels and cuts air‑freight expediting with ToolsGroup SO99+

Expediting Inventory Planning Dramatically Reduces Order Expediting

Leading Automotive Manufacturing Company, Europe’s largest maker of two‑wheeled vehicles (including Vespa), was battling abundant backorders, high dead stock from not distinguishing regular versus specialized demand, and service levels that fell as low as 50%, with heavy reliance on expediting orders by air. To address this, the company selected ToolsGroup and its SO99+ planning solution (working alongside their SAP R/3 system) to improve demand forecasting, inventory optimization and replenishment.

ToolsGroup integrated SO99+ with the company’s SAP data to apply analytic forecasting and inventory‑optimization models, generate replenishment proposals, and model in‑transit and safety stock. Within two months five‑day service levels climbed into the 90–95% range and stayed consistent, reliance on air‑freight expediting dropped while standard ocean shipments increased, and inventory turns improved slightly — delivering higher service with lower expedited freight costs.