Metro-North Railroad Purchases Smart Software's SmartForecasts to Improve Service, Reduce Inventory, and Save Money
Metro-North Railroad, the nation's second largest commuter railroad, will use Smart Software's SmartForecasts as part of a company-wide service improvement and inventory reduction program to improve parts availability and support operations.

BELMONT, MA, March 16, 2011 /24-7PressRelease/ -- Smart Software, Inc., provider of industry-leading demand forecasting, planning, and inventory optimization solutions, today announced that Metro-North Railroad (MNR) has purchased Smart's flagship product, SmartForecasts, as part of a company-wide service improvement and inventory reduction program. MNR, the nation's second largest commuter railroad, serves 275,000 passengers each weekday in the New York City metropolitan area, operating 1,193 engines and rail cars over 765 miles of track. It will use SmartForecasts to reduce inventory stocking levels for its 40,000 active service/spare parts, valued at almost $100 million, while improving parts availability in support of daily operations.

A large percentage of MNR's parts inventory experiences "slow-moving", intermittent demand. This sort of demand is especially difficult to forecast, and its presence can lead to expensive purchases of excess safety stock. MNR's inventory stocking challenge is compounded by the need to manage parts availability between two central distribution centers and 13 manned physical storerooms, which oversee a total of 66 virtual inventory sites.

Seeking substantial improvement in its forecasting and inventory planning, MNR issued a Request for Proposals, and ultimately selected SmartForecasts as the best overall solution. "As part of our evaluation process, we asked each of the finalists to forecast MNR's parts consumption, using real MNR data," said Richard Price, Chief Material Officer for MNR. "SmartForecasts substantially exceeded the forecast accuracy of its nearest competitor. This ability, combined with the product's ease of use and the company's demonstrated competence serving the transportation industry, made Smart Software our best choice. We expect that the implementation of SmartForecasts will enable us to significantly improve the availability of critical parts while reducing our inventory and safety stock margins."

SmartForecasts demand planning, forecasting and inventory optimization software offers unique, patented statistical solutions to forecast intermittent demand, a particularly challenging aspect of service parts management, as well as a complete suite of automated forecasting and planning methodologies. By automatically identifying the right method for each part, SmartForecasts can significantly reduce the amount of inventory required to meet a defined level of service.

"Today's economy places a premium on doing more with less," said Charles N. Smart, CEO of Smart Software. "This is especially true of inventory management, particularly among public and quasi-public enterprises like MNR, where budgets are under exceptional scrutiny. We look forward to helping MNR streamline its parts inventory planning, and demonstrating the potential for improvement to its peers nationwide."

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