The grain milling industry faces a complex set of decisions that must be coordinated to optimize the sales execution process and margins. Raw material inputs, production capacity and demand forecasts should be considered if companies in this historically low-margin industry are to find ways to maintain or grow profitability as market conditions change around them. Volatility in the underlying commodity, whether it is wheat, corn or soy, has led to significant risk and complexity for both millers and their customers.
SignalDemand's software solutions distill the complex interdependencies between supply and demand into mathematical models, which have been tailored to understand and incorporate milling market conditions, capacity and transportation logistics. These sophisticated mathematical models power an intuitive user-interface, providing millers with the actionable information needed to proactively manage their business.
The solution allows millers to:
Improve Sales Operations and Margin Decisions
- Reduce margin volatility and establish optimal margin targets to achieve business goals
- Reduce margin volatility with through improved insight into customer buying patterns
- Respond quickly, accurately and consistently to customer inquiries
Optimize Capacity Utilization
- Improve insight into capacity utilization and sold positions to allow margin to be brought in-line with volume commitments
- Incorporate forecasts of capacity and sold position into price and margin decisions
- Supply alerts, as capacity is met, to allow a margin response to be considered
Incorporate Actual Costs and Forecasted Demand
- Incorporate all costs, including treatment costs and inter-company shipments into margin calculations, establishing an accurate view of net margin
- Capture increases in working capital costs for inclusion in margin calculations
- Forecast demand at each plant to determine optimal margins
