Primavera Systems, Inc. is a large independent provider of collaborative
resource, project, and portfolio management solutions. Their world-class
software and services are used by the Global 2000 to choose the set of
projects that best enable their strategy and to accelerate the delivery
of high-quality results for themselves and their clients.
Business Goal: Rapid Order Fulfillment, Lower Operational Costs
As a world-class provider of enterprise-wide project management software, Primavera prides itself on helping speed its clients time-to-market. They recognize that accelerating their clients' time-to-market begins with efficient software manufacturing and rapid order fulfillment. Up until the late 1990s, Primavera handled all of its media replication, printing, packaging and order fulfillment requirements internally. As its revenue and resulting product shipments have grown worldwide, Primavera found it could no longer manage the same day fulfillment turnaround that is so critical to its mission.
Solution: An Outsourced Partner with Proven Expertise
Choosing to keep its focus on what it does best - developing industry leading software - Primavera decided to outsource its manufacturing and fulfillment requirements. They turned to EchoData for its proven fulfillment expertise and advanced operational systems. As a turnkey solutions provider and program manager, EchoData meets all of the client’s needs under one roof: from replication to warehousing, printing and packaging, order fulfillment and inventory control. Best of all, their partnership with EchoData has yielded measurable process improvements and cost savings.
"EchoData managed the transition from our in-house facility quickly and easily," said Tony Lund, Primavera's Operations Manager. "Most of all, they’ve kept their promises by reducing our costs, adding quality control, and maintaining the highest levels of fulfillment accuracy."
Unique Challenges: Up-to-the-Minute Inventory Controls
According to the operations manager, real time information access is critical to helping the client runs its business better. "We need to anticipate sales needs and product literature requirements. We need to know how much product we have on hand and what inventory levels we need to maintain on a piece-by-piece basis. Real time information is essential to making decisions on both software production runs and printed materials." To meet these requirements, Primavera leverages EchoData’s powerful enabling technology and systems. With quick and easy online access to EchoData's Manage 2000 inventory control system, they can track inventory and gain the data it needs for critical decision-making.
Results: Meeting the Needs of the Marketplace
Today, EchoData meets Primavera's product fulfillment requirements at near 100% accuracy. Products are shipped to their authorized resellers, end users and the retail channel, with about 40% of shipments going outside the United States. The ultimate gauge of success for the client is the rapid turnaround of customer orders. "Any order entered today is shipped the same day. That’s the customer responsiveness that it so critical to our business and EchoData’s process helps ensure it."
