GE Power plans supply chains faster with Oracle

Fragmented systems slowed planning

GE Power, part of GE Vernona, provides energy technology, solutions, and services across the energy value chain, from generation to consumption. The company serves customers in more than 150 countries and helps deliver energy for more than a third of the world.

The business had more than five ERP systems from different vendors, along with legacy systems across 100 locations. Forecasting and demand management ran independently across teams, making it difficult to plan from consistent data.

Teams relied on push-based planning, which didn’t always reflect actual demand. This contributed to higher carrying costs, missed sales, and rescheduled production cycles. With subdivisions using different forecasting methods, accuracy reached only about 55% at best, and manual spreadsheet work took days.

Oracle connects planning with finance, logistics, and trade

GE Power selected Oracle Fusion Cloud Supply Chain and Manufacturing and adopted Oracle Fusion Cloud Supply Chain Planning to connect planning processes across the company and create a more consistent foundation for supply and demand decisions.

Leaders also sought processes and reporting that could help teams evaluate supply, demand, and business performance from a broader view. The company had worked with Oracle for years in its services business, and GE had used Oracle across the business for more than two decades. With Oracle Fusion Cloud Applications, GE Power could build a common cloud applications platform for core planning, reporting, logistics, and trade processes.

• Oracle Fusion Cloud Enterprise Performance Management (EPM) supports the finance organization with planning and reporting, giving finance teams a related foundation for business performance management.
• Oracle Fusion Cloud Supply Chain Planning became the product foundation for improving forecasts, replenishment planning, capacity planning, and supplier management.
• GE Power also uses Oracle Fusion Cloud Logistics for transportation and global trade management to support the movement of planned orders. This helps supply chain teams coordinate logistics and cross-border trade so products can move to customers in a timely, cost-efficient way.

Faster forecasts and more accurate plans

Before the move to Oracle Cloud Supply Chain Planning, GE Power’s planners had to work across hundreds of spreadsheets and dashboards. Forecasting took more than five days, and teams in different parts of the business used their own methods and tools. That made it harder to compare demand signals, understand supply constraints, and respond when customer needs changed.

Speed

With Oracle, GE Power brought demand forecasting into one place. The company virtually eliminated spreadsheet work and consolidated 15 demand forecasting tools into one. Forecasting that once took more than five days now takes half a day, and the process can be repeated by teams around the world.

Accuracy

Forecast accuracy improved from 55% to 70%. With supply and demand data in one planning environment, GE Power can run scenario modeling and what-if analysis, helping planners evaluate options before they make decisions.

Extended planning

The company also connected customer orders to demand planning and forecasting, improving replenishment planning. From there, GE Power extended the process into net demand planning, capacity planning for factories and warehouses, and supplier management.

Real-time signals

Moving from push-based to pull-based planning helped GE Power use real-time demand signals to guide decisions. The shift improved inventory efficiency, reduced costs, improved customer service, and helped the company adapt to demand faster.

Partner

GE Power selected Trinamix as its implementation partner. Trinamix helped the company improve end-to-end supply chain visibility and create a connected sales and operations planning process across new unit manufacturing and parts businesses.