Avail is an integrated suite of Supply Chain Management tools created by Areté, Inc. Avail is the latest in a long line of proven Areté products that have been implemented in hundreds of manufacturing sites, plants, and distribution centers around the world.

Benefits of the Avail System

Avail 6.0 will help your manufacturing facilities to:

• Minimize production line changeovers
• Reduce material batching errors
• Reduce the number of production schedule changes
• Decrease inventory costs
• Substantially reduce out-of-stocks
• Further minimize the risk of stock-out across the source network with the available Safeguard™ Deployment generator, designed to utilize statistical methods based on forecasts and related data
• Improve product rotation and reduce dumpage
• Substantially decrease inventory shrinkage
• Maximize transport loading efficiency
• Improve utilization of logistical assets such as production lines and transports
• Centralize and organize enterprise information

Avail Modules

A full Avail system consists of six integrated modules that help plants schedule production, raw materials, material batches, orders and deployments to distribution centers and provide historical inventory reconciliation and variance reporting. These modules share common master data that describes all product-site combinations controlled by Avail and can be installed on several network architectures (application, file or terminal server). The modules can be implemented simultaneously or rolled-out in separate, distinct phases. Each Avail module is briefly described below.

Production Scheduling
Avail's Production Module helps plan production runs for the right time and in the right quantities. It will identify capacity issues, generate and manage a schedule and produce reports detailing scheduled production and batching activity.

Avail's innovative Production Schedule Timeline offers the ability to schedule production using multiple views with which to evaluate and manipulate the schedule. The Timeline's flexibility allows you to visualize the consequences of several potential production scenarios to determine the best one. Using proprietary sistering techniques, Avail enables you to achieve significantly improved production efficiency by synchronizing the scheduling and quantities of packages that are run simultaneously or back-to-back so that both will run out together.

Deployment Scheduling and the Safeguard™ Deployment Generator
Avail generates product shipments to distribution centers (DCs) to ensure that each DC's inventory remains at or above its Safety Days Supply level while making sure that no DC receives more than its fair share. Proper deployment of product is the key to efficient production scheduling. Avail can generate bills individually, by truck, or for all loads out of a particular location. Avail allows you to dynamically evaluate and modify the deployment schedule. Avail will build bills of lading subject to various constraints and objectives.

New to Avail is the available enhanced Safeguard™ deployment generator designed to further minimize the risk of stock-out across the source network utilizing statistical methods on forecasting error data. The approach of Safeguard deployment is to allocate inventory in proportion to demand. In order to utilize Safeguard functionality, users need to carefully set Deployment Lead Days for each location, a factor which is dependent on travel time, load out windows, and when and how often deployment is scheduled. In addition, instead of setting a System Buffer Days Supply for each product deployed from a plant, Safeguard users need to set the Target Service-to-Sales level. This can be a single number for all products, or users can set product-specific numbers if desired. With Avail Safeguard deployment, planning managers gain valuable assistance controlling inventory levels while ensuring the highest levels of availability for clients’ most profitable products.

Materials Scheduling
When the production schedule is completed, Avail automatically extends the schedule into the future and explodes all scheduled runs through each product's bill of materials to calculate expected future usage. All currently scheduled deliveries are reevaluated against expected usage to determine what action (accelerate, postpone, cancel) is necessary. New deliveries can be generated, bringing materials into the plant on a just-in-time basis.

Full Goods Order Scheduling
Use Avail's centralized Ordering module to place orders according to set delivery horizons for purchased product items from outside co-packers or suppliers. Avail offers the flexibility of rolling up the demand of smaller DCs to the plant, or sending the orders from suppliers directly to the DCs, avoiding the cost of double-handling.

Inventory Control
Avail provides three ways of recording inventory counts and transactions. First, Avail automatically converts all entered scheduled production, shipments, and receivers into actual inventory events. Second, you can enter counts and unscheduled production, shipments, and receivers into actual inventory events. Second, you can enter counts and unscheduled transactions such as breakage, dumpage, etc. directly into Avail. Third, most transactions can be imported or merged through the Avail Application Program Interface (API) from external sales settlement systems or hand-helds.

Syrup Scheduling
Use Avail's Syrup Scheduling module to schedule and record syrup batches, view and print batching tickets, batch logs, and formula books. The system is set up with the formula for each type of syrup that is batched, including a bill of materials and set of quality control standards such as target brix and pH. Given the code of the syrup, the number of units to make, and the current brix of the sweetener (if used) the system will print a batching ticket with each scheduled batch that details the quantities of all ingredients needed. By calculating quantities of each ingredient automatically, the syrup scheduling module dramatically decreases the likelihood of a costly mistake in the syrup room.

Implementation Process

There are five functional roles that drive the implementation and ongoing operation of Avail. Each role has responsibilities described in the Standard Implementation Plan. Click here to view a pdf version of the Standard Avail Implementation Plan.

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