Demantra Ltd. is expected to make supply-chain software available at the Internet and E-Business Conference in New York.
The software package, called Suite 4.0, was designed to work as a forecasting tool for supply-chain managers and marketing/sales directors at large food manufacturers, pharmaceutical companies and newspapers.
Demantra, Cambridge, MA, is dubbing the software a “demand management” tool.
One company using Suite 4.0 is Hunter Douglass, an international manufacturer of window blinds. Hunter Douglass' blinds are stored in parts and must be assembled in a warehouse before being shipped.
By using the software, supply-chain managers for the manufacturer can see how many units of each part are available and how many are being used on a daily, weekly or monthly basis. This lets the managers determine how many parts need to be ordered and allows them to keep an accurate divisional budget, according to Demantra.
Jeff Rose, director of marketing at Demantra, said the software lets marketers watch the supply chain and interpret sales surges and gaps as trends that may repeat. He said the forecasting can help firms plan promotional budgets, predict sales figures and cut operational costs by 1 percent.
Suite 4.0 works similarly to a company intranet, but Rose said his company expects to announce a hosted Web version of the software during the second quarter.
Rose gave a floor price of $300,000 for the software.
