Insight Inc., a vendor of supply chain planning software, has released version 4.5 of SAILS, its tool for strategic supply chain design. The latest version incorporates a number of features related to manufacturing, inventory positioning, vulnerability and risk assessment, and green supply chain design. Specific features include enhanced manufacturing postponement options. SAILS 4.5 offers an advanced methodology for representing inventory in a multi-period network model, allowing users to enforce dynamically computed min/max ending inventory targets for a given period, as a function of future period demand. The feature is especially useful for seasonal businesses that struggle with balancing inventory levels, the vendor says. Insight has enhanced the application's capabilities for analyzing supply chain vulnerability, with new options for short-term crisis-response planning. SAILS V4.5 performs "what-if" analyses and suggests strategies for reacting to volatile supply chain conditions.
