Skip to content

Overview: Convect AI’s Integrated Business Planning (IBP)

Convect AI’s Integrated Business Planning (IBP) software is a next-generation solution that optimizes your entire supply chain network in one go. Unlike traditional rule-based or sequential planning systems, Convect AI’s IBP brings every part of your supply chain—procurement, production, logistics, and sales—into one unified process. This ensures that any change in one part of the chain is immediately reflected across all functions, making all parts of your business work together toward the same goal, rather than pursuing conflicting objectives.

What is Convect AI’s IBP?

Convect AI’s IBP software integrates all critical aspects of supply chain management:

  • Master Production Scheduling (MPS): Plans production to align with both demand and factory constraints.
  • Material Requirements Planning (MRP): Accurately calculates material needs, ensuring procurement aligns with production demands.
  • Distribution Requirements Planning (DRP): Optimizes transportation and distribution to deliver products efficiently to the right markets.

Through integrated and holistic planning, Convect AI’s IBP brings multiple functions—procurement, production, logistics, and sales—into a single unified system. This approach ensures that all parts of the organization are working toward the same objective, eliminating the misalignment that often arises when different departments have conflicting priorities.

What Can Convect AI’s IBP Do for Your Business?

Convect AI’s IBP software transforms your supply chain by delivering:

  • Cost Reduction: The system constantly evaluates the financial impact of each decision, ensuring that your supply chain is optimized for the lowest possible costs.
  • Increased Customer Satisfaction: Meet demand more effectively by aligning your supply chain operations with customer needs in real time.
  • Fast Adaptation: The software responds quickly to disruptions or demand changes, adjusting every function of the supply chain simultaneously to keep your business on track.

This integrated approach allows you to not only improve operational efficiency but also reduce costs and improve service levels across your business.

Key Features of Convect AI’s IBP

  1. True Network-Wide Optimization: Rather than handling each function or process separately, Convect AI’s IBP simultaneously optimizes your entire supply chain network. When a change occurs—such as a supply shortage—the software updates all related plans across procurement, production, and logistics at once.

  2. Unified Objectives: The software ensures that every function (procurement, production, logistics, and sales) works toward the same overarching goals, eliminating the conflicts that often arise when each department pursues different objectives.

  3. Finance-Driven Decisions: Every decision is tied to cost. Convect AI’s IBP continuously evaluates the cost impact of production, procurement, and transportation to ensure that your supply chain operates at the lowest possible cost.

  4. Constraint-Driven Planning: The system automatically respects production limits, material availability, and transportation capacities, ensuring that plans remain realistic and achievable.

  5. Dynamic Scenario Planning: Easily simulate different scenarios—such as demand surges or supply disruptions—and immediately see how these changes affect your supply chain.

  6. Intuitive Visualizations: Visualize your entire supply chain in real-time through interactive charts and maps that provide insights into production flows, demand fulfillment, and more.

How the Optimization Algorithm Works

Convect AI’s IBP software uses a sophisticated algorithm designed to create the most efficient and cost-effective plan across the entire supply chain. Here’s how it works:

  1. Start with Data: The algorithm processes all relevant data—production capacities, material availability, transportation routes, and demand forecasts—to create a comprehensive view of the supply chain.

  2. Evaluate Multiple Scenarios Simultaneously: Unlike traditional approaches that optimize individual functions one at a time, Convect AI’s IBP evaluates various possibilities for production, procurement, and distribution simultaneously. This ensures that decisions in one area, such as procurement, are immediately reflected in other areas like production and logistics.

  3. Prioritize Constraints: The first priority is to respect operational constraints, such as production capacity limits, material availability, and transportation constraints. The system ensures that all plans are feasible.

  4. Meet Demand: Once constraints are accounted for, the algorithm focuses on fulfilling customer demand. It allocates resources efficiently to ensure that all markets and customers receive the products they need.

  5. Minimize Costs: Finally, the system works to minimize costs across the entire supply chain. This includes production costs, material procurement, and transportation expenses. Every decision is evaluated for its financial impact, ensuring that your business operates as cost-effectively as possible.

The Three Pillars of Optimization:

  1. Respect Constraints: Ensures that production, material, and transportation limits are observed first and foremost.

  2. Fulfill Demand: Prioritizes meeting customer demand across markets and regions.

  3. Minimize Costs: Works to reduce total costs, considering every aspect of the supply chain—production, material procurement, and transportation.

Convect AI’s IBP delivers more than just efficiency—it helps you build a unified, agile, and cost-effective supply chain. Ready to get started? Head to the Data Template section to learn how to structure your data for the IBP system.