River Logic Collaborates with Philip Morris International to Create Digital Twin of the Company's Global Manufacturing Network

Carlos Centurion, President

In partnership, River Logic and PMI built a digital twin of the company's global manufacturing footprint, equipped with cutting-edge prescriptive analytics capabilities.

FREMONT, CA: River Logic, the leading provider of prescriptive analytics technology, successfully installed supply chain optimization technology for manufacturing at Philip Morris International (PMI), a multinational tobacco company with nearly 40 manufacturing centers all over the world.

"We are thrilled at the opportunity to be a preferred technology vendor and help address Philip Morris International's supply chain optimization needs," stated Carlos Centurion, President of River Logic. "When it comes to sourcing optimization on a global scale, especially for an industry that is changing so quickly, it's crucial that manufacturing companies consider the end-to-end value chain, not just the supply chain."

In partnership, River Logic and PMI built a digital twin of the company's global manufacturing footprint, equipped with cutting-edge prescriptive analytics capabilities. The solution provides scenario analysis capabilities that allow PMI to assess the impact of changes in local market regulation, equipment moves, product portfolio changes, business disruption, and more on a monthly basis versus only on a yearly basis. A key technology requirement was the ability to run forward-looking optimization scenarios utilizing resilient financial modeling to represent manufacturing duties, costs, and transportation costs across the network.

"With the introduction of the smoke-free product category in PMI's portfolio, our business ecosystem is changing drastically. There are so many non-standard complexities and new constraints across our value chain that traditional tools and techniques could no longer support us in setting up our roadmap," stated Alexandros Skandalakis, Director Manufacturing Capacity and Footprint at PMI. "Implementing River Logic's solution enables us to extend the number of variables that could impact decisions, such as sourcing options, capacities and capabilities, inter-trading-zone product duties, inter plant product transfer prices, and distribution costs. We reduced spread sheet simulations by 90% and decreased the time required for scenario evaluation from weeks to hours. Today, we have a digital, collaborative and cross-functional tool helping us identify and quantify sourcing opportunities at a global scale, across different product categories, for up to a 10 year glide path period."