About | ToolsGroup

Who We Are

We are the innovators of “service-driven” supply chain planning software for companies that face high demand volatility, along with distribution and product line complexity.

For more than two decades, we’ve been helping companies around the globe achieve the highest service levels in their industries while streamlining inventory and logistics costs. For example:

Costa Express senses demand from 8000 self-service coffee kiosks to auto-replenish supplies, boosting customer loyalty by 10% and cutting logistics costs by 30%
Lennox Industries cut distribution costs 17% and raised service levels to 95% in its complex, multi-echelon distribution network
Telecommunications giant O2 reduced days of stock in stores by 30% and improved overall forecast accuracy by 10%

What else do these brand leaders have in common? They run supply chains powered by ToolsGroup software. Why should your company settle for any less? Whether your business aims to free up working capital to make new investments, compete more effectively against Amazon or raise S&OP outcomes to thrive in an uncertain global economy, we have the tools and know-how to help you succeed. Our advanced analytics and machine learning driven technologies help you overcome the toughest supply chain planning challenges – from multi-echelon inventory optimization (MEIO) to long-tail SKU forecasting to sensing demand in extremely volatile conditions – all while raising service levels.

If I had the chance do it all over again, I would have started much sooner. Joseph Ludorf, Cipla Medpro

What We Do

Our flagship software, SO99+, automates and optimizes supply chain planning tasks including demand forecasting and sensing, multi-echelon inventory optimization, replenishment and S&OP to meet target service levels.

SO99+ models the whole supply chain to help planning teams consistently make the right tradeoffs to meet business and service goals using ‘what-if’ scenario planning. This same intelligence allows planning teams to continually position inventory throughout their distribution networks to minimize costs and maximize service levels. Though highly intelligent and powerful in its ‘engine room’, the software is easy for non-technical people to use, and proven to dramatically improve planning productivity. It allows all planning stakeholders to collaborate in a single, synchronized system, viewing the same set of data differently depending on their role. SO99+’s trailblazing alternative to traditional, ‘deterministic’ planning approach, applies probabilistic forecasting methods and advanced algorithms and AI. This has earned SO99+ widespread industry recognition as a ‘Leader’ in its class by Gartner and Nucleus Research and countless industry awards with customers. ToolsGroup is successfully deployed at more than 300 customers worldwide in more than 44 countries and we have one of the highest customer retention rates in our industry. Our customers include manufacturers, wholesale distributors and retailers in a wide range of demand and inventory-driven industries.

ToolsGroup customers with highly diversified portfolios and complex multi-echelon distribution networks are freeing up considerable working capital while improving service levels Seth Lippincott, principal analyst, Nucleus Research

Our History

In 1976, Eugenio Cornacchia, a young MIT master’s graduate in Operations Management joined MIT-associated Draper Lab to work on a challenging project for Fiat’s Automotive Spare Parts Division. FIAT had unmanageable inventories and one of the lowest service levels in the European automobile industry. This needed to be fixed.

Back then inventory planning and forecasting was done using simple “deterministic” calculations based on traditional inventory theory. Eugenio had a different idea. He signed up a group of talented MIT graduates who had collaborated in the NASA Apollo space project and together they invented a new spare parts system in less than a year. It was the world’s first “stochastic” software that incorporated probability-based algorithms across an entire supply chain planning system, from forecasting to inventory optimization and replenishment. Over the next two decades, their pioneering work evolved into the ToolsGroup’s SO99+ platform. FIAT was happy. The company increased its service levels to “best in class” 92%, while carrying less than two months of inventory. In 1980 Eugenio joined Innovation Technology Partners (ITP) where he met the company’s COO Joseph Shamir. At ITP the two were part of a team that implemented the very first ‘factories of the future’ that paved the way for today’s global “Factory (or Industry) 4.0” movement. Eugenio (Chief Scientist) and Joseph (CEO) founded ToolsGroup in 1993, commercializing the first service-driven supply chain planning and automation software, which proved to be decades ahead of its time. Since its inception ToolsGroup has grown to serve every major global region, continuing to stay at the vanguard of technology innovation and customer satisfaction.

Key Milestones

1993 ToolsGroup founded by Joseph Shamir and Eugenio Cornacchia
1996 ToolsGroup’s first customer BP goes live with SO99+
2010 ToolsGroup is first SCP vendor to integrate machine learning into a supply chain planning project for Danone
Jan 2015 ToolsGroup Tops the Leaders Quadrant in Nucleus Research’s Inaugural Inventory Optimization Value Matrix
Jan 2016 ToolsGroup Moves to Leaders Quadrant in Gartner 2016 Magic Quadrant for Supply Chain Planning SOR
May 2017 ToolsGroup Debuts as a Visionary in Gartner Magic Quadrant for S&OP SOD
Sept 2017 ToolsGroup Announces a Major New AI Supply Chain Planning Software Release Optimized for the Cloud
May 2018 ToolsGroup Secures Accel-KKR Funding to Boost Growth

ABOUT OUR INVESTORS

Accel-KKR

Accel-KKR is a technology-focused investment firm with over $5 billion in capital commitments. The firm focuses on software and IT-enabled businesses well-positioned for topline and bottom-line growth. At the core of Accel-KKR’s investment strategy is a commitment to developing strong partnerships with the management teams of its portfolio companies and a focus on building value through significant resources available through the Accel-KKR network. Accel-KKR focuses on middle-market companies and provides a broad range of capital solutions including buyout capital, minority-growth investments, and credit alternatives. Accel-KKR also invests across a wide range of transaction types including private company recapitalizations, divisional carve-outs and going-private transactions. Accel-KKR is headquartered in Menlo Park with additional offices in Atlanta and London.

If you’re ready to transform your supply chain, get in touch with us today.