Within the Eurozone, banknotes are produced in specific locations and then distributed for use across all countries. Every year it is necessary to coordinates with all national central banks to create a plan for banknotes delivery, according to each country's inventory, production and demand. The plan can be then adjusted throughout the year to the actual demand.

Developing the plan used to be a lengthy process that could take up to 15 hours, limiting the possibility to perform scenario analysis and compromising workflow.

DecisionBrain, in partnership with IBM, was tasked to develop a solution that could define the optimal delivery plan that met demand while respecting production capacities, leveraging available transports.

The solution developed by DecisionBrain and IBM allows to:

• Minimize the logistic costs while maximizing demand coverage and preserving the European Safety Stock of banknotes
• Select the correct mix of banknotes (used or new)
• Minimize banknotes movements

Built on top of IBM Decision Optimization Center platform, the solution has proven to be significantly faster and more robust than the previous planning process, reducing time to 8-12 hours. Additionally the solution enables planners to have more control over the planning process and outcome, allowing for What-if analysis features and results comparison.

It is estimated that solutions delivered savings in the order of 1 million Euros per year.