The Chrysler Group announced on May 14, 2002 a re-design of its volume production planning process. The new Web-based system, called "Integrated Volume Planning" or IVP, will take into consideration information gathered from the company's five regional field offices much earlier in the decision-making process to more accurately determine Chrysler Group's production plan. The announcement was made at the i2 Planet 2002 Conference in Las Vegas. Chrysler Group is working with the technology vendors i2 Technologies and IBM on the development and implementation of IVP. In the current planning system, plant production capacity, fleet production orders, and sales forecast estimates are sequentially analyzed to determine plant production. Under the new IVP system, Chrysler Group will now utilize a Web-enabled process that will unite all planning steps into a network, from sales forecasting by market to the development of a final corporate production program. IVP combines information from the sales field with supply and manufacturing requirements much earlier in the planning process, which then creates a production schedule that better reflects expected market demand. The improved accuracy and timing with this new Web-based infrastructure will reduce order-to-delivery times, inventory banks and buffers, and tooling costs in the supply chain, said David Hodgson, vice president of Worldwide Supply, Chrysler Group. Chrysler Group launched the first pilot for IVP this month and expects to have full implementation by mid-2003.