Tennant's disclosed language is precise: the system was "not providing correct demand signals to suppliers." That is a specific technical failure with a specific downstream cost — material shortages, expedited freight, manual PO workarounds, delayed shipments, and order-to-cash disruption. This page is what that signal failure actually means, and how the parallel layer recomputes the signal from live orders instead.
Every order Tennant receives still exists. Every supplier Tennant uses still exists. What broke is the translation between them — the demand signal that tells a supplier what to ship, when, and in what quantity. Here's the broken path and the restored path, side by side.
Every time a new order enters the pipeline, the signal recomputes. The chart below runs continuously — every bar is a signal cycle, colored by state. Watch the pattern shift as the signal stabilizes against incoming orders.
Status · Idle · Press Play to begin compute cycle
The restored signal is computed from five inputs. Each one is a source of truth that the broken SAP path was reading incorrectly — or not at all. Click any component to see its live state and its role in the signal.
The actual orders entering the pipeline right now — from dealer portal, direct, and EDI sources. The signal's primary source of truth.
Usage signals from deployed Tennant equipment in the field. Real-world consumption, not just order history — catches demand ahead of orders.
Prior-period order rates by SKU and region. Anchors the signal against seasonal and cyclical variation.
Region-specific seasonal adjustments that shift the signal by market. Keeps the signal accurate as demand moves seasonally.
Actual supplier lead times by material and route. The signal is offset against lead time so POs arrive when they need to, not late.
The computed signal that leaves the layer and reaches suppliers. Correct quantities, correct timing, correct destination.
An incorrect demand signal is not a single failure. It's a compound one. Suppliers ship the wrong quantity — either too much (carrying cost) or too little (expedited freight). Materials arrive out of phase with production. Manual POs replace automation, generating a growing labor burden. And order-to-cash closes late, if it closes at all. Tennant has been absorbing these costs since November 2025.
The parallel signal layer recomputes from live orders. Correct quantities. Correct timing. Correct destinations. Automation replaces the manual workaround. And the layer hands back control to SAP when SAP is remediated — no rework, no duplicate computation, no conflict.
The signal layer runs alongside SAP remediation. It operates inside the 3–8 months before H1 2027 — closing the gap that SAP remediation leaves open.