Streamlining Supply and Demand Through a Collaborative Planning Solution

Problem statement

Our client, a global CPG leader in the food and beverage industry, struggled to capture accurate demand signals from over 100 local and global distributors, each with varying levels of data and analytics maturity. This fragmented distributor landscape led to inconsistent inputs, resulting in unreliable demand planning and forecasting. As a result, the client faced significant operational inefficiencies — weekly demand forecast accuracy was off by 30–45%, inventory holding costs were inflated by up to 15%, and order fulfillment rates were pushed nearly 10% below industry benchmarks. 

Attempts to deploy off-the-shelf forecasting tools failed. These solutions could not accommodate the client’s complex workflows, multi-channel order systems (SAP, email, non-traditional portals), or the needs of key internal stakeholders orchestrating the supply chain. The lack of a unified, dynamic planning approach exacerbated the gaps, leading to frequent stockouts, surplus inventory, and missed sales opportunities — with distributor data compliance rates dropping below 70%. 

Impact

• $32M savings unlocked through excess inventory reduction in the first year of solution deployment.
• 14-17% reduction in out-of-stock scenarios achieved across three core product categories.
• Delivered agile production planning with a solution that adapts to weekly market changes.