Planning & Operations Challenges for Consumer Goods
We work with consumer goods companies facing specific, recognisable problems. Each challenge below describes the problem and what we do to solve it.
Forecast Accuracy That Undermines Everything Else
Poor forecasts cascade through your business - excess inventory on slow lines, stockouts on key SKUs, expedited freight costs, and production schedules that change daily. Your planners spend more time firefighting than planning, and promotional uplift remains guesswork.
What we do
Deploy AI-powered demand forecasting that learns from your historical patterns, incorporates promotional and external signals, and continuously improves. We implement the technology, integrate it with your ERP, train your team, and can manage the ongoing model tuning.
S&OP That Exists in Name Only
You have monthly S&OP meetings, but they have become status updates rather than decision forums. Demand and supply plans do not align. Finance builds their own forecast. Commercial makes commitments the supply chain cannot fulfil.
What we do
Redesign your S&OP or IBP process from the ground up - defining decision rights, meeting structures, KPIs, and escalation paths. We implement planning technology that provides a single version of the truth, then embed the new ways of working through hands-on coaching.
Trade Spend Without Visibility of ROI
Promotional activity is planned in spreadsheets, evaluated retrospectively, and the true incremental volume is impossible to prove. Meanwhile, the commercial team commits to activities without understanding supply implications.
What we do
Implement trade promotion management and optimisation tools that bring planning, approval, execution tracking, and ROI analysis into a single workflow. We configure the solution, integrate it with your commercial data, and establish the disciplines to make it stick.
Planning Teams Drowning in Spreadsheets
Your planners are skilled, but they spend 80% of their time gathering data, reconciling versions, and building reports - leaving little time for actual analysis and decision-making. Critical knowledge lives in individual spreadsheets and people's heads.
What we do
Implement integrated planning platforms that automate data consolidation, provide collaborative workflows, and free your team to focus on exceptions and value-added analysis. We handle the technology deployment and can provide ongoing support.
Supply Chain Firefighting as the Norm
Every day brings surprises - supplier delays, production issues, customer order changes - and your team reacts heroically but exhaustingly. There is no early warning system, no structured way to assess impact, and decisions are made with incomplete information.
What we do
Deploy supply chain visibility and control tower solutions that provide real-time exception alerts, impact assessment, and recommended actions. We integrate across your supply network and establish the operational rhythms to use these capabilities effectively.
Revenue Growth Management Without a Single Source of Truth
Volume, price, mix and promotion data sit in separate systems and disconnected spreadsheets. Commercial teams cannot see which SKUs, customers or promotions are truly driving margin, and pricing decisions are made on instinct rather than evidence. Opportunities to grow revenue and protect margin are missed.
What we do
Implement a purpose-built insight platform that unifies volume, price, mix and promotion data into one place. We deploy it within 60 days, integrate it with your commercial data, and embed the RGM disciplines that turn insight into action.
Field Sales Teams Operating Blindly
Your reps visit stores with paper beat plans and no visibility into what happened yesterday, let alone real-time stock levels or order history. Management cannot see coverage gaps, productive calls, or why some routes consistently underperform.
What we do
Deploy an AI-led Sales Force Automation platform that digitises beat planning, tracks every store visit, captures orders and shelf data in real time, and gives managers dashboards to coach and redirect effort where it matters most.
Distributor Management in the Dark
You rely on a network of distributors but have limited visibility into their inventory, claims, secondary sales, or true sell-through. Stock sits where it is not needed while hotspots run dry, and manual reconciliation burns time and trust.
What we do
Implement a Distributor Management System that connects every tier of your route-to-market — giving you live inventory, automated claims, order-to-cash visibility, and data to build genuine partnerships rather than transactional relationships.
Retail Execution That Cannot Be Verified
Promised planograms, pricing and promotions are not what shoppers find in store. Out-of-stocks go unnoticed, competitor activity is invisible, and there is no systematic way to measure or improve in-store compliance.
What we do
Roll out a Retail Execution module that guides reps through structured store audits, captures shelf photos for AI verification, flags out-of-stocks instantly, and gives you a single view of store-level compliance and competitive intelligence.
Let's Talk About You
If this resonates with you, we would welcome a conversation. We will listen, share relevant experience, and give you an honest view of how we can help.
There is no obligation and no sales pitch. If we are not the right fit, we will tell you - and where we can, we will point you in the right direction.
Process. Technology. Results.
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