1. Challenge Overview

Fragmented Demand Planning Process

Lindt’s demand planning was highly individualized, with each planner following their own approach. This led to:

  • Inconsistent forecasting methods that made alignment difficult.
  • Unstructured collaboration with sales teams, making it hard to incorporate promotional insights.
  • Lack of visibility on long-term demand trends, leading to supply chain inefficiencies.

Ineffective SAP APO System Configuration

Lindt’s SAP APO system did not match their planning needs, resulting in:

  • Forecasts created at incorrect aggregation levels, making them unreliable.
  • Difficulties in collecting inputs from sales teams for promotional planning.
  • Heavy reliance on manual adjustments and ad-hoc reports to compensate for system shortcomings.

2. Solution

Defining a Unified Demand Planning Process

  • Sales History Cleanup – Introduced a flagging system to quickly identify stockouts and unexpected demand spikes, allowing planners to clean historical sales data efficiently.
  • Separation of Baseline & Promotional Volumes – Developed a structured approach to remove promotional distortions from the sales baseline.
  • Agreed Forecasting Approach – Established two forecasting models tailored to different product classifications, improving baseline demand accuracy.

Improving Promotional Planning & Forecasting

  • Streamlined Promotional Review Process – Created a structured workflow for evaluating and integrating promotional impacts into demand planning.
  • 2-Year Demand Planning Horizon – Enabled long-term forecasting to support procurement and production planning.

SAP APO Optimization for Better Planning Execution

  • Configured SAP APO to Align with the New Process – Adjusted system settings to support structured planning workflows.
  • Reduced Manual Work – Limited reliance on ad-hoc reports by making SAP APO fully support the planning process.
  • Improved Planner Adoption – The new system setup gained high acceptance across the planning community, ensuring smooth execution.

3. Results

Standardized Demand Planning Process

  • All planners now follow a unified forecasting approach, improving data consistency and eliminating inefficiencies caused by individual planning methods.
  • Promotional adjustments are now systematically incorporated into demand planning, ensuring more reliable forecasts.

Improved SAP APO Functionality

  • System now supports structured planning workflows, reducing the need for workarounds and minimizing manual intervention.
  • Data inputs from sales teams are now properly categorized and utilized in forecasting, improving forecast reliability.

Better Collaboration & Forecast Accuracy

  • Planners, sales teams, and procurement work with the same forecasting framework, leading to better production and procurement planning decisions.
  • Demand forecasts are now linked with production planning, leading to improved inventory control, reduced stockouts, and better production stability.