Lindt – Smart Forecasting Process

Client Overview

Region

United Kingdom

Industry

Food Manufacturing

Challenges

Results

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.

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