Planning for CPG Companies in an Era of Exponential Change

The Takeaways:

1. Resideo, who leverages the o9 platform as does AB InBev, Kraft Heinz, and Molson Coors—faced challenges in reconciling and aligning demand and supply and assessing its actual level of resilience. Gerard Couderc, Global Integrated Business Planning and Data Analytics Director at Resideo, discussed the importance of cross-functional collaboration to address these issues.

2. AB InBev has faced a series of high-risk disruptions globally and regionally, including geopolitical risks, global trade wars, natural disasters, and the COVID-19 pandemic. Yulia Sanzharova, Global IBP Program Director at AB InBev, emphasized the importance of visibility, resilience, and agility to respond effectively to these disruptions.

3. To achieve this visibility, resilience, and agility, AB InBev has implemented initiatives to improve supply chain planning, including deploying the o9 platform to transform end-to-end planning from demand to supply. The scope of the transformation also includes integrated business planning and control tower capabilities as well as expanding the platform to its tier-1 and 2 supplier base.

4. Kraft Heinz also underwent a significant transformation in response to disruptions like COVID-19 and improved its operational efficiency and effectiveness. Adis Sulejmanovic, Head of Demand Planning, NA at Kraft Heinz, discussed the importance of digital transformation, leveraging data integration, and agile ways of working.

5. Probabilistic planning is the future of supply chain planning, according to Yulia. She believes leaders will need to engage stakeholders from all functions and levels to focus on faster decision-making and coping with uncertainty by driving from unknown uncertainty to known variability through AI/ML for multiple predictions. She also discussed the importance of advanced analytics and artificial intelligence techniques, like simulations, machine learning, deep learning, and neural networks, to support supply chains.

6. Kevin Fawell, Off Trade Sales Director at Molson Coors, emphasized the importance of being bold and decisive, clear on purpose and priorities, collaborating, and constantly communicating during crises. The most important lesson his organization learned during the pandemic was that, in challenging times, things won’t always be perfect in the short term and you have to accept that and find a way.