The CPG-R industry is still learning how to deal with disruption. Now, nearly three years from the start of the pandemic, it is clear that variability in supply and demand will continue to test the resiliency and agility of extended supply chains around the globe.

Hoping for a return to any sort of “normal” stability is not an effective strategy for maintaining business operations in a sustainable and efficient manner. Markets and customers are quick to vote with their wallets on availability and cost of products and with their minds on sustainable business practices.

Companies need to have a plan to deal with the key challenges they face today:

• Lack of supply chain resilience
• A reliance on extended value networks
• Disruption as a constant, not an event
• Lack of visibility across supply, demand and network partners

Supply chain planning is a complex process with broad scope and distributed stakeholders who need to collaborate using accurate data to make informed decisions. The complexity also extends to the optimization of a seemingly infinite number of variables and possibilities. In other words, an effective solution that addresses the challenges also needs to be comprehensive and inclusive to enable truly integrated business planning.

Key capabilities required to support innovation in CPGR Supply Chains:

• End to end modeling and representation. Since supply chains have such broad scope of channels, suppliers and partners, it is critical to be able to model the entire network with the appropriate detail to represent all constraints and opportunities.

• Business based outcomes. Today’s business goals include financial as well as operational metrics, the trade-off between cost and service is only one of a number of competing priorities. New KPI’s are also being prioritized, including sustainability metrics.

• Optimization and analytics. The sheer complexity of supply chains and the number of variables to consider make it impossible to develop optimal plans without the aid of Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning.

Along with these capabilities, supply chain solutions require a trusted partner that understands the consideration of process and change management that goes hand in hand with best in class technology.

Achieving a higher level of maturity in supply chain planning can yield significant benefits for all industry segments, from food and beverage producers, packing companies and consumer products.

Across all stakeholders, the value adds up to a significant competitive advantage:

• Balancing and optimizing financial objectives with operational and sustainability goals
• Reducing planning cycle times with effective collaboration
• Decreasing lost sales and better serve high-margin demand
• Improving capacity utilization and productivity across the supply chain
• Gaining global supply chain control and visibility

To learn more, you can read more details in our eBook: Business-Based Optimization to Orchestrate Disrupted Supply Chains or replay our recent webinar: Optimizing S&OP for CPG & Retail.