Thiago Serra, head of integrated business planning at Kraft Heinz, explains how the company brought together the many pieces of its supply chain planning effort with the help of OMP.

With a product offering involving some 8,000 SKUs being produced at more than 300 facilities, Kraft Heinz was doing all of its planning with a “siloed” approach, Serra says. More than 300 planners were not interacting with the company as a whole. A few years ago, it set out to change that.

The goal, says Serra, was end-to-end visibility, with the new planning initiative to be implemented quickly across the globe. It began in China, moved to Europe, then was finally adopted in North America.

To implement the strategy from a software standpoint, Kraft Heinz chose OMP. “We could not find a better solution,” Serra says, praising the system’s adaptability and ease of use.

Kraft Heinz was determined to extend its collaborative approach throughout the supply chain, to include outside partners. Serra says the company has benefited from its participation in “innovation councils,” through which it can develop a roadmap along with other consumer packaged goods producers who are also deploying the OMP planning tool. The approach allows users to experiment with various aspects of the software, to develop the one that’s right for them. OMP gives them the opportunity “to play in the sandbox,” he says.

Implementation of a major software application always entails some lessons learned along the way. Kraft Heinz learned from the outset that “people transformation” was just as important as technology innovation. It realized the need to upskill employees in line with the new roles they would be playing.

Kraft Heinz continues to realize benefits from the engagement with OMP. The ultimate goal, Serra says, is a “self-healing” supply chain planning process. For now, he adds, approximately 80% of what comes out of the planning tool “is untouched by any human being.”

Sponsored by OMP, a leader in AI-powered supply chain planning. Want to learn more? Visit omp.com.