Heineken operates one of the world's most complex brewing supply chains, producing more than 350 brands across 160 breweries and serving nearly 190 markets. At this scale, planning requires continuous alignment of demand forecasts, production capacity, and inventory flows across dozens of operating companies — a challenge compounded by the historical reliance on locally developed planning tools that varied from market to market.

As part of its Evergreen strategy and Digital Backbone transformation program, Heineken set out to modernize its planning processes by moving toward a unified global S&OP framework, one capable of delivering standardization while remaining responsive to local market needs.

To support its S&OP Fit program, Heineken partnered with Sunstice to deploy a global planning platform integrating demand planning, supply planning, and inventory management into a single unified ecosystem. The solution established a standardized planning model across more than 40 operating companies, with a wave-by-wave rollout that allowed markets to adopt the platform progressively without disrupting operational stability.

The results demonstrate Structured Agility™ in action: improved forecast accuracy and reduced bias, faster and more consistent S&OP decision-making, stronger collaboration across operating companies, and increased planner confidence and process visibility.

As Anton de Romijn, Manager & Product Owner for Planning Solutions at Heineken, describes it: "The solution gives our planners a structure they can trust — a backbone that helps us manage complexity and run a more resilient supply chain."