Blendwell boosts forecast accuracy and service levels with end-to-end planning solution

Blendwell Food Group produces and packs dried fruits and nuts for retailers across Europe. Following an extended period of growth, the Dutch company needed to scale up its existing planning capabilities to keep up with demand and manage an increasingly complex supply chain.

In February 2022, Blendwell contacted Supply Chain Company, a specialized supply chain consulting firm and Optimity implementation partner, to help devise a solution.

Tom Luijten, Supply Chain Manager at Snack Connection, the largest division of Blendwell Food Group, explains the challenge, “Most of our planning, including our entire S&OP process, was based on Excel spreadsheets. It was slow and labor-intensive, and we were heavily reliant on a few staff to do it all. It was too risky and didn’t provide the visibility and speed we needed.”

The Project

The initial work with Supply Chain Company highlighted the need for an integrated planning solution. Optimity was an excellent fit for Blendwell’s multiple production facilities, warehouses, and distribution centers.

The company decided to get a core solution up and running, adding more modules at a later stage and when needed. This would also allow the organization to get used to the new system and new ways of working without being overwhelmed.

The team started with Optimity’s demand forecasting solution, and an 18-month weekly forecast would soon replace the existing monthly projections in Excel. However, it was Optimity’s supply chain optimization solution that would have the greatest impact on the business.

Tom explains, “Our ERP system didn’t support our production planning needs, so we’d been forced down the Excel route. It was slow and didn’t give our planners the necessary support to optimize our plants.”

“Our ERP system didn’t support our production planning needs, so we’d been forced down the Excel route. It was slow and didn’t give our planners the necessary support to optimize our plants.”
Tom Luijten
Supply Chain Manager, Blendwell

Blendwell’s production includes baking, mixing, and packing – a complex process with constantly shifting bottlenecks. Packaging and raw materials, some with over three months lead times, need strategic sourcing and careful inventory management. On top of this, staffing is notoriously challenging.

Milko van Reisen, Senior Consultant at Supply Chain Company, oversaw the implementation. “We modeled Blendwell’s entire supply chain in Optimity’s Supply Chain Optimizer. The planners needed the ability to generate a single integrated supply plan that recognizes material, production, storage, distribution, and labor costs and constraints.”

Tom Luijten liked the way Supply Chain Company approached the project. “We got good guidance, but at the same time, nothing felt predetermined. We worked to a tight schedule, but we made it on time and budget thanks to a strong collaborative effort. It was all very interactive, and their workshop-based approach worked well for us.”

The Results

Only three months after going live, Tom is already seeing tangible results: “Our forecast accuracy is up by 5-10%, and our customer service levels have also improved by 5-10%. While multiple forces are in play, Optimity is central to these improvements.”

“Our forecast accuracy is up by 5-10 %, and our customer service levels have also improved by 5-10%. Optimity is central to these improvements.”
Tom Luijten
Supply Chain Manager, Blendwell

Waste reduction is another key area where the graphs point in the right direction. “We’re starting to see a downward trend. Especially for critical semi-finished products,” says Tom.

Automation makes planning faster and more dynamic

Today, Blendwell can generate forecasts and fully integrated supply plans in a fraction of the time. “It used to take days to prepare all the sales history. And once the forecast was set, no one was allowed to touch the numbers until the next month. Now, it’s all automated, and we can adjust the forecast as soon as new information becomes available. It’s a much more dynamic way of working,” says Tom.

The ability to plan and evaluate the entire supply chain, from forecast to production, procurement, and inventory planning, in one integrated system is vital for Blendwell.

Tom says, “Before Optimity, we planned production and procurement based on our sales forecast and without accounting for existing inventory. If we had stock sitting in another location, we risked overproducing. This was especially problematic for intermediates with short shelf life, such as nuts after baking. Today, everything is taken into account and part of a single optimization run.”

Effective S&OP guides the business

Sales & Operations Planning is another area that’s seen a major improvement. The old process was mainly Excel-based and, therefore, not as dynamic as the company wanted. Tom says, “Our management wanted S&OP to be the driver of the business, but we lacked the holistic and forward visibility needed for the process to be effective. Optimity has helped us a lot here.”

Tom explains how Optimity is used to simulate different business scenarios. “Supply Chain Company has helped us set this up. We can now simulate the impact of opportunities and risks, which helps us understand the potential impact on sourcing and production capacity. This is invaluable, especially considering the recent levels of demand variability and supply chain volatility.”

Planning instead of firefighting

Tom says that the planners are very happy with the Optimity solution. “They can now see how the different supply chain functions interact, and there’s very little planning lag. This allows them to spot operational issues and potential supply and demand imbalances before problems arise. Previously, they were firefighting rather than planning, as problems just seemed to appear without warning. Today, they can spend time developing both a plan A and a plan B. They are becoming more strategic in their work.”

“Our ability to generate high-quality plans has improved massively, and knowing what’s going on in the supply chain at any point in time allows us to be more confident in our decision-making.”
Tom Luijten
Supply Chain Manager, Blendwell

While the project team continues to refine the planning model and improve the quality of the data driving it, the project is already a big success.

Tom says, “Our ability to generate high-quality plans has improved massively, and knowing what’s going on in the supply chain at any point in time allows us to be more confident in our decision-making. And we’re only getting better.”

About Blendwell Food Group

Blendwell Food Group specializes in the sourcing, processing, chocolate coating, mixing, packaging and supply of nuts, kernels, seeds, tropical fruits and related products.  Headquartered in Giessen, Netherlands the group has more than 300 employees across four production sites, producing 40 million kg/year.

To find out more about the Blendwell project, contact Erik Sandberg.