A global dairy manufacturer producing a wide range of cheese products sought to modernize its supply chain planning following a major ERP transformation initiative.
While the ERP upgrade harmonized core systems, it did not provide the advanced planning capabilities required to manage the complexity of the company’s production environment.
Operating with capacity utilization above 90%, planners relied heavily on manual scheduling and daily plan adjustments to keep production running. This reactive approach limited planning visibility and made it difficult to optimize inventory, capacity, and product routings.
To address these challenges, the organization partnered with Demand Chain AI to pilot Puls8 Replan, an AI-powered planning solution designed for complex food manufacturing operations.
Production planning extended only two weeks into the future, limiting the ability to make informed decisions around labor, procurement, and supply chain risk.
The business wanted to extend the planning horizon to 14 weeks, enabling earlier identification of potential constraints and improving overall supply chain resilience.
The production schedule was built manually and frequently rebuilt throughout the day as conditions changed. This highly manual process slowed response times and prevented planners from evaluating medium-term operational impacts.
Cheese production involves products with limited shelf life, creating a constant risk of obsolescence. Combined with a 30% forecast bias, this required tight inventory control to avoid waste while maintaining product availability.
With production lines running at over 90% utilization, there was little flexibility to absorb disruptions such as raw material delays or last-minute demand changes.
Strict food safety standards required careful management of:
These requirements significantly increased production planning complexity.
Planners successfully generated their first production plan using Puls8 Replan.
Updated planning assumptions were incorporated, and planners began comparing AI-generated plans with their manual planning process.
The team began modeling operational scenarios, including adding new production lines to evaluate potential capacity impacts.
The organization confirmed that Puls8 Replan consistently delivered improved planning outcomes compared with manual planning methods.
The pilot delivered measurable improvements in service levels, inventory management, and operational efficiency.
Product availability increased by 12%, supported by better placement of safety stock for volatile SKUs.
Improved planning and shelf-life management resulted in a 19% reduction in excess stock, lowering waste and improving inventory efficiency.
Optimized production sequencing reduced changeovers by 17%, improving line efficiency and capacity utilization.
Daily production planning time dropped from four hours to just 30 minutes, enabling planners to focus on higher-value strategic decisions.
By implementing AI-driven planning, the manufacturer transformed a highly manual production planning process into a faster, more intelligent decision-making system.
Planners now have the tools needed to anticipate constraints earlier, optimize production decisions, and maintain strong product availability in a competitive retail environment.
The pilot demonstrated how advanced planning technology can significantly improve operational performance in complex food manufacturing environments.
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