Coca-Cola HBC has chosen Blue Yonder’s SaaS-based Luminate Planning solutions to support end-to-end planning for its 24/7 supply chain and product portfolio of more than 100 brands and 4,000 SKUs.
The SaaS-based technology will improve visibility and seamlessly orchestrate the company’s supply chain to sense demand, minimise costs, better leverage resources and materials, gain operational agility, and achieve effective execution.
The COVID-19 pandemic has changed consumption patterns following the closure of bars and restaurants, and consumers have moved towards at-home consumption.
It means that beverage producers require the ability to predict demand better to ensure they match planned production in line with customer needs, the company added.
A Huge Step
Gerhard Seidl, group planning director at Coca-Cola HBC, said, “Blue Yonder, as our new cloud-based demand and supply chain planning solution, is a huge step for our digital end-to-end planning strategy, which is a company priority.
“The system will touch many people across all functions and will be our backbone to run the business, facilitating advanced cross-functional digital collaboration and decision making.”
The collaboration with Blue Yonder will allow the bottler to create an efficient supply chain and improve sustainability efforts through better forecasting and planning.
It will ensure a digital transformation of the company’s supply chain by leveraging flexible processes to support swift decision-making and adapt quickly to changing business environment and customer demand.
In addition, it will allow the company to seamlessly integrate and leverage data across departments and from multiple sources.
Artificial Intelligence
Blue Yonder's Luminate Planning, built on Microsoft Azure, is based on artificial intelligence and machine learning.
Johan Reventberg, president of EMEA at Blue Yonder, stated, “With Luminate Planning, they [Coca-Cola HBC] will have a robust and scalable supply chain solution portfolio with broad capabilities that can offer flexibility, performance, usability, and visibility across the entire supply chain.”
“With full visibility on demand forecasting, agile and scalable processes, and seamless integration capabilities, Coca-Cola HBC can achieve effective demand, supply and production planning to better serve customers in a profitable yet sustainable way.”
Coca-Cola HBC is a strategic bottling partner of The Coca-Cola Company in 28 countries, offering consumer-leading brands in sparkling, juice, water, sport, energy, plant-based, ready-to-drink tea, coffee, adult sparkling, and premium spirits categories.
© 2021 European Supermarket Magazine. Article by Dayeeta Das. For more Supply Chain news, click here. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: European Supermarket Magazine.
