Outperform signed a contract with innocent to supply and implement Outperform Planning to replace a mix of spreadsheets and in-house developed solutions. This migration will be planned and executed in close collaboration with innocent's IT/IS team. We will create a Sales and Operations Planning solution that can support the growth over the next 10 years, in geographical regions and product portfolio. Innocent already have the "one number demand plan" in their Demantra system, which Outperform Planning will use as input. We will report this demand plan in representations and aggregations to support the needs of the S&OP process, thereby maintaining Outperform Planning as the system of reference that connects the demand and supply plan. The supply side covered by Outperform includes procurement planning, raw material planning, production planning and transportation planning.
Apart from the usual constraints in a manufacturing environment, like finite capacity of manufacturing resources, batch sizing, transportation lead times and quantities, shelf life is a prominent constraint in all stages. Outperform Planning's deep cover on the topic along with happy reference clients was one of the deciding factors for innocent to select Outperform. Innocent's supply chain, comprising customers, warehouses, blending plants and co-packers all over the UK and Europe, is one with interesting dynamics: high quality fruits which are sourced from the other side of the ocean and against agreements made long in advance, combined with serving the fast moving consumer goods industry where innocent is targeting the maximum shelf life and quality to be available at the retailer.
Launched fifteen years ago, innocent is the UK and Europe's number one smoothie brand. We sell natural, healthy products - smoothies in little bottles and big cartons; smoothies and juice for kids; a refreshing range of not-from-concentrate juice; and noodle and veg pots, our ranges of quick and tasty meals. The team has grown from three to 300 people who work across Europe (with products available in 15 different countries). We turn over £200 million each year.
We chose outperform because of their deep experience across the software and food and beverage industries. Their solution is intuitive and, critically for us, has shelf-life constraints at its core. We look forward to a long and successful partnership.
Ed Nicholson, Programme Manager
