This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful.
Ocean Spray finds
the perfect solution
Ocean Spray International Services Australia Pty Ltd needed to enhance their demand planning process in line with Integrated Business Planning best practices. They were having trouble generating accurate statistical forecasts because they lacked the tools to correctly measure the efforts of their sales team. This led to errors in forecast accuracy.
They found the perfect solution to these problems with the help of SKU Science.
About Ocean Spray
Ocean Spray is a leading food and beverage company that is, at heart, still a farmer-owned cooperative that started in 1930. They specialize in growing high-quality cranberries that reach peak colour and flavour every autumn. Their growers harvest millions of pounds of cranberries and insert them into the global supply chain.
Ocean Spray’s mission is to connect farms to families for a better life. They are dedicated to providing the highest quality product that arrives at its destination smoothly and in the best condition. They operate a sustainable business that is kind to the planet and whose profits are redistributed to grower families equitably.
Therefore, the stakes were high for Ocean Spray as they tried to solve their planning challenges and live up to their ideals. They had to find a way to move their products in key markets so they could serve the communities who grew them, and the clients who consumed them.
The Challenges
Ocean Spray International Services Australia Pty Ltd had a problem. After a futile six-month search for a demand planning solution, the pressure was mounting. Using a laborious manual solution, their sales teams were using manual spreadsheets and in-house reports. This led to countless man hours devoted to generating reliable forecasts.
Ocean Spray lacked the tools to compare how its sales team was performing against the statistical forecast, leading to frequent errors in forecast accuracy, and little room to improve due to the absence of comparison metrics. It was a frustrating situation that led to multiple meetings, emails, and debates about how the forecast generated by their sales team could be improved.
They desperately needed to improve forecast accuracy, reduce stock levels, and have reliable KPIs to track their demand planning process performance. In doing so, they would save money by improving customer service levels and reduce manual labour.
The Solution
Eventually, Mauricio Rendon, Operations Manager at Ocean Spray ANZ came across the solution. Using SKU Science’s fast and simple demand forecasting and performance tracking tools, he was able to solve most of his problems in one go.
Built for managers just like him, the powerful SKU Science demand forecast was taken from actual sales figures and refined using hundreds of statistical combinations to produce a highly accurate bespoke solution.
Featuring an ultra-quick take-on process that involved an easy conversation with SKU Science, Mauricio could start demand forecasting in a matter of minutes. Commenting on what he uses the system for, he says.
“I'm now testing data, timing, reports and KPIs with our sales manager before
implementing the new process with our business partners.”
The SKU Science system is highly effective without wasting money. Thanks to monthly subscriptions, there is no commitment, creating an excellent price-performance ratio, as Mauricio found.
The Results
Mauricio started enjoying benefits like quality COVID forecasts and easy business reviews that showed him current business performance against his budget for the previous year. As hoped, he was able to reduce manual labor, improve forecast accuracy, reduce stock levels, and implement robust KPIs for future demand planning.
Commenting on the advantages of the SKU Science solution, he says,
“It’s affordable, easy to load data, fast to generate accurate KPIs, and easy to read reports
and results. Also, the forecast graphics and forecast comparisons are extremely helpful.”
The overall SKU Science system has many advantages, as confirmed by Mauricio
“It’s very flexible with great customer service to assist with questions or issues.
There is a great tool to use forecast value-added with sales team without creating
extra manual reports.”
Mauricio cannot speak highly enough of the after-sales support,
“The customer service has been fantastic. All the latest improvements such as loading
external forecasts, the COVID-19 forecast factor, the new dashboard, and the KPIs
have been valuable for our current process and implementation with our business partners.”
The Opportunity
Ocean Spray used SKU Science to solve a deep and longstanding problem related to its demand planning process.
Book a demo to see how we can help you do the same.