Blue Diamond Growers partners with SAP, project44, and XpertMinds to transform their supply chain, saves $1M on transportation costs
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Key Takeaways
⇨ Blue Diamond Growers transitioned from a cumbersome manual supply chain process to a fully digitized system powered by SAP and project44, enabling improved efficiency and a single source of truth across the enterprise.
⇨ The new supply chain solution provides faster, more flexible planning capabilities, reducing scenario planning time significantly while improving fill rates for customer orders from 89% to 99%.
⇨ Enhanced visibility and consolidated data management have led to better customer service responses, improved planning agility, and a reduction in inventory days from 75 to 60 days.
To maximize the returns for each of its growers, Blue Diamond Growers needed to not only develop new products, it also needs to operate at top efficiency. Founded in 1910, Blue Diamond Growers is the world’s largest almond processing and marketing cooperative. This global enterprise represents approximately 3,000 growers and exports to more than 75 countries. This dedication to strategic innovation was one of the driving factors behind the transformation of their supply chain from a cumbersome and disjointed manual process to a fully digitized solution powered by SAP, project44, and XpertMinds.
The primary objective of Blue Diamond Growers was to transition from a disjointed, manual demand, supply, and logistics planning process to one that is fully digitized, provides a single source of truth across the expansive enterprise, and provides multiple ways to increase efficiency.
This need was driven by the fact that the organization was managing $300 million in supply chain and logistics functions using a disjointed collection of documents, spreadsheets, and processes. This cumbersome system relied on time-intensive and error-prone manual processes for everything from promotion scenario planning to securing logistics resources and obtaining order status, offered extremely limited opportunities to run scenarios or simulations, and made it nearly impossible for customer service reps (CSR) to gain accurate or timely visibility into critical order information. Sometimes, it would take days for a CSR to collect the information needed to respond to a customer.
The pandemic put the many shortcomings of this chaotic environment into the spotlight as the company struggled to deal with rapid and wild fluctuations in supply and demand alongside limited and unreliable transportation resources. For example, the lead time required for securing freight increased exponentially from about three weeks to five months. And the lead time for planning new promotions more than doubled, increasing from two to five months. These issues combined with legacy manual processes severely impacted Blue Diamond Growers’ ability to satisfy demand in a cost-effective and consistent way.
It was clear that Blue Diamond needed to move to a completely digitized supply chain, and they needed to do it quickly. They turned to SAP, with whom they had been working since 2014, to help them build a world-class supply chain solution.
The solution Blue Diamond Growers chose to implement with XpertMinds, an SAP implementation partner for supply chain and logistics, is SAP Transportation Management and SAP Business Network for Logistics, enhanced with an integration between SAP Business Network Global Track and Trace and SAP Solution Build Partner project44 to connect critical visibility data. Movement by project44, is a High-Velocity Supply Chain Platform that enables shippers, LSPs and carriers across the globe to reduce costs, optimize operations, deliver an exceptional customer experience and drive greater resiliency and sustainability. project44 provides visibility into over 1 billion shipments annually for over 1,300 of the world’s leading brands within manufacturing, automotive, retail, life sciences, food & beverage, CPG, and oil, chemical & gas. This new capability, combined with the previously deployed SAP Integrated Business Planning solution, provides Blue Diamond with a complete planning solution from demand and supply through to logistics to provide an improved customer experience.
Recent SAPinsider research shows a continuing focus on mitigating the rising complexities and risks within supply chains, with 53% of companies noting that increasing complexities and risks is the top driver of supply chain transformation projects. In the recent research report, Building Resilient and Agile Supply Chains via Data, Analytics and Automation, companies also recognized the significance of AI/ML in supply chain operations, with 43% of respondents highlighting its increasing prominence on the corporate agenda. External pressures also influence the need to enhance data, analytics, and automation capabilities. Evolving customer expectations and demand (37%) and the pressure to run more sustainable supply chains (36%) indicate a growing societal and environmental consciousness among supply chain leaders.
Blue Diamond’s supply chain solution is designed to provide a single source of truth that encompasses the planning and logistics process from end to end. It is also purpose-built to enable faster, more dynamic planning while simultaneously eliminating bottlenecks and shortages. Together, all these efficiencies help improve response times for better planning agility and customer support functions.
As a result, Blue Diamond was quickly able to achieve their most important objectives:
- A single source of truth across the entire enterprise
The new solution provided a unified plan for demand, supply, manufacturing, and logistics. It gave the organization one dynamic tool for securing freight and a single source of truth. This made it possible to respond much more quickly and easily to customer service inquiries. At the same time, enhanced visibility into the supply chain helped Blue Diamond eliminate shortages due to supply or freight issues.
- Faster, more flexible and dynamic planning capabilities
With the new solution, Blue Diamond Growers planners and support representatives are able to plan ahead to successfully meet demand, identify and close supply gaps, and stay one step ahead of transportation gridlock. Previously, logistics planners had to access multiple carrier websites, multiple times per day, to effectively manage logistics planning and gather updates. The new solution enables a single source, thereby reducing the time required to plan and manage freight.
- Better supply chain visibility and planning tools
With a consolidated view across the entire business, Blue Diamond Growers is now able to eliminate shortages due to supply and ocean freight issues. The visibility enables our customer service reps to offer improved and timely updates to our customers.
- Increased efficiency and better use of Human Resources
Implementing the SAP and project44 solution enabled Blue Diamond Growers to reduce the number of systems supported by the IT team from five to one, greatly improving efficiency for the IT department. On the planning side, the new system eliminates the low-level Excel tasks that were a core part of the previous manual process, allowing employees to take on additional responsibilities as product managers and experts.
The business outcomes Blue Diamond achieved included the following:
- $1M reduction in scenario planning time – down from six hours to 20 minutes
- 95% reduction in scenario planning time – down from six hours to 20 minutes
- 99% fill rates for customer orders, compared to an industry average of 89%
- 10% improvement in forecast accuracy
- 20% of reduction in supply on hand – down from 75 to 60 days of inventory
What this means for SAPinsiders
Participate in SAPinsider research. SAPinsider will be publishing a research report in December on AI in the Supply Chain that will explore the key drivers causing companies to adopt AI in supply chain, the primary strategies companies are deploying to operationalize AI in supply chain, the critical underlying capabilities that must be in place in order for AI to deliver durable outcomes, and the leading technology tools and providers companies are using to embed AI into supply chain processes and systems. Take the survey today and let your voice be heard!
Boost fill rates with inventory optimization and improved order management. Digital tools for automatic stock replenishment prevent delays caused by manual reordering, reducing the likelihood of stockouts. This real-time approach can yield fill-rate improvements by ensuring products are always available at the right place and time. Digitized systems like those described ablove improve visibility across warehouses and distribution centers, allowing for dynamic adjustments to safety stock based on demand. This enhanced control can lead to fill-rate increases, particularly in complex supply chains where demand fluctuates widely.
Choose forward-looking technology partners. When embarking on any supply chain digitization or transformation initiatives, SAP customers should select partners who are adept with emerging technologies that drive supply chain improvements, such as AI, machine learning, IoT, and predictive analytics. These capabilities are critical for developing a digitized, responsive supply chain that supports better decision-making and risk management. Also, choose partners with experience integrating SAP solutions with other enterprise systems, such as ERP, CRM, and data lakes. A partner skilled in seamless integration will facilitate smoother data flow and interoperability, improving efficiency and insights across your operations.
