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Customer Stories

Orkla Food Ingredients: Preparing for the future with a modern supply chain

Explore Orkla Food Ingredients’ journey with SAP

Orkla Food Ingredients distributes an array of bakery and ice cream ingredients and plant-based products to a growing European customer base. To scale operations to meet future needs, the company chose SAP Integrated Business Planning for Supply Chain and SAP Supply Chain Control Tower as part of a cross-company planning platform.

27

%

reduction in waste related to products past their shelf life.

14

%

increase in forecast accuracy.

5

weeks

to create a proof of concept.

We created a modern landscape of integrated supply chain planning solutions. Today, we’re making proactive – not reactive – planning decisions because we have in-depth, accurate insights when we need them.

Hege Askeland
Logistic Consultant
Orkla Food Ingredients

The Challenge

Distributing ingredients and products to 22 European countries

Families and businesses depend on Orkla ASA for a wide variety of their favorite branded consumer products. They trust one of the enterprise’s main businesses, Orkla Food Ingredients, to bring their recipes to life with high-quality bakery and ice cream ingredients and plant-based products.

 

To satisfy the needs of expanding business-to-business and business-to-consumer markets, Orkla Food Ingredients is consistently open to digital innovation. This led the company to wonder how a new technology solution for the supply chain could support better decision-making and help scale operations to meet future needs and demands.

The Solution

Bringing to life a cross-company planning platform

To enable more efficient collaboration across business units and the flow of products for every individual food brand, Orkla Food Ingredients realized that it was time to create a cross-company planning platform. This innovation would help decrease manual effort related to supply chain processes and provide better insight into moments that matter to its customers and overall business growth.

 

With the assistance of SAP partner Implement Consulting Group, Orkla Food Ingredients created a proof of concept for the platform within five weeks. Then, after receiving executive buy-in, the SAP Integrated Business Planning for Supply Chain (SAP IBP) solution was implemented. This project was completed within 14 weeks ‒ 100% remote during the COVID-19 pandemic.

 

SAP IBP sets Orkla Food Ingredients’ foundation for accessing real-time supply chain insights and supports better planning. The solution’s capabilities improved critical operational processes, including inventory management, demand planning, and sales and operations planning.

 

Additionally, the company further enhanced supply chain visibility, alerting, and analytics after integrating SAP IBP with the SAP Supply Chain Control Tower solution and its wide variety of existing third-party back-end systems.

The Result

Improving decision-making and preparing for growth

Once SAP IBP and SAP Supply Chain Control Tower were included as part of the cross-company planning platform, Orkla Food Ingredients leveraged intuitive rollout templates to realize the value of the solution quickly. This strategic approach helped individual brands ‒ such as Odense Marcipan, Idun, KåKå, and Sonneveld ‒ deploy and adopt the platform’s processes and solutions in approximately four months each.

 

The combination of the supply chain solutions in the cross-company planning platform enabled Orkla Food Ingredients to create simpler ways of working and increase automation across business functions. This outcome led to decreased operational complexity and lower total cost of ownership of the technology landscape. As a result, the company achieved 14% greater forecasting accuracy and 27% less waste related to expired products on store and distributor shelves.

 

As a large Norwegian company feeding a multitude of people every day, Orkla Food Ingredients takes the responsibility for providing safe, nourishing food seriously. Its cross-company planning platform is well-designed to fulfill that mission ‒ no matter how fast the company grows and how far it expands.

SAP helps Orkla Food Ingredients run better

Key business outcomes and benefits

  • Created simpler ways of working and increased automation across business functions
  • Decreased the complexity and total cost of ownership of the technology landscape
  • Implemented processes and solutions at the individual brands in just three to four months each
  • Completed a 100% remote implementation during the COVID-19 pandemic

Featured solutions and services

  • SAP Integrated Business Planning for Supply Chain helps ensure business continuity in times of supply chain disruption by synchronizing supply chain planning in real time.
  • SAP Supply Chain Control Tower, part of SAP Integrated Business Planning for Supply Chain, helps identify and analyze supply chain disruptions, take corrective action, and respond and collaborate with external supply chain partners.

About Orkla Food Ingredients

Orkla Food Ingredients is the leading supplier of bakery and ice cream ingredients and plant-based products in 22 European countries. As part of the conglomerate Orkla ASA, the consumer products business serves artisanal and industrial bakeries and sells directly to consumers under well-known brands, such as Odense Marcipan, Idun, KåKå, Sonneveld, Mors Hjemmebakte, Kronjäst, Bakkedal, and Naturli’.

Industry Region Company Size Partner
Consumer products EMEA 18,510 employees (Orkla ASA) Implement Consulting Group
Featured partner

Headquartered in Copenhagen, Implement Consulting Group counts more than 1,000 colleagues working globally across Aarhus, Stockholm, Gothenburg, Malmo, Oslo, Zurich, Munich, Hamburg, and Raleigh. The SAP partner provides an uncompromising combination of deep functional and transformational expertise to help clients deliver projects of all shapes, sizes, and ambitions.

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