SUPPLY CHAIN
MET
CONSULTING
We’re revolutionising CPG planning with Connected Demand.
The missing link in the supply chain between planning and production.
MET helps £10-£350m consumer brands build forecasting and supply planning
capabilities that reduce waste, improve OTIF and give CPG suppliers and their
customers confidence, without the cost or complexity of enterprise consultancies.
Growth, without the guesswork
Inventory doesn't appear by accident.
It arrives one planning decision at a time.
A lesson I learned from a spell in one of the world's largest consumer goods companies. For five years I worked alongside the European Finance leadership team, reversing the impact of declining consumer demand and poor planning, amidst familiar symptoms: excess inventory, stagnant stock in trade, margin erosion, frustrated retailers, distracted sales teams, rising storage costs and millions of pounds trapped in working capital.
The deeper cause wasn't supply or sales, it was planning.
Time after time, planning decisions were driven without the presence of market data, consumer demand, customer inventory but by internal forecasts and backward facing sales history. The experience set my career on a new path.
Today I bring consumer goods businesses unique & innovative tools and techniques that connect projected consumer insight, customer inventory and commercial data into one joined-up process, turning planning into a competitive advantage, improving cash flow, protecting margins and unlocking profitable growth.
Because most consumer goods businesses don't have an inventory problem.
They have a planning problem.
And great planning doesn't rely on looking in the past.
It's about using the right data to make better decisions before expensive mistakes happen.
25 years in FMCG building forecasting models
"..amazing job Neil,
since aligning our plans on consumer demand, we've raised our game, restored trust with consistent on time delivery within a season & we've now been awarded listings growth netting £500,000 in additional revenue."
Chris Howarth, Sales Director, HoX Global
Strengthen Delivery
Many demand planning systems are built around one assumption:
What happened last month is the best indicator of what will happen next month.
Rear View Mirror forecasting
Most demand planning problems aren't forecasting problems.
They're profit problems. Service problems. Inventory problems. Cash flow problems.
When demand plans are wrong, businesses carry too much stock, run out of the products customers want, waste working capital and miss growth opportunities.
Many SMEs try to solve these challenges by improving statistical forecasts based on historical sales data. But historical sales is only a small part of the story.
Understanding what your customer bought from you yesterday doesn't tell you what their consumers will buy tomorrow.
Consequently, suppliers spend their time reacting to demand rather than anticipating it.
It's the equivalent of driving a car while looking only in the rear view mirror.
From firefighting to foresight.
MET feel differently about planning.
We focus on factors that drive customer replenishment in the first place.
Our forecasting uses:
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projected consumer demand
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projected customer inventory
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retailer promotional activity
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planned distribution changes
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new product launches
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seasonal demand drivers
By understanding future consumer demand and how customer inventory will respond, we help suppliers predict their customer's future replenishment needs rather than simply extrapolating the past.
The result is a demand planning process that puts you on the same side of the table as your customer.
By understanding the demand signals driving their business, you're anticipating their future needs, speaking their language, creating value and having conversations your competitors simply can't.
An unbroken chain from consumer to production schedule.
AI driven planning.
At MET, we partner with cutting edge tools to fuel innovation.
Bespoke planning engines are built on the Lumina platform, hands on in 6-8 weeks, providing the team with:
one version of the truth
time to plan the business, avoiding spreadsheet maintenance
big Supply Chain intelligence,
SME sized and built to fit your unique operation
Imagine delivery performance worries being a thing of the past,
trust and relationships growing,
profitability improving,
retailer listing growth discussions,
all whilst inventory is kept to a minimum.
If you're driving your business by looking in the rear-view mirror or considering an off the shelf forecasting model or ERP we should talk.
In 45 minutes, we'll discuss whether your forecasting gap is a process, data, or capability problem and what it's costing you.
Inventory is