Lindt & Sprüngli France was one of the first French manufacturers to switch to SAP IBP. It was a gamble for the chocolatier, who was supported in its approach by TeamWork. Lindt France is counting on this modernized base to overhaul its forecasting processes and step up the pace in the field of analytics.
Founded in 1845, Lindt is one of the world’s top 10 confectionery manufacturers. The company posted sales of 4 billion Swiss francs in 2020, and employs around 14,500 people worldwide. Lindt has a strong presence in France, with a factory in Oloron-Sainte-Marie, 4 warehouses and 26 stores.
Lindt France used the SAP Advanced Planning and Optimization (SAP APO) solution for demand planning. With this tool reaching the end of its life, Lindt sought a successor through a call for tenders, with a particular focus on SAP Integrated Business Planning for Supply Chain (SAP IBP).
The choice quickly fell on SAP IBP and TeamWork, a supply chain specialist. The latter came to present the SAP IBP solution through its preconfigured Step In for SAP IBP by TeamWork. From the outset, Lindt appreciated the integration with Microsoft Excel, a tool well known to planners.
Ongoing support from TeamWork teams
Lindt was one of the first players to implement SAP IBP in France. This risk was made all the greater by the fact that the manufacturer already had a functional solution, albeit lacking in agility. TeamWork’s expertise was crucial in determining which parts of IBP to use, complemented by its preconfigured version. TeamWork was also able to enhance SAP Cloud Platform Integration (CPI), to create stable, robust interfaces tailored to Lindt’s needs.
The project started in October 2019 and took 8 months to complete, with commissioning completed before summer 2020. All this in a difficult context linked to the health crisis. TeamWork used the findings of the functional audit to build an SAP IBP solution, focusing on Demand Planning. This is made easier by the proximity of the processes managed by the two solutions. During the first year of operation, Lindt and the TeamWork teams focused on optimizing the deployed solution.
“The ramp-up went very smoothly, and the business units took to SAP IBP very quickly. From the very first use, the results were already comparable to those of SAP APO. The TeamWork teams were able to support us throughout the project and help us get through each stage.”
Jean-Pascal Auge
S&OP Area Manager, Logistics, Lindt & Sprüngli France
Improving the work of forecasters
The SAP IBP solution is more flexible and provides greater agility for business teams than SAP APO, while offering new functionalities. It is also capable of interacting with Lindt & Sprüngli France’s other planning solutions.
“The result is conclusive. TeamWork continues to provide us with second-level support, the first being provided in-house. In this way, it takes over from our IT Department on issues requiring advanced expertise.”
Jean-Pascal Auge
S&OP Area Manager, Logistics, Lindt & Sprüngli France
The solution stabilization phase gave the supply chain teams a breather after 8 months of hard work. But other projects are already on the table. Regular upgrades to the solution are planned, to keep pace with the transformation of forecasters’ activities. The new functionalities provided by SAP IBP facilitate operational reporting, but Lindt France wants to go further in terms of data consolidation and reporting.
