Poloplast reimagines forecasting with demand planning in Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management

Until recently, forecasting was not a task that sales managers at Poloplast looked forward to. Once a month, these employees gathered data in a spreadsheet to help determine the outlook for the next three months. These calculations were used to inform how much raw materials Poloplast, a specialist in plastic pipe systems, needed to meet demand. It was a high-stakes and time-consuming, manual process; disjointed platforms and an unintuitive process kept business areas out of sync. Siegfried Wögerbauer, Head of Supply Chain Management and Sales Logistics at Poloplast, explains. “One issue we had was that the forecast was not directly implemented into our enterprise resource planning (ERP) system. Production planning was disconnected from forecasting and this was a big disadvantage,” he shares. That disconnect affected production, leading to misdirected resources. “The production planners made decisions based on institutional knowledge and work experience, rather than a connection to forecasting,” says Holger Kreisel, Head of Enterprise Resource Planning at Poloplast.

Poloplast resolved to transform ERP and forecasting, and the business set out to find a new system. “We assigned a project team the task of writing up their requirements for the ideal ERP solution,” says Kreisel. The Poloplast team unanimously chose Microsoft Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management. With the help of their system implementation partner BE-terna, Poloplast joined a private preview and worked with Microsoft to refine the demand planning capabilities that have helped reimagine forecasting at the company. “We didn’t want to simply project our old ways of working into the future, we wanted to rethink supply chain management and demand planning. With Microsoft Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management and Demand planning, we have done just that,” says Kreisel. Today, the business has brought business units together for more coordinated planning, reduced the need for external storage and associated costs significantly, and improved resource allocation and employee experiences.

Collaborating with Microsoft on an intelligent solution for demand planning

Demand forecasting is the jumping-off point for Poloplast’s entire supply chain management process; getting it right is crucial. While Poloplast’s previous approach allowed for a degree of foresight, the process was more reactive than forward-looking. “We were always looking in the rearview mirror, planning our future demand on the single item level around what had happened in the past,” says Wögerbauer. To adopt a demand planning tool to support its future vision, Poloplast collaborated with Microsoft via a private preview of Demand. “It was a great experience to work with Microsoft directly and have this opportunity to contribute to a new product that we believe in,” says Kreisel. Demand planning uses forecasting algorithms, intelligent reports, and analytics to help create an accessible, no-code approach to forecasting. And the app incorporates AI to help support precise forecasting and improved accuracy.

To improve the forecasting experience for sales managers, Poloplast focused on offering a user-friendly experience within the product. “There were certain features missing from our previous solution, including built-in graphs and the ability to collaborate in real time,” says Wögerbauer. “It was important to provide an app that was attractive and easy for sales managers to use.” The result is a far cry from the days of painstakingly imputing data to generate a three-month forecast. Today, Kreisel and Wögerbauer can project one and a half years of forecasting with a single click.

Building a more connected process, saving time and costs with Microsoft Dynamics 365

Creating better interoperability between Poloplast’s ERP system and its forecasting solution was another focus area. By using demand planning within Microsoft Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management, Poloplast achieved its goal of a more connected process and improved collaboration between business units. “We knew from the beginning that we wanted everything related to forecasting and supply chain management in one place,” says Wögerbauer. Today, communication and clarity have both improved because Poloplast employees have a single source of truth. “This really helps bring the whole company together,” says Wögerbauer. It is now easy for employees at all stages of the supply chain to gain insight into the “why” behind production decisions. “We use the Microsoft Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management and the Demand planning to break down barriers between departments. We are all operating with a shared understanding and asking informed questions now,” says Wögerbauer.

Improved insights have led directly to better, more cost-effective decisions for Poloplast. “The storage space allocation of our goods has improved because it is now based on statistical methods surfaced in the Demand planning app rather than only on their personal work experience,” says Kreisel. “We have seen a measurable reduction in external storage costs as a result, significantly less than what we used to require.” Because the company is now aligned on forecasting, raw material purchasing is more precise, and the customer experience has remained exceptional. “We are now producing articles in the amount we need based on the forecast,” says Wögerbauer. “We have less wasteful ordering and less stock, but we are still delivering the same service level to our customers.”

Employee experiences for those who take customer orders have also improved with the use of Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management. “The internal sales department that inputs orders from customers into the system can now consult Dynamics 365 for item availability,” explains Wögerbauer. “In the past, these employees had to write emails and wait for a reply. It’s a big efficiency gain.”

After the success of its ERP transformation, Poloplast continues to look to the future and innovate. Today, the business is evaluating use cases for AI to help streamline knowledge management in the production department and potentially help answer customer queries. “With the Demand planning app and Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management, Poloplast employees have found a tool that matches their future-focused approach—it’s just the beginning,” concludes Wögerbauer.

Find out more about Poloplast on LinkedIn.