The process manufacturing sector — industries that create products like chemicals, food, and pharmaceuticals — is navigating a perfect storm of complexity. From the energy transition and stringent sustainability and regulatory mandates to digital disruption, immense pressures are converging.
Recent global shocks like supply chain volatility and inflation have ruthlessly exposed the limitations of traditional, spreadsheet-driven planning. In this high-stakes environment, operating in silos is no longer a viable option.
This new reality is echoed by leading analysts. According to McKinsey, supply chain disruptions can erase nearly half of a year's profits over the course of a decade, making resilience a critical business imperative. By seamlessly connecting finance, operations, supply, and workforce planning on a single platform, modern manufacturers are building the resilience and agility needed to thrive and survive.
Industry shifts forcing a planning revolution
Today’s process manufacturers are operating in a landscape where the old rules no longer apply. A convergence of powerful market forces is fundamentally redefining what it takes to run a resilient and profitable business. These shifts demand a radical rethinking of planning and forecasting, moving it from a periodic, siloed exercise to the dynamic, connected core of the enterprise.
| The shift | Why it matters | The planning evolution needed |
|---|---|---|
|
From static forecasts to real-time reality |
Extreme market volatility makes annual plans obsolete upon creation. |
Adopt dynamic scenario planning to model impacts on profitability and pivot in weeks, not quarters. |
|
From compliance to value creation |
ESG performance now directly impacts brand reputation and access to capital. |
Embed sustainability and carbon accounting into the core of operational and financial planning. |
|
From linear production to value chain optimization |
Intensifying complexity (batch variability, yields) threatens to erode margins |
Connect real-time production data (IT/OT) with commercial plans to optimize the entire value chain. |
|
From asset management to strategic allocation |
High-cost assets demand a focus on maximizing ROI over their entire lifecycle. |
Elevate capital and asset planning to a strategic function that rigorously models the return on every investment. |
|
From rear-view mirror to predictive insights |
The explosion of IoT and Industry 4.0 data makes historical-only planning a liability. |
Leverage predictive analytics to anticipate demand, preempt quality issues, and forecast maintenance needs. |
A purpose-built platform for modern challenges
Addressing these shifts requires more than just better spreadsheets; it requires a connected way of working. By breaking down departmental silos with an integrated supply chain planning platform, you can align all stakeholders around a single source of truth and enable rapid, scenario-based decision-making. This moves businesses from a reactive to a proactive state, empowering them to model the future and confidently choose the best path forward.
Anaplan delivers a suite of tailored solutions that address the specific challenges of process manufacturing:
- Integrated business planning (IBP): Connects high-level strategy with day-to-day execution by aligning demand, supply, and financial plans.
- Supply chain planning: Enables end-to-end demand forecasting, supply optimization, and agile re-planning to keep operations in sync with market realities.
- Capital and asset planning: Optimizes crucial decisions around plant investments, maintenance schedules, and capacity planning to maximize ROI.
- Workforce and skills planning: Helps balance headcount, manage labor costs, and align specialized skills with the demands of variable production environments.
- New product and formula development: Streamlines the entire innovation lifecycle, from R&D to launch, accelerating approvals and managing cross-functional complexity.
From strategy to reality: The tangible outcomes of connected planning
Adopting a connected planning approach delivers measurable results that directly impact profitability, resilience, and growth. According to Gartner, by 2027, industrial manufacturing supply chains will transform significantly, emphasizing the importance of supplier collaboration for digital ambitions and strategic cost control with C-suite collaboration. By unifying data and teams on a single platform, process manufacturers are turning market disruption into a competitive advantage.
Here’s how leading companies are benefiting:
Unmatched agility to outmaneuver volatility
In markets where conditions change overnight, rapid scenario modeling is critical. AGC, a leader in glass and chemicals, achieved 7–10X faster scenario analysis with Anaplan, enabling confident, data-driven decisions. This agility is echoed by materials firm Umicore, which slashed its forecasting cycles by 80%, freeing up valuable time for analysis. When you can see the financial impact of a supply disruption in hours instead of weeks, you can respond decisively while competitors are still gathering data.
Radical efficiency to drive margin growth
Inefficiency is a margin killer. Enterprise-wide planning attacks these challenges head-on. Beverage company CVH Spirits achieved a 20% improvement in demand forecasting accuracy, optimizing inventory while maintaining superior customer service. Meanwhile, global brewer ABInBev realized a staggering 90% time savings in data consolidation, dramatically accelerating decision-making.
Enhanced resilience through a single source of truth
True resilience is built on trust and transparency. When sales, operations, and finance all work from the same set of numbers, the entire organization can align and execute with speed. This is the "single source of truth" that L'Oréal established to make its business processes more efficient and scalable. Similarly, Orano found that secure, cross-functional data-sharing not only optimized financial resources but also fostered the collaboration needed to navigate the complexities of the nuclear fuel cycle.
Your blueprint for building a resilient, future-ready enterprise
The era of siloed, static planning in process manufacturing is over. The convergence of market volatility, operational complexity, and the unyielding pressure for sustainable growth makes one thing clear: the future belongs to organizations that can harness their data to make smarter, faster, and more connected decisions. Embracing an enterprise-wide, scenario planning and analysis platform is no longer a competitive advantage — it is the essential foundation for a resilient and profitable enterprise.
The evolution of planning is accelerating, with innovations like AI-driven demand sensing and shaping, predictive digital twins, and integrated carbon accounting moving from theory to reality. Seizing this future requires more than just technology; it demands a strategic commitment to transformation. Success is built on a blueprint that aligns people, data, and processes around a shared vision.
The critical steps on this journey include:
- Leading from the top: Secure executive sponsorship to champion the shift from siloed operations to connected decision-making.
- Building on a foundation of trust: Establish strong data governance to create a single source of truth that the entire organization can rely on.
- Empowering your people: Prioritize change management to guide the cultural shift from isolated workstreams to a collaborative ecosystem.
- Accelerating value with a proven ecosystem: Leverage Anaplan’s partner network for deep industry expertise and pre-built accelerators to speed up time-to-value.
The path forward is clear. By laying this strategic foundation today, you not only solve your most pressing challenges but also unlock the transformative power of what’s next. The journey to a more resilient, efficient, and sustainable future starts now.
