As its supply chain and customer base grew and became more complex, Danfoss Climate Solutions recognized that annual sales, inventory, and operations planning (SIOP) couldn’t keep pace. By reinventing SIOP on Anaplan, Danfoss made end-to-end planning a monthly process. The company gave planners worldwide near-real time stock-level data and other key metrics, increased agility and decision-making confidence, and established a foundation for continuous improvement.

Danfoss Climate Solutions manufactures energy-efficient heating and cooling solutions for a more sustainable future. With dozens of factories on three continents, Danfoss relies on a diverse global supply chain to bring its high-quality, energy-efficient solutions to market.

“Being connected to a vast network of suppliers and customers is extremely important for us to deliver the right product, at the right time, and in the right place,” says Alina Davydova, Senior Manager, SIOP Excellence & MDM at Danfoss. “But in recent years we’ve seen how volatile supply and demand can be.”

The growing network at Danfoss made sales, inventory, and operations planning (SIOP) harder to manage. For example, collecting data for safety-stock calculations, capacity planning, and other processes — in a variety of formats and from multiple systems — was so time-consuming that key supply chain processes could only be run annually. “Our network became so vast that we needed a connecting tool for the organization,” recalls Davydova.

Creating a unified solution

To accelerate key processes and decision-making, Danfoss moved SIOP activities to Anaplan. “My favorite thing about Anaplan is its flexibility and connectivity,” says Davydova. “All businesses are different, but with Anaplan we combined those blocks into something that is relevant for us.”

With a unified Anaplan solution for SIOP, decision-makers around the globe access near-real-time information on stock levels, projected demand, and operational data. “I can effortlessly view the status of demand, supply, and inventory all in one place, on a single page,” Davydova says.

From once a year to once a month

Having all SIOP data on one platform makes Danfoss more confident and agile. “Anaplan has enabled us to make better decisions by bringing the connectivity into our supply chain landscape,” explains Davydova. “It has transformed connectivity, traceability, and transparency in planning like I would never have imagined.”

With Anaplan, Davydova and her team can run key processes six to 12 times more frequently. “Before Anaplan, I would do the end-to-end planning cycle once per year, or maybe twice per year, because it was very difficult to get the data,” Davydova says. “But with Anaplan I can do it every month because it’s faster, it’s at hand, and everything is available.”

The solution has become a platform for continuous improvement. “With the introduction of Anaplan and SIOP process, we look at planning as circulatory, something that we can repeat and improve,” she says. “We can get better and better, again and again.”

And perhaps most important, the Anaplan platform unlocks potential for future innovation. “I’m excited about the limitless possibilities that artificial intelligence and data management give us,” concludes Davydova. “I'm very sure that Anaplan can bring those technologies into our future.”