Company: Hartz Mountain Corporation
Website: www.hartz.com
Industry: Consumer Goods Manufacturing/Pet Supplies
Technology Platforms: Oracle Enterprise Information System

 

Reaching New Levels of Forecast Accuracy with Consumer Centric Planning

Hartz Mountain is a well-known manufacturer and distributor of high quality, clinically-proven pet products and supplies. The $400 million company produces approximately 3,500 pet care products, including nutritional items, over-the-counter animal health, wellness and grooming products, rawhide and natural treats, and toys and accessories. These products are sold through large retail chains like Walmart, Kmart, PetSmart, Target and Walgreens, as well as specialty stores.

Hartz had a traditional monthly forecasting process based primarily on withdrawals from retail DCs using John Galt’s demand management engine. But they wanted to leverage the point of sale (POS) and IRI data that was available for 88% of their business. They needed a solution that would help them take a quantum leap toward becoming a consumer driven supply chain.

With John Galt’s Consumer Centric Planning solution Hartz has completely redefined its demand planning process for the company’s 3500 active SKUs.

Using John Galt’s CCP, demand planners at Hartz build a baseline forecast using POS and IRI data. Then they incorporate retail planograms, new store rollouts, projected rates of sale and event calendars so CCP can produce the bottom up forecast. This forecast is compared to the forecasts produced by marketing and sales via the S&OP process to create a final forecast that drives production plans.

Implementing CCP was a real paradigm shift. Hartz planners used to wait for sales results every month, so their ability to detect and react to changing consumer trends was limited. Now with CCP, the planners view updated numbers every week so they can predict trends and make more intelligent decisions. The end result is a much more accurate weekly forecast and replenishment plan that helps avoid costly stockouts and overstocks.