Revolutionizing Employee level Workforce Planning for a leading sleep & comfort solutions leader
Key Outcomes
Streamlined end-to-end planning and budgeting processes
Enhanced collaboration and data accuracy
Precise labour cost forecasting
Accelerated budget creation and streamlined reporting and integration
The Client
A prominent leader in the production of sleep and comfort solutions, encompassing the entire value chain. The Client specializes in designing, manufacturing, and delivering a diverse range of mattresses, toppers, and pillows under an expanding portfolio of proprietary brands. Their products are distributed across a wide spectrum of retail channels. The Client boasts a portfolio of over 400 patents, spanning various industries, including bedding, furniture, and engineered solutions for the medical and transportation sectors.
The Challenge
The Client faced several challenges stemming from their reliance on manual Excel-based planning and reporting processes:
- Reporting Delays and Errors: The manual nature of their Excel-based systems resulted in reporting delays and a higher incidence of manual errors.
- Inadequate Planning Models: Existing Excel planning and budgeting models lacked the capacity to capture necessary details, leading to suboptimal planning
- Flexible and Integrated Solution: The Client sought a flexible, fully integrated solution capable of handling their diverse planning and reporting needs.
- Workforce Cost Planning: The need to plan employee-level costs for their plant labour force was a crucial requirement.
- Cost Reclassification: Workforce costs needed to be accurately reclassified into direct costs and Selling, General, and Administrative (SGA) costs based on cost centre allocation.
- Data Integration: Integration was needed from multiple sources, including ADP and other payroll systems, to centralize dispersed data for comprehensive planning.
The Solution
The solution involved creating a unified, connected planning platform to address The Client’s specific needs, including:
- Planning and Budgeting: Implementing robust planning and budgeting processes, including monthly forecasting, to facilitate accurate financial planning.
- Actuals Reporting: Providing SKU and Customer level reporting capabilities for real-time visibility into actual performance.
- Workforce Planning: Automating employee-level workforce planning for both SG&A and Direct Labor, enabling real-time impact analysis of employee changes on planned net income.
- Management Reporting: Streamlining management reporting by integrating planning and budgeting across sales, production, inventory, and gross margin functionalities.
Outcomes
- Automated Planning: The Client now operates on an automated connected planning solution using the Anaplan platform, significantly reducing manual effort and enhancing data accuracy.
- Data Integration: Integration with ADP and SAP systems has enabled employee-level workforce planning capabilities, enhancing agility in managing workforce costs.
- Dynamic Workforce Planning: The Client can now efficiently plan for new employee hires, predict their impact on the Profit and Loss (P&L) statement, and update employee promotions, grade changes, and terminations.
- Data Security: Granular security measures were implemented to ensure that planners have access only to relevant data, safeguarding sensitive information.
The Anaplan workforce planning solution has empowered The Client with a versatile, connected planning platform that addresses their diverse planning and reporting needs, enhances data accuracy, and improves overall operational efficiency.