Top 3 Business Problems – Consumer Goods

April 16, 2018 Leah Hoffmann

cpg consultant

Business Talent Group’s on-demand consumer goods consultants combine deep industry experience with expertise in domains like pricing, sales ops, and customer insights. CPG consultants can help consumer goods companies assess new markets and opportunities, fill critical knowledge gaps, and plan and execute large-scale business transformations.

Agility, innovation, and differentiation are the keys to success in consumer goods, where rapidly evolving markets have brought both opportunity and upheaval. Yet, too often, CPG companies find it difficult to mobilize the resources they need to move quickly.

Here are a few examples where CPG companies have leveraged Business Talent Group’s on-demand consumer goods consultants.

ERP Redesign

The VP of strategy at one of a food and beverage giant's best-loved brands had commissioned an enterprise resource planning (ERP) redesign. The goal of the redesign was to streamline a heavily customized system and simplify dozens of critical processes. Unfortunately, no one on the team had the skills or capacity to go beyond the technical details and lead the work from a business process perspective. Looking for someone who could not just advise but execute, the company turned to Business Talent Group. Our consultant was a business process transformation expert who had trained at top consulting firms and led multiple ERP implementations at IBM's SAP practice. Working with the client's technical ERP lead, our consultant brought in best-practice insights, drove "As Is" business process documentation, and spearheaded early "To Be" design efforts. Then, after coordinating with executive stakeholders, he began the detailed and difficult work of standardizing and integrating master data into those plans. Throughout the process, he was instrumental at spotting potential issues and roadblocks and develop plans to rectify them. By the time he was finished, the company had decided to roll out his designs to other business units across the enterprise, including leveraging a Center of Excellence he created for master data management.

S&OP Transformation

A F500 CPG company with 30+ global brands was ready for a substantial redesign of its Sales & Operations Planning (S&OP) process. For the last update—which took place nearly a decade earlier—the company engaged a traditional consulting firm. This time, the CFO hoped to keep more of the process in house. Both the CFO and the head of Supply Chain could identify the major challenges: rationalizing the number and type of demand forecasts and creating a tighter link to supply chain planning. But how would the team address these challenges and achieve buy-in across so many independently-minded brands? Business Talent Group began by helping the client break the work into distinct phases. In the first phase, a tight, two-person team worked closely with senior leaders. The lead consultant of this phase was a former Booz Principal and Supply Chain Practice Leader. Supporting her was an expert operations improvement consultant. Together, the consultants worked with the client’s team to review S&OP reports and practices, introduce new KPI charts, and incorporate process disciplines. The team then redesigned the demand consensus process. Finally, they developed the high-level design for the new S&OP process. This initial project lasted four months. As it moved towards the next phase, implementation, Business Talent Group augmented the team with project management support.

Optimizing the Manufacturing Footprint

A multinational beverage company had decided to close one of its manufacturing plants and move production to a lower-cost facility. Looking for a steady, neutral, and disciplined hand to create more detailed plans and execute the work, the head of the company's project management office (PMO) turned to Business Talent Group. We connected the client with a manufacturing operations expert who had trained at Deloitte and led operational improvement initiatives across multiple industries. Working with the PMO, the consultant created a detailed work plan that included 16 different workstreams. After visiting the company's manufacturing facilities, however, he realized there was an opportunity to make operational improvements to the failing plant— and realize a higher long-term return. At the client's request, he provided additional analysis to support senior management as they discussed the best way forward. Ultimately, the client decided to keep the plant operational, and the work of Business Talent Group's consultant shifted to providing project management and data support for the new business process optimization initiative.

About the Author

Leah Hoffmann

Leah Hoffmann is a former journalist who has worked for Forbes.com and The Economist. She is passionate about clear thinking, sharp writing, and strong points of view.

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