Discovering PepsiCo's Journey to Seamless Business Integration

A recent publication by SAP highlights a fascinating case study on integrated business planning featuring insights from Gretchen Talley, who oversees global supply chain planning at PepsiCo, and dominick metzger, the president and chief product officer at SAP Supply Chain Management.

PepsiCo faced challenges due to a chaotic mix of various process-planning systems that varied across its business units and markets. Talley points out that the company aimed to unify its planning efforts in alignment with a extensive vision for its supply chain.

Since PepsiCo was already utilizing SAP’s S/4HANA enterprise resource planning system, it made perfect sense for them to turn to the same provider for their supply chain needs. They had previously experimented with SAP Integrated Business Planning’s inventory-optimization module and were thrilled with the results. “Expanding into the full IBP suite felt like a natural progression,” Talley explains.

Metzger recognizes PepsiCo’s goal of achieving elegant, state-of-the-art planning across all global operations. He notes that integrating end-to-end planning alongside S/4HANA was an ideal match.

According to Talley, PepsiCo employs the IBP suite not only for managing production sites and warehouses but also for coordinating with co-manufacturers and material suppliers. “Everything is seamlessly connected,” she emphasizes.

The implementation process involved creating a template tested against data from all sectors of PepsiCo’s operations before applying it across diffrent markets and product lines. The aim was clear: establish “a single source of truth” while still allowing flexibility for various brands and market nuances.

The outcome? As per talley, they achieved “a cohesive flow of demand throughout the entire system through native integration.”