Case Study: Fixing Supply Chain Planning for a B2C Services Business

Like manufacturing, B2C services requires robust demand planning but is rarely featured in the demand planning literature. The services sector faces its own challenges when forecasting and planning demand, particularly when it comes to new product launches and operating at scale. I intend for this article to highlight the unique challenges faced in services businesses revealing a case study of a new product roll out at a Dutch telecom provider, featuring common problems encountered in B2C planning. I discuss how existential problems were overcome by mapping the existing supply chain, executing supply chain redesign, simulating different demand scenarios, understanding constrained and unconstrained demand, and incorporating S&OP. Further, I highlight the differences between planning in manufacturing and services environments, and key principles for services planning.