Post Foods Effectively Transitions to New TPM Solution
Post Foods produces and sells a wide variety of nationally acclaimed, name brand, ready-to-eat (RTE) cereals for the United States, Canada, and for export. With plants in Battle Creek, MI, Jonesboro, AR, Modesto, CA, and Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada, Post has a more than 110-year heritage that has defined the breakfast experience for generations of families.
In the Q&A interview that follows, Ray Natali, Trade Funds Manager for Post Foods, explains how the company successfully collaborated with their broker and a solutions provider to successfully transition an acquired business to a new enterprise resource planning (ERP) and trade promotion management (TPM) solution and expand capabilities to achieve results.
CGT: What is the history of the relationship between Post Foods and Adesso Solutions?
Natali: Our relationship with Adesso Solutions began in November of 2008 when we contracted for the TradeAdvantageTM TPM and Settlements solution. The event was prompted by the acquisition of the Post Cereal brands by Ralcorp from Kraft Foods. The relationship was a collaboration of Advantage Sales & Marketing, Post Foods and Adesso Solutions.
CGT: What were the business requirements for the solution and what challenges were you facing at the time?
Natali: We were transitioning from the Kraft Foods TPM solution that we used to drive the business and needed an alternative solution that was easy to implement and easy to use. It was a challenging environment at the time as we were transitioning the business to a new ERP solution, a new sales force and new broker representation. We had to find a solution that would fully integrate with J.D. Edwards and business consultants who understood our business and could deliver in a short timeline.
CGT: What segments of the business do you manage in the solution?
Natali: We use the application to manage our trade budgets using live accruals; to track all of our promotion plans for Grocery, Convenience, Club, Dollar, Mass Merchandiser, Drug and Military; and to feed our production planning systems with the volume forecasts entered by the field. We are able to use the solution to manage these processes for all of our cereal business, including our modulars and special packs.
CGT: Was there any new functionality needed in the software to support your business?
Natali: Yes, with the growing concerns over controlling costs and the consumer’s demand for every day value pricing on products, we needed to have visibility to the effect our trade spending was having on the volume and segregate the base from the incremental lift. We wanted to automate the process as much as possible so as not to put the burden on our sales team with additional administrative work. Adesso helped us design a solution that tracked our EDLP and overlay deals and ensure that the forecasts were synchronized with any updates that were made to the plans.
CGT: And what were the results of the new functionality Adesso delivered?
Natali: We have an application that we use to track our base and promoted volumes and analyze the lift from our promotions. The users can update their forecast, the EDLP or overlay deals in the system, and be assured that the related data will reflect the changes as needed. This significantly reduces the amount of time the field has to spend on administering their trade plans and improves the quality of data feeding in to our production planning and financial forecasting systems. Overall, we have improved efficiencies in the process and enhanced the accuracy of our data.