Manufacturer of award-winning skincare, and cosmetic products, Avon Products, LLC has made key changes in its service supply chain by introducing a new demand forecasting technology.
Avon added a newly created Sales and Operations Planning role in its supply chain department. Rob Lawndes will be the Vice President of Sales and Operations Planning (S&OP) and will be handling new technologies and adoptions.
Stating about new transformations, Jan Zijderveld, CEO of Avon said, “We are making significant progress to our service supply chain, and these efforts are beginning to show results across the organization, particularly with regard to Representative satisfaction and overall operational improvements.” Further, he stated, “Through the application of targeted demand planning software, we are building a smarter supply chain that better understands the immediate needs of our Representatives, and responds and reacts to them with greater efficiency and effectiveness. We look forward to benefiting from Rob’s leadership as he advances our positive momentum in this crucial area. We are extremely focused on finding new and better ways for Avon to deliver the level of quality and service our Representatives deserve.”
Currently, the new technology will be implemented in three markets of Avon Products including UK, Mexico and Russia, and expected to be launched in the company’s top 15 markets by early 2019. The company plans to use this technology to achieve a fully automated campaign planning process.
Avon is utilizing in-depth tracking of representatives
Avon has started to take regular pulse surveys to improve the representatives’ approach towards the company’s culture. Avon has made around 25,000 calls to its representatives and achieved a 30 percent reduction in damaged boxes since April, and has successfully launched reinforced and compartmentalized boxes in five countries. The company will be speaking to nearly 100 Representatives in each of its top markets every day to measure success scores across 10 fundamental service KPIs. Further, Avon will apply the collected data to immediate preventative and corrective actions.
To provide real-time sales planning for their executives, the company will utilize exclusive software, which will allow increased adaptability to the demand variability of customers with the accurate estimation of customer demands.
