Transforming a global cocoa supply chain, from origin to customer

What it is

One of the world’s largest cocoa producers runs its supply chain across continents: buying beans at origin, turning them into cocoa products in plants around the world, and getting those products to customers. Each part of that chain had grown up separately, with its own tools and its own ways of working in each region.

This project set out to transform it end to end, from origin execution to customer fulfilment, in three streams. I was the product lead for all three, responsible for shaping the solutions.

The challenge

The same job was done differently in Singapore, Europe, Africa and Brazil. A global solution had to work for all of them, without forcing one region’s habits on the others.

Three streams

Procurement

A strategic planning solution for deciding what to buy, and from where, over the next twelve months. An execution solution for carrying that plan out on the ground. Alongside them, tracking for the beans themselves, from origin to the production plant.

Production planning

Plants across the world produce cocoa products to meet customer demand. This solution optimises the production plan across them.

It replaced an earlier version that few people used. Two things held that version back: the user experience, and the accuracy of the plans it produced. The redesign addressed both.

Allocation and fulfilment

Once the goods are made, the customer service team decides which customers get them. This solution helps the team allocate finished goods to the right customers efficiently.

How I approached it

Starting from the journey as it is

A three-day workshop opened the project. We mapped the as-is journey and worked through the priorities from each stakeholder’s point of view. Co-working sessions afterwards refined the ideas that came out of it.

Making complex ideas shared

Supply chain planning is hard to picture from a description, so I used artefacts to get everyone to the same understanding:

• high-fidelity clickable prototypes
• high-quality video demonstrations of complex processes
• interactive presentations explaining complicated concepts

Delivering across four regions

I managed delivery with a development team of around 25, and stakeholders in Singapore, Europe, Africa and Brazil. Each region had its own way of working. Repeated collaborative workshops brought them to one solution that works for everyone.

Impact

• $60M+ in early impact, from the procurement solution alone

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More detail on this project can be shared in an interview or portfolio review.