Client Background

Client: Multinational chemical manufacturing company

Industry: Chemicals

Products/Services: Client operates through three Strategic Business Units – Petrochemicals, Agri-Nutrients and Specialties – and one standalone organization, Metals. They support customers by identifying and developing opportunities in key end markets such as construction, medical devices, packaging, agri-nutrients, electrical and electronics, transportation and clean energy.

Area of Operation: Middle East

Challenge

A key component of financial success for a major global manufacturing company was knowing when, where, and how much to produce or stock a given product– and which end-user market offered the most potential profitability. To effectively identify and capitalize on new opportunities, the company sought to optimize its end-to-end sales and operational planning cycle.

This strategic initiative would replace manual processes and the need to rely on individual experience with a more automated, intelligent, and dynamic solution across the value chain – and enable the chemical manufacturer to make more accurate predictions in a fluctuating market and better connect its planning and execution.

Approach & Solution

Over several weeks, Wipro conducted extensive research and analysis and collaborated with a wide community of stakeholders to create a more intelligent solution to sales and operational planning. This effort involved three broad steps:

• Identifying gaps and opportunities in the current manual process that could be automated and optimized. This involved an inside-out as well as an outside-in perspective. The goal was to really understand what would generate the most business value.
• Reimagining the current process through the lenses of artificial intelligence, machine learning, and digital. Wipro defined the solution objectives while considering the data and process requirements as well as technological readiness.
• Developing an implementation roadmap and business case that reflected the costs and benefits of the new AI-driven sales and operations planning solution.

The critical element of Wipro’s approach was the application of artificial intelligence and machine learning. This was key to delivering a robust optimization solution that could model various scenarios, dynamically replan in real time, and, ultimately, provide the most profitable sales and operations plan.

Ultimately, Wipro designed a modular end-state solution that would deliver the features and functionalities of an AI-enabled user journey for sales and operational planning. Wipro also developed a five-year implementation roadmap and release strategy, identifying and articulating more than 100 functional and technical requirements. This plan included requirements for a minimal viable product so that the customer could quickly see a proof of concept.

Business Impact

Through this strategy-focused engagement, Wipro has created a solid foundation for the client through clearly identified solution objectives and business requirements along with a deep understanding of data readiness. Wipro also delivered a solid business case to deliver $100 million in operating margin benefits over three years for the initiative and gave the client a good jump-start on transforming its sales and operations planning function through the application of artificial intelligence and machine learning.