Integrated business planning supports collaboration at Etex

To make better decisions and respond quickly to change, lightweight building materials manufacturer Etex created an integrated business planning (IBP) solution in Anaplan. Bringing together finance, supply chain, manufacturing, and sales planning, the IBP solution provides a holistic view of company performance, empowers cross-functional collaboration, and improves business performance by releasing cash tied up in inventory.
 

Lightweight construction materials manufacturer Etex is on a mission to help build a safe, sustainable, and beautiful tomorrow. That mission is ripe with both opportunity and challenge, so preparing for the future and adapting to change has become increasingly important.

“In recent years the company’s planning processes have been strained by global inflation, organic growth, and acquisitions. “Our industry is very volatile at the moment, so being able to anticipate and respond to the market is fundamental,” explains Isabelle Bellessort, Global Head of Supply Chain at Etex. “We wanted a faster decision-making process that would satisfy our customers while protecting our working capital, cash position, and inventory levels.”

Existing solutions at Etex for finance, supply chain, and sales planning couldn’t deliver information at the pace needed by decision-makers. Data wasn’t transparent, decision-making sometimes didn’t align with corporate priorities, and people spent time assembling data rather than analyzing it.

Assembling the right pieces

Etex addressed these challenges by creating an integrated business planning (IBP) solution combining finance, supply chain, manufacturing, and sales planning. That solution was built on the Anaplan platform in collaboration with Bluecrux. “Finding the right software provider and the right partner to implement it was fundamental,” Bellessort explains. “The combination of Anaplan and Bluecrux were exactly what we needed.”

Data from across Etex now comes together in Anaplan, providing users with a holistic picture of business performance in near-real time. Because users from finance, procurement, manufacturing, and commercial teams have access to connected data on the same platform, opportunities for seamless collaboration can be quickly developed in-house. “My favorite thing about Anaplan is the speed at which we can design, configure, and visualize planning boards,” notes Bellessort.

Improving performance

Etex planning teams can now use the IBP solution to improve business performance and create scenarios that drive excellent decisions. “We expect to have a much faster and better decision-making process, not just for supply chain, but also for our partners on the finance and commercial teams,” Bellesort explains.

With integrated finance, supply chain, manufacturing, and sales planning, Etex planners will have more time to focus on strategic growth. “With Anaplan, our people will be able to spend more time analyzing data, building comprehensive plans, and modeling future scenarios,” Bellessort explains. “As a result, we’ll deliver better decision-making across finance, commercial, and supply chain teams.”

Bellesort anticipates that fast, insight-driven decisions will positively impact both Etex and its customers.  “We want to drive a positive impact on the P&L of our factories,” she says. “And in logistics and warehousing, we really want to improve our level of inventory — to optimize it and release cash, but also to improve our delivery performance to our customers, making sure we've got the right goods available at the right time for them.”