Project Overview
United Milk Company SA (UMC), Bulgaria’s leading fresh dairy producer, partnered with WITSIDE to modernize and automate its demand planning process as part of its digital transformation journey. Operating in a complex retail environment, UMC aimed to improve forecast accuracy, streamline workflows and enhance supply chain performance.
WITSIDE implemented an AI-driven forecasting solution using ForecastPro, enabling weekly forecasts across all SKUs at both product and customer levels. The new platform replaced manual processes with automated, data-driven models while supporting cross-functional collaboration.
With scenario planning capabilities and real-time insights, UMC’s teams can now make faster, more informed decisions, achieving measurable improvements in accuracy, efficiency and service levels.
Client's Challenges & Needs
Operating in a dynamic and highly competitive FMCG environment, United Milk Company faced increasing complexity in demand planning across a wide portfolio of products and distribution channels. Reliance on manual, spreadsheet-based forecasting limited visibility, slowed down processes, and often led to inaccuracies, resulting in stock imbalances, waste and missed sales opportunities.
The company also struggled to effectively capture the impact of promotions, new product launches and product phase-outs, making it difficult to respond proactively to market changes. At the same time, the lack of a unified planning approach created silos between Sales, Marketing, Production and Supply Chain teams.
UMC needed a scalable, automated solution that would improve forecast accuracy, reduce process complexity and enable cross-functional alignment, empowering teams with reliable data and the agility to make faster, more informed decisions.
The WITSIDE Solution
AI-Powered Demand Forecasting
Advanced statistical models generate accurate, weekly forecasts across SKUs and customers, leveraging historical data and demand drivers, including seasonality and promotions.
Collaborative S&OP Enablement
Unified Sales, Marketing, Production and Supply Chain teams around a single source of truth, improving alignment and decision-making, with enhanced transparency across functions.
Automated & Scalable Planning Process
Replaced manual, spreadsheet-based workflows with a fully automated solution, ensuring consistency, speed and scalability across the organization.
Scenario Planning & Continuous Optimization
Enabled dynamic scenario analysis and continuous validation of forecasts, allowing teams to respond proactively to market changes and improve performance over time.
The Results
Up To +29% Forecast Accuracy Improvement
UMC achieved significant accuracy gains across all SKU segments (Total SKU: +8% monthly, +5% weekly), with standout improvements in slow-moving products (Pareto C: up to +29%).
Reduced Stock Imbalances & Improved Service Levels
Minimized overstock, stockouts and returns while increasing product availability and on-time delivery, driven by more reliable, data-driven demand planning across channels.
Faster Planning Cycles & Operational Efficiency
Enabled rapid execution of multiple forecasting cycles regardless of dataset size, eliminating manual effort and freeing up time for deeper analysis and strategic decision-making.
