Optilon Takes Absolut Vodka Live with ToolsGroup Supply Chain Planning
Partners improve supply chain planning efficiency for “Sweden’s largest food export”
BOSTON, May 21, 2015 — ToolsGroup announced today that its Nordic partner Optilon has successfully taken The Absolut Company, part of the Pernod Ricard group of companies, live with ToolsGroup’s SO99+ ‘Powerfully Simple’ supply chain planning software. Running at Absolut’s production site in Åhus, Sweden, SO99+ supports demand management, fulfillment and replenishment for the company’s entire range of world-famous plain and flavored vodkas that are exported to more than 150 global markets.
Supporting “Sweden’s largest food export”
Last April, the Swedish Food Federation published statistics revealing that alcoholic spirits account for nearly 10 percent of the country’s total food exports of 70 billion SEK. Absolut Vodka tops that category making it Sweden’s largest food export product.
The live implementation in Åhus follows a year-long proof-of-concept project led by Optilon that modeled Absolut’s entire portfolio of vodka, taking constraints like production capacity into account. With a very agile team of planners managing all of Absolut’s forecasting and planning, the company will rely on SO99+ to improve operational efficiency by automating plans that strike an optimal balance between inventory and customer service levels while leaving room for some manual fine-tuning.
Absolut is the latest to join ToolsGroup’s growing portfolio of global food and beverage customers, such as Granarolo, Findus and Lantmännen Unibake.
“For us, quality – not least in production – is paramount and we do not want to leave anything to chance. After a thorough evaluation, we chose the combination of Optilon and ToolsGroup to provide the best skills and technology to improve our supply chain and production processes and help us reach our goals,” commented Peter Neiderud, Logistics, The Absolut Company.
About Absolut
The Absolut Company grew from the success of Absolut Vodka, a unique Swedish vodka that conquered the world on its own terms. In a little more than 30 years, Absolut Vodka has become one of the world’s best-selling spirits and has created a unique legacy of quality, creativity and originality that lives on to this day. Upon becoming a part of Pernod-Ricard in 2008, five more brands were added to the Absolut Company family. Like any great family, each member is very different, yet each distinguishes itself as only a great family can.
About Optilon
Optilon creates business value for customers in consumer goods and retail by providing solutions based on market leading applications in planning, optimization and logistics. The company’s consultants are specialists in supply chains and working in three main areas; supply chain design, service optimization and supply chain planning. Optilon is a Nordic partner company founded in 2005 in Sweden with offices in Stockholm, Malmö, Gothenburg and Turku.
