MARS Incorporated: Leading a Global Digital Transformation

Founded in 1911, MARS Incorporated is an American multinational manufacturer with a diverse and expanding portfolio of confectionery, food, and petcare products and services. MARS is one of the largest food companies in the world and has marketed products for more than five generations under well-renowned brands such as M&M's, Snickers, Skittles, Milky Way, Mars, Pedigree, Whiskas, TWIX, and more. The company faced challenges in digitizing and standardizing its operations across mid-markets around the world, which led to the need for a powerful supply chain planning platform.

MARS Incorporated, a multinational manufacturer, faced significant challenges in digitizing and standardizing processes across its mid-markets globally. The company's reliance on legacy solutions necessitated continuous, time-consuming upgrades and made data compilation and comparison across different regions and business units difficult. Excel spreadsheets were extensively used for forecasting in smaller markets, leading to disconnected processes, siloed working environments, and increased risk of data inconsistencies and inaccuracies in demand forecasting. MARS also struggled with a lack of visibility across its midmarket footprint, scattered critical data across various systems and spreadsheets, a low degree of automation, and insufficient statistical analytics for demand planning. The absence of a standard process for demand planning made it challenging to consolidate KPIs and gain a comprehensive view of demand trends and supply chain performance.

In response to these challenges, MARS partnered with John Galt Solutions to implement the Atlas Planning Platform, accelerating the digital transformation of MARS’ supply chain. This AI-driven supply chain planning solution replaced hundreds of spreadsheets, reducing countless hours of effort and providing end-to-end integration. The Atlas Planning Platform enabled MARS to work with one integrated supply chain model across all markets globally, with one source of truth allowing for real-time demand and supply matching with a view of trade-offs across the global plan. MARS was able to standardize demand planning practices across different international markets and regions, implementing a 6-step planning process across 25+ markets (60 countries). Each market now follows a standard process and can measure its accuracy and report accordingly to help drive improvement.

• The implementation of the Atlas Planning Platform from John Galt Solutions has transformed MARS' supply chain operations. The company has moved from a manual, spreadsheet-based demand planning process to an integrated, AI-driven process. This has not only streamlined operations but also improved decision-making capabilities. The platform provides a single source of truth, enabling real-time demand and supply matching with a view of trade-offs across the global plan. The standardization of demand planning practices across different international markets and regions has led to increased forecast accuracy. With the ability to automate processes and gain end-to-end supply chain visibility, MARS is now better equipped to plan for continuous success.

• Digitized the supply chain for mid-markets across 25+ markets (60 countries) through agile implementation methodology.

• Achieved a single, integrated supply chain model across all markets.

• Standardized demand planning processes across markets and regions, improving accuracy and reporting.