LIDD helps organizations build a reliable, end-to-end planning model that connects demand forecasting, inventory planning, capacity planning, and executive decision-making. We start by assessing your current state—data quality, processes, planning cadence, organizational roles, and system performance—to understand where planning breaks down and where it needs to mature. From there, we design a future-state roadmap and help clients select and implement the right tools, including Kinaxis Maestro and other modern planning platforms.

Our planning work often complements broader operational initiatives supported by our supply chain consulting and supply chain technology consulting teams, ensuring planning is grounded in your network, your ERP, and your operational constraints. Many outcomes are highlighted in our client success stories.

Most organizations carry too much of the wrong products and not enough of the right ones. We address this by improving forecast accuracy, aligning safety stock policies with actual variability, and creating a weekly or monthly cadence that forces cross-functional alignment.

LIDD builds planning processes that balance service, cost, and working capital—giving teams a single set of assumptions and a unified view of demand and supply. This eliminates reactive firefighting and helps manufacturers, distributors, and CPG companies make informed decisions about production, purchasing, and replenishment.
Planning improvements often align with broader reviews handled through our supply chain audit services or long-term transformation work delivered within supply chain consulting.

Modern planning requires integrated data and tools that can quickly model demand, inventory needs, and supply constraints. Depending on your environment, this may include advanced forecasting engines, ERP-based planning, planning add-ons, or full platforms like Kinaxis Maestro.

LIDD helps clients understand whether to enhance planning inside existing ERPs—such as NetSuite, Microsoft Business Central, or Körber WMS—or whether a dedicated planning platform is required. Our supply chain technology consulting team and our integration framework, LIDD Connect, ensure that planning tools have accurate, real-time data from upstream systems, enabling a more stable and scalable planning process.

Most planning assessments take four to six weeks, depending on complexity, number of facilities, data availability, and stakeholder involvement. During this period, we review your demand planning approach, inventory policies, production or replenishment planning, planning roles, the quality of ERP/WMS data, and how cross-functional decisions are made.

The output is a clear roadmap outlining improvements across people, process, and technology—with practical steps your team can execute immediately. Clients often continue into system selection or implementation guided by our supply chain technology consulting practice, especially when planning needs to integrate with platforms like NetSuite, Business Central, or Kinaxis.

Yes. Many organizations struggle to evaluate forecasting and planning tools because the market is fragmented and every vendor promises similar outcomes. LIDD helps clients compare capabilities, integration requirements, data needs, and long-term scalability.

We assess whether you can improve planning inside existing platforms—such as NetSuite, Business Central, or Körber—or whether tools like Kinaxis Maestro or other modern planning platforms are better suited. System selection is always tied to a clear roadmap and typically supported by our supply chain technology consulting team and our integration framework, LIDD Connect.

Yes—most organizations begin planning transformation with imperfect data. LIDD helps teams identify which data issues truly impact forecasting and replenishment, which can be fixed quickly, and which require longer-term remediation.

A structured planning process improves data discipline over time: forecasts become more consistent, inventory parameters become more accurate, and cross-functional reviews surface discrepancies early. When deeper remediation is required, our supply chain technology consulting team and LIDD Connect integration framework help ensure cleaner and more reliable data flows between ERP, WMS, and planning tools.

Supply Chain Planning is the umbrella function that ties together forecasting, supply planning, inventory management, capacity planning, and scenario modeling. S&OP (Sales & Operations Planning) and IBP (Integrated Business Planning) are structured planning cadences within this broader framework.

At LIDD, we design Supply Chain Planning processes first, and then determine whether S&OP or IBP is the right governance model. This ensures that forecasting, inventory decisions, and operational commitments all roll up into one coordinated process. These structures often integrate with broader initiatives led by our supply chain consulting practice.

Organizations that adopt a disciplined planning process typically see clearer demand visibility, reduced excess inventory, fewer stockouts, better production or replenishment stability, and significantly less firefighting. Commercial teams benefit from predictable allocations, operations benefits from forward-looking visibility, and finance gains control over working capital.

These improvements compound over time and become the foundation for more advanced capabilities, including automation, improved forecasting methods, and system integrations supported by LIDD Connect. Many of these outcomes are demonstrated in our published success stories.