Shifting Consumer Preferences

The CPG industry has seen an explosion in the number of Stock-Keeping Units - SKUs - available to customers. As a result, an individual product has a shorter life cycle, resulting in increased manufacturing turns and changeovers, multiple packaging configurations and high inventory. This drives the need for organisational agility and consumer focus. Operational efficiency, SKU rationalisation and portfolio management focus effort on the most profitable products in the portfolio and on product families, i.e. those products with the greatest shared physical similarities and the least need for complex production line changes.