When Data Silos Cost Millions: Real-Time Capacity Planning

A global manufacturer of high-performance materials used primarily in healthcare, pharmaceutical, food, and consumer product packaging, operates 11 facilities across the Americas, Europe, and Asia, employs nearly 9,000 people, and generates more than $2 billion in annual revenue. Despite its scale, the company was struggling with fragmented data systems that made accurate forecasting and capacity planning nearly impossible.

Challenge

Disconnected ERP systems across three global sites left the manufacturer blind to true capacity, causing forecasting errors, costly expedited shipping, and hours lost to manual scheduling.

With 11 global sites operating on different ERP systems, the manufacturer lacked a unified view of demand, capacity, and production across key facilities in Illinois, Belgium, and Italy. Disconnected data left capacity planners, sales, and customer service teams working in silos, limiting the company’s ability to forecast demand, identify constraints, or shift production across sites.

The lack of visibility created costly consequences, including more than $2 million in expedited air freight after capacity issues went undetected. At the Illinois facility, scheduling was also highly manual—consuming up to six hours daily across multiple employees—further limiting proactive planning and decision-making.

Solution

TBM unified global data through a central warehouse, integrated Power BI dashboards for real-time capacity insights, established a structured S&OP process, and automated scheduling to eliminate waste.

Following an initial assessment, TBM structured the engagement around three priorities: integrating fragmented operational data, enabling real-time planning visibility, and eliminating manual scheduling inefficiencies.

First, TBM accelerated the client’s centralised data warehouse initiative by incorporating data from the Belgium and Italy facilities and reconciling differences in material and routing structures. The unified data foundation was connected to Power BI, delivering real-time dashboards for orders, forecasts, budgets, and machine-level capacity utilisation across all sites.

Second, TBM designed and implemented a structured Sales & Operations Planning (S&OP) process supported by the Power BI platform. The new monthly cycle integrates demand forecasting, supply planning, and cross-functional decision-making using live operational data.

Finally, TBM automated the Illinois facility’s production scheduling process through a Power BI–based planning model, transforming a manual, multi-person daily effort into a dynamic system that generates accurate production schedules in minutes.

Results

The company reclaimed six labour hours daily, avoided over $1M in potential freight costs, and gained full cross-site visibility — creating a scalable model for future global expansion.

The engagement replaced fragmented planning processes with an integrated, real-time operational platform. Leaders now have live visibility into capacity utilisation across sites, shifts, and machine centres, enabling earlier identification of production risks and smarter cross-site planning decisions.

Results included:

$1M+ potential freight cost avoidance
Automated scheduling saving ~6 hours per day at the Illinois facility (~$3K/month)
Global capacity model across Illinois, Belgium, and Italy
S&OP process now running independently
AI-enabled dashboards delivering real-time operational visibility

Frequently Asked Questions

What causes data silos in manufacturing operations?

Data silos occur when different facilities or departments operate on separate systems that do not share information easily. In manufacturing, this often happens when multiple ERP platforms exist across sites. Without integrated data, companies struggle to see demand, capacity, and production performance across the network, which makes forecasting, planning, and decision-making far more difficult.

How does real-time capacity planning improve manufacturing performance?

Real-time capacity planning gives manufacturers visibility into machine utilisation, production demand, and available capacity across plants as conditions change. With this insight, teams can identify constraints early, shift production between facilities, build inventory ahead of demand spikes, and prevent costly disruptions such as expedited freight or missed delivery commitments.

Why are integrated data platforms important for global manufacturing operations?

Integrated data platforms connect operational data from multiple ERP systems, plants, and processes into a single source of truth. This allows leaders to analyse orders, forecasts, inventory, and capacity across the entire network in real time. With connected data, manufacturers can run more effective Sales & Operations Planning (S&OP), balance workloads across sites, and make faster, more confident operational decisions.

Topics in this Case Study

At a Glance

Client

Global manufacturer of high-performance materials used for healthcare, pharmaceutical, and consumer product packaging.

Results

$1M+ in shipping costs avoided through real-time capacity visibility
6 hours per day/$3000 per month saved by automating scheduling at Illinois facility
3 sites integrated into unified forecasting and capacity model

When Data Silos Cost Millions: How Real-Time Capacity Planning Transformed Global Operations

Challenge

Solution

Results

Frequently Asked Questions

Topics in this Case Study

Win Faster with TBM.

Subscribe

Solutions

Company