* By Alejandro Chocolat
We are living in a time when the only certainty in the consumer goods industry is uncertainty. Between raw material crises, abrupt changes in demand, market fluctuations, and labor shortages, relying on spreadsheets and static planning has become a high risk. It's no coincidence that approximately 80% of manufacturers in the sector still use traditional methods, such as Gantt charts, even in the face of increasingly complex supply chains and more dynamic portfolios. The result of this mismatch is excess inventory, production delays, and missed opportunities.
In this context, production agility ceases to be a luxury or a competitive advantage and becomes a vital necessity. The adoption of advanced planning and scheduling (APS) systems allows for planning with real-time data, simulating scenarios, and reacting quickly to unforeseen events—such as delivery delays, machine failures, or sudden fluctuations in demand. It's about migrating from a rigid and reactive model to a dynamic, data-driven planning model based on production capacity.
From reactive to responsive: the leap to production agility.
This “paradigm shift,” from reactive to responsive, is at the heart of the concept of production agility. With agile planning, it is possible to reduce inventory, avoid waste, optimize resource use, decrease lead times, and quickly adjust production to market and consumer needs.
One of the technological pillars of this approach is the use of the "virtual twin"—a digital model that represents not only the layout and resources of the factory, but also the rules, relationships, and constraints of the operation. With it, it is possible to simulate scenarios, test alternatives, evaluate impacts, and optimize scheduling before any changes are made in the real world.
Concrete impacts on the day-to-day operations of the industry.
This new planning model translates into direct gains in inventory management and product expiration dates, with less waste and idle capital, while improving the use of productive resources and the ability to quickly switch between variants, maintaining productivity and service levels even in highly variable environments.
In practice, this translates into direct gains in inventory management and product expiration dates, with less waste and idle capital, while improving the use of productive resources and the ability to quickly switch between variants, maintaining productivity and service levels even in highly variable environments.
Measurable results, without total system disruption.
A common misconception is that adopting these tools requires a complete reinvention of operations. In practice, many modern APS solutions are designed to integrate with existing systems, such as ERP and MES. The goal is to gain visibility and automate decisions, not to replace everything.
The results are impressive. In many cases, the return on investment occurs within 12 months, with gains of up to 70% in planning agility, a reduction of 30% to 50% in scheduling time, and on-time delivery levels between 90% and 100%. These indicators show how agility ceases to be merely conceptual and begins to generate real impact on the business.
These gains extend far beyond the short term. They create the foundation for sustainable competitiveness, underpinned by data, operational control, and greater capacity for innovation.
And in Brazil, how does this apply?
In Brazil, the challenges facing the consumer goods industry are even more acute. Currency fluctuations, economic instability, logistical bottlenecks, and regional variations in demand make the environment extremely unpredictable. In this context, relying on traditional, fixed, spreadsheet-based planning means remaining vulnerable to production failures and supply disruptions.
For Brazilian companies, adopting an agile approach to production represents not only efficiency, but also resilience. An agile and digital system, capable of reacting quickly to variations in cost, demand, or availability of inputs, can mean the difference between maintaining competitiveness or losing market share.
Furthermore, the great regional diversity — both in consumer behavior and logistics — makes flexibility even more valuable. It allows for adjusting volumes to local demand, reducing waste, optimizing inventory, and serving consumers of different profiles and from different regions more efficiently.
In short, it's not enough to produce well when everything is stable. The new reality demands flexibility, real-time data, integration, and a constant capacity for adaptation. In today's Brazil, production agility is no longer just a competitive advantage—it has become, in practice, a condition for survival for anyone who truly wants to compete in the consumer goods market.
Alejandro Chocolat is the General Manager of Dassault Systèmes in Latin America.
Notice: The opinion presented in this article is the responsibility of its author and not of ABES - Brazilian Association of Software Companies
