The Company
Diplom-Is is the leading Norwegian producer of ice cream and frozen desserts, with a stable workforce of 430 employees, increasing by over 250 seasonal workers during peak season. The company has a turnover of approximately €100 million, and its production facility is located in Gjelleråsan, near Oslo.
Diplom-Is produces ice cream and frozen desserts under the brands Diplom-Is, Bella Italia, Mövenpick, Mars Ice Creams, and Nestlé. The company is wholly owned by TINE, the largest dairy cooperative in Norway, resulting from the merger of several local ice cream producers established since the 1920s.
Context
Due to the high seasonality of its business, with 75% of annual sales concentrated in just four months, Diplom-Is faced numerous challenges related to production planning and scheduling, which was still performed manually—imprecise and time-consuming. The main objectives expected from the new system implementation were:
- Improving efficiency and flexibility in stock and production planning
- Synchronizing the entire supply chain and increasing service levels
- Reducing time spent on planning activities
- Increasing the planning cycle frequency with the ability to simulate alternative capacity scenarios
Solution
The company previously operated with a six-week production plan that was often unfeasible, ineffective, and required constant revisions. With the introduction of the Compass finite capacity planning and scheduling system, the company achieved significant improvements:
- Daily production planning over a medium-long term horizon of 108 weeks
- Significantly reduced time spent on factory personnel and production scheduling —from three weeks to one week within a year, and now averaging three days.
Results
“The planning process at Diplom-Is is now much more streamlined, integrated, and responsive. Mid-to-long-term analyses provide a comprehensive view of the production scenario, and with just a few clicks, we can run capacity adjustment simulations to respond to sudden market dynamics changes. This process evolution allowed us to increase our product range by 40% compared to 2016. The next step will be extending Compass to supply management.”
Kai Simonsen, Supply Chain and Planning Manager
