Case Study: Sunsweet Growers Inc. achieves major inventory, spoilage and cost reductions with Arkieva

Arkieva Improves the Bottom Line for Sunsweet Growers

Sunsweet Growers Inc., the world’s largest producer of dried fruit, was struggling with high inventory costs, long order lead times and rising transportation expenses that their spreadsheet-based planning system could not resolve. After evaluating six vendors, Sunsweet selected Arkieva and its integrated supply chain planning suite (demand/forecasting, inventory planning, supply planning, finite scheduling and S&OP) to replace spreadsheets and work with their SAP backbone.

Arkieva implemented a fully integrated planning solution that delivered measurable improvements: forecasting accuracy rose 15–20%, finished-goods spoilage dropped 30%, production overtime fell from 25% to 8%, U.S. warehouses were reduced from 28 to 8, and transportation cost-per-unit held steady despite higher refrigerated transport and fuel costs. Arkieva’s early-warning functionality detects problems 2–3 weeks earlier and helped Sunsweet cut production overruns from 30% to 12%, enabling fewer changeovers, reduced production lines and significant cost savings.

Sunsweet Growers Inc.

Harold Upton

Vice President, Strategic Business Processes