Case Study: DS Smith achieves unified S&OP, improved forecast accuracy and service levels with FuturMaster

DS Smith - Customer Case Study

DS Smith, a packaging division operating 33 UK sites with around 3,100 employees, faced a fragmented organisation built through organic growth and acquisitions, with many independent plants, overlapping sales areas and a shift toward more complex “shelf‑ready” packaging. To unify supply and demand and coordinate resource and expenditure decisions, DS Smith launched a Sales & Operations Planning (S&OP) program and selected FuturMaster’s S&OP solution to underpin the initiative.

FuturMaster implemented an automated S&OP platform (begun in 2007) that classified the product range, adapted forecasting methods for thousands of erratic SKUs, and focused salesforce attention only on critical lines. The FuturMaster solution delivered increased visibility across all manufacturing sites, faster strategic decision-making between sites, and improved service levels and forecast accuracy — with S&OP now embedded in DS Smith’s decision‑making process.

DS Smith

Eric Williams

S&Op Coordinator