Planning Without Visibility Is Just Guessing—Here’s How to Fix It

Jul 28, 2025

Your supply chain decisions are only as good as your data. SAP + delaware can give you a real-time, AI-powered edge. 
 
In the world of supply chain planning, bad data is worse than no data. It creates misalignment, causes missed deliveries, and triggers a cascade of costly rework. And yet, many companies are still relying on disconnected spreadsheets or legacy planning systems that can’t adapt in real time. If this sounds familiar, it's time to rethink how your business plans. 

By Jacob Ladson - Solution Director, SAP Supply Chain Management

The Cost of Poor Planning 

Planners and factory managers face a tough challenge: align demand forecasts, supplier lead times, and production capacity, often across multiple systems, vendors, and locations. When the inputs are late or inaccurate, the entire plan unravels. Inventory is either sitting idle or unavailable. Orders are missed. Machines are idle or overutilized. And teams spend more time reacting than preparing. 


What’s worse, most systems don’t support dynamic changes. If a shipment gets delayed or demand spikes, there’s no intelligent way to re-prioritize production. You’re forced to choose between overspending or underdelivering. 


A Smarter, Unified Approach from SAP  

SAP Cloud ERP, supported by the Planning and Manufacturing add-ons, enables a radically better way to plan. Real-time data from across your supply network feeds into a single cloud-based platform, allowing planners to make decisions based on what’s actually happening—not what was supposed to happen. 


With embedded AI and SAP Business Data Cloud, the system flags supply risks, capacity gaps, or order changes before they cascade downstream. And because SAP Cloud ERP is modular, companies can start with planning and scale into production, logistics, or finance over time—without disrupting existing workflows. 


Why delaware Delivers Better Outcomes  

At delaware, we’ve worked with manufacturers and logistics-driven businesses for decades. We understand what planners need, how factories run, and where bottlenecks form. That’s why we don’t just “deploy” SAP—we implement it with purpose. 


We work side by side with your teams to configure the platform to your actual planning processes, ensuring AI and automation tools fit your reality. The result? Faster planning cycles, fewer surprises, and better performance at every link in your supply chain. 


Ready to turn planning into a strategic advantage? Ready to take the next step? Schedule a meeting with one of our experts today. Learn more by visiting our webpage. Connect with our expert, Jacob Ladson, on LinkedIn.