How Armacell Used Data, SIOP and Capacity Planning to Improve Customer Service and Capture Revenue Opportunities

As organizations grow, complexity often grows with them. New facilities, expanded product portfolios, additional customer segments, and evolving market demands can create operational challenges that make it increasingly difficult to maintain the customer service levels that helped drive success in the first place. For Armacell, a global leader in insulation solutions, years of growth had created additional complexity throughout the business. Combined with the disruption of a major cyberattack and the challenges of the pandemic, the organization found itself struggling to maintain the level of service customers had come to expect.

The company knew it needed a more structured approach to planning, decision-making, and supply chain execution. According to Sandy Shattles, Business Manager (Inside & Outside Sales), by partnering with LMA Consulting Group, Armacell transformed its SIOP (Sales Inventory Operations Planning) processes, improved visibility across the organization, leveraged data more effectively, and created a foundation for sustainable growth.

The Challenge: Growing Complexity Was Impacting Performance

Over the years, Armacell evolved from a relatively straightforward manufacturing operation into a complex organization operating multiple facilities, technologies, and business units across North America and Latin America. While growth created new opportunities, it also introduced new challenges.

Increasing complexity led to:

  • Operational distractions
  • Cross-functional disconnects
  • Capacity planning challenges
  • Service performance issues
  • Longer lead times
  • Difficulty utilizing available data effectively

The situation became even more challenging following a cyberattack that disrupted systems and processes throughout the organization. At the same time, the company was navigating unprecedented market disruption associated with the global pandemic. Leadership recognized that these challenges would not resolve themselves. The business needed stronger planning processes, better visibility, and a more integrated approach to decision-making.

Returning to the Fundamentals

One of the first opportunities identified was the organization’s ability to leverage their ERP system. Armacell possessed decades of information within SAP, Salesforce, APO, its advanced planning system (APS), and other systems, but teams often struggled to translate that information into actionable insights. 

LMA helped the organization take a step back and focus on fundamental questions:

  • What information matters most?
  • What decisions need to be made?
  • What data is required to support those decisions?
  • How can reporting become more useful and actionable?

By simplifying reporting and creating more consistent processes, teams gained greater visibility into demand, capacity, inventory, and service performance. Most importantly, they gained confidence in the data being used to make decisions.

Transforming SIOP Into a Business Growth Tool

A major focus of the engagement was strengthening Armacell’s Sales, Inventory & Operations Planning (SIOP) process. Rather than treating planning as a departmental activity, the organization began connecting sales forecasts, operational capabilities, inventory strategies, and customer requirements into a single planning framework.

This allowed leadership to better understand:

  • Demand trends
  • Capacity constraints
  • Inventory requirements
  • Production priorities
  • Revenue opportunities

The result was improved decision-making and greater alignment across the organization.

Reducing Lead Times Through Better Planning

One of the most significant opportunities involved long-standing OEM customers. These customers provided reliable forecasts and had highly predictable purchasing patterns. However, despite having accurate demand information, Armacell was experiencing stockouts and lead times that had grown to several times historical expectations.

LMA worked with the team to analyze customer demand patterns, forecast information, and capacity requirements. By integrating customer forecasts into production and capacity planning processes, the organization was able to proactively align production with demand.

The results were substantial.

  • Lead times: Improved by more than 25%
  • Customer satisfaction: Increased significantly
  • Revenue growth: A key business segment achieved double-digit volume growth.

Capturing Revenue That Previously Walked Out the Door

Another challenge involved seasonal demand. Armacell had extensive historical data and highly accurate customer forecasts yet demand from multiple business units was often evaluated independently rather than collectively. As a result, capacity constraints were not always visible until demand materialized. This forced difficult decisions regarding customer prioritization and limited the company’s ability to fully capitalize on available market opportunities.

By improving demand visibility and incorporating all forecast information into a unified capacity planning process, Armacell was able to better balance production throughout the year. The company improved capacity utilization, fulfilled more customer demand, and avoided losing revenue opportunities that previously could not be supported.

Improving Master Data to Improve Planning

Sustainable planning improvements also required stronger data foundations. LMA helped the organization improve master data accuracy and strengthen item classifications, including make-to-stock and make-to-order designations. While these changes may appear small, they play a critical role in forecasting, inventory planning, production scheduling, and capacity management. Improved data quality enabled more accurate planning and better support for seasonal demand spikes.

The Results

The engagement delivered measurable business improvements, including:

  • OTIF (on-time-in-full) performance improving from 38% to more than 90%
  • Sustained service performance above 85%
  • Lead time reductions exceeding 25%
  • Improved customer satisfaction
  • Double-digit growth in key business segments
  • Better capacity utilization
  • Improved forecasting and planning processes
  • Stronger SIOP execution
  • Enhanced master data quality
  • Greater organizational alignment

Most importantly, Armacell built capabilities that continue to deliver results today.

Building a Foundation for Sustainable Growth

Supply chain excellence is not created through technology alone. It requires the ability to connect data, people, processes, and decision-making across the organization. By strengthening SIOP, improving planning discipline, leveraging data more effectively, and aligning sales with operations, Armacell created a stronger foundation for customer service, profitable growth, and long-term success.

At LMA Consulting Group, we help manufacturers and distributors improve planning, operational performance, technology utilization, and supply chain execution to drive predictable growth, profitability, and customer satisfaction.

 

Did you like this article?  Continue reading on this topic:
Achieving Results with LMA Consulting: Avtron Power Solutions’ Journey

Published: September 12, 2022 | Updated: June 2, 2026