Unilever CSCO: Agility beats forecasting when the supply chain is stressed

The coronavirus pandemic has presented Unilever with a series of stress tests, according to Chief Supply Chain Officer Marc Engel.

National lockdowns have affected the company's global supply chain at every level from production to distribution. Absenteeism in factories and a shortage of delivery drivers added to the stress. Factor in demand swinging away from commercial customers to consumer products and the ability to see what was coming next became secondary to making decisions in the moment, Engel told the Reuters Transform Europe virtual conference Wednesday.

"Agility does trump forecast[ing]," the CSCO said. "At the end of the day, every dollar we spent on agility has probably got a 10x return on every dollar spent on forecasting or scenario planning."