Nutrien is the world’s largest provider of crop inputs and services, playing a critical role in helping growers increase food production in a sustainable manner. Their network of over 2,000 retail locations in seven countries provides a wide range of products and services to help growers around the world feed the future. They provide customers with complete agriculture solutions including nutrients, crop protection products, seed, service and digital tools.
Business Challenges
- Visibility into Cost Drivers – Finance and Operations lacked visibility into key drivers impacting Cost of Production and Cost of Goods Sold
- Manual and Time Consuming – Planning, forecasting, and reporting processes with lengthy forecast cycle times
- Planning and Budgeting Coordination – Challenge to streamline budgeting and forecasting processes across the organization and Plant sites
Solution
- Driver-based Modeling – Utilized operational drivers to predict financial performance and support the planning process (e.g. Unit Consumption Factors, Unit Price, Raw Materials Cost, Amortization/Depreciation, Hourly Labor %). Captured the fundamental business model, the Nitrogen value chain (from Raw Materials to Loading & Shipping), and the Phosphate value chain (from Mining & Milling to Loading & Shipping)
- 18 Month Rolling Forecast – Designed dynamic, continuous planning, and resource allocation
- Integrated Costing Model Across Multiple Entities – Applied periodic weighted average to valuate how a product is amassed at a producing location for a particular period
Impact
- Reduced Planning Cycle Time Reduction to 86%
- Streamlined processes across 12 domestic and international plant sites
- Corporate HQ in Canada which averaged an overall
- Ability to Quickly Adapt to Changing Financial Conditions
- Shifted organizational focus from an annual budgeting process to a continuous, rolling forecast with forward visibility
- Improved accuracy, credibility, and quality of forecasts
- Increased Precision of Cost Management – Multi-scenario and “what-if” capabilities minimize the need for financial buffers
