Headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, Panasonic Connect Mobile Solutions Business Division is an operating company within the Panasonic Group. Panasonic Connect provides technology solutions for organizations across supply chains, public services, infrastructure, and entertainment. Supported by more than 29,000 employees, the company serves customers across North America, Europe, and Asia-Pacific.
Historia de éxito
Panasonic Connect Mobile Solutions Business Division (Panasonic Connect)
Supply Chain Planning, Order Promiser
Panasonic Connect reduces SKU complexity by up to 42% with Blue Yonder
La compañía
El desafío empresarial
Panasonic Connect’s global footprint made it more challenging to match supply with demand, requiring the company to manage regional demand shifts, inventory availability, and delivery commitments across different markets.
In addition to standard off-the-shelf products, Panasonic Connect also offers customized products that add variability and complexity across planning, production, and fulfillment. As lead times, delivery commitments, inventory needs, and planning exceptions became harder to manage, the company needed a more scalable way to synchronize demand and supply, improve planning visibility, and enable faster, more reliable decision-making.
La solución
Panasonic Connect shifted from fragmented planning to a more connected, data-driven model using Blue Yonder Supply Chain Planning and Blue Yonder Order Promiser. With stronger supply-planning visibility and order-promising capabilities, the company has been able to synchronize demand and supply, improve inventory management, and provide more reliable delivery commitments to customers. The solution also helps align production and distribution planning within a more consistent operating structure, giving teams a stronger foundation for more confident decisions and supporting streamlined SKU management.
“As we think about the future of Panasonic Connect’s supply chain, planning is no longer just about managing constraints; it’s about creating the visibility and discipline to serve customers with greater confidence. Blue Yonder has helped us build that foundation, giving our teams a stronger way to connect planning decisions across the business and support continued growth.”
–Kaori Abe, Senior Manager, Digital Strategy Group, Panasonic Connect
Operational constraints in planning systems
Panasonic Connect’s customized product portfolio increased planning complexity, slowing decisions, extending delivery lead times, and making it harder to provide customers with confident delivery dates.
The company’s large and fragmented SKU base limited planners’ ability to see demand clearly. With so many product variations, they struggled to determine which items customers were likely to order and which ones were being held in inventory without clear justification. As a result, supply decisions did not always align with demand, leaving Panasonic Connect with excess inventory when orders dropped and making delivery timing less predictable. This mismatch tied up working capital, increased storage costs, and limited the company’s ability to respond quickly to market shifts.
Turning planning visibility into smarter SKU management and inventory control
With Blue Yonder Supply Chain Planning, planners have gained visibility into demand signals, forecast patterns, and inventory priorities. Instead of relying on manual interpretation of fragmented demand signals, planners now have greater confidence in SKU-level forecasts, and they can focus on the products customers are most likely to need. Blue Yonder has helped Panasonic Connect reduce active SKUs by up to 42% while enabling planners to prioritize production and inventory for in-demand products.
Panasonic Connect has simplified how standardized and customized products are configured, stocked, and shipped. It now has a centralized model, with one factory dedicated to standardized products and another to customized products. That operating shift has helped the company centralize inventory planning and reduce operational complexity, contributing to a 14% reduction in inventory in one year and a 2.4x improvement in operational efficiency.
Improving delivery commitments with Blue Yonder
Blue Yonder Order Promiser has improved the speed and accuracy of Panasonic Connect’s delivery commitments to customers. Instead of spending weeks coordinating across teams to confirm delivery timing, planners can now provide more accurate ETAs within days. By giving planners earlier visibility into potential supply and capacity issues, Blue Yonder enables Panasonic Connect to communicate more clearly with customers and helps reduce last-minute changes to promised delivery dates.
The impact is measurable: Panasonic Connect now completes 80% of deliveries within 30 days, with a 1.5x improvement in delivery lead-time performance and a 90% boost in response speed.
Building on a stronger planning foundation
With Blue Yonder providing a more scalable planning foundation, Panasonic Connect is now able to apply AI-driven analysis and move toward more automated, data-driven supply chain operations. By continuing to better synchronize demand and supply, the company is better positioned to accelerate decision-making and support future growth.
“As Panasonic Connect continues this journey with Blue Yonder, our supply chain is evolving beyond an operational function into a stronger driver of business value for our company and our customers,” says Abe.
