EY with Kraft Heinz Company 

International

The Kraft Heinz Company (KHC), is behind some of the world’s most iconic brands of food and beverages and one of the world’s largest consumer product organisations. Like many other organisations, KHC had built its operations and supply chain networks on the principle of the single common market.

Therefore, Brexit meant the company had to rethink its operating model from the ground up across 10 different areas. Keeping trucks moving and products on shelves was the number one priority, and EY was asked to help get the organisation ready for this once in a generation event – despite the terms of any trade deal not being clear until Christmas Eve, just days before the UK left the EU.

KHC’s complex EU supply chain and logistics operation involves moving the equivalent of over 4,000 trucks and containers between EU countries every year.

To help KHC overcome these challenges we developed an approach that had the maximum impact in a narrow timeframe. We brought the best of EY to the client from Business Consulting, Technology Consulting, Tax, Customs teams and our specialist UK Trade Strategy and Brexit Lead. We mobilised quickly and delivered results at speed.

The project required innovation and agility from both KHC and EY. Together, we developed an approach to make the maximum impact in the given short period of time, built around:

  • Decision making at pace, with a structured forum for leaders to make decisions with a clear understanding of their impact to meet key programme milestones
  • Eighty by twenty rule, focussing on the biggest areas of impact to mitigate key risks early
  • Strong collaboration between the international teams working in a virtual way, including facilitation of virtual workshops on technical topics to make the best use of the diversity in skills and experience

As a result, KHC delivered a targeted set of changes to its processes and systems across the organisation on 31 December 2020 as planned.

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