Project Overview
A UK FMCG manufacturer producing 340 product SKUs across 4 factories needed real-time supply chain visibility ...
Technology Stack
Compliance & Standards
The Challenge
A UK FMCG manufacturer producing 340 product SKUs across 4 factories needed real-time supply chain visibility — from raw material supplier through production to retail distribution centre delivery. Existing data sat in SAP (ERP), 3 separate WMS (Warehouse Management Systems), carrier tracking systems (DHL, Royal Mail, FedEx), and retailer EDI portals (Tesco, Sainsbury's, Asda). No single view of inventory position or order status existed. Budget: £140,000.
Our Approach
Integration Architecture
- Data orchestration via Apache Airflow (workflow orchestration).
- SAP integration via RFC (Remote Function Calls) for production orders and material movements.
- REST API integration for WMS systems (2 custom-built, 1 Infor WMS).
- DHL, Royal Mail, FedEx tracking APIs.
Retailer EDI
- AS2/EDIFACT parsing for Tesco/Sainsbury's/Asda purchase orders and delivery confirmations.
- Real-
Time Inventory Engine
- PostgreSQL TimescaleDB for time-series inventory positions (all SKUs across all locations, 1-hour snapshots).
- Redis for current inventory cache (sub-10ms read latency for dashboard).
Inventory calculation
SAP stock positions + WMS adjustments + in-transit stock (from carrier tracking) + retailer confirmed deliveries.
Supply chain data
primarily business data (not personal).
Exception
driver delivery data (name, van registration) as personal data.
UK GDPR basis
legitimate interest for delivery management.
Driver data minimised
name/registration retained for 30 days only.
Supplier contact data
Article 28 DPA with data integration service providers.
Retail Compliance Monitoring
- Tesco and Sainsbury's On-Time In-Full (OTIF) monitoring: automated alerts when delivery is at risk of missing retailer OTIF windows.
- OTIF penalties (common in UK retail) can be significant — real-time visibility enables proactive intervention.
Buyer portal
retailers access their own delivery tracking (tenant isolation via read-only API token).
The Results
Platform live at 18 weeks, £132,000 — under budget.
Inventory position accuracy: 94% → 99.7% (real-time vs end-of-day batch).
OTIF performance: improved from 87% → 96% (Tesco target is 95%).
Estimated OTIF penalty reduction: £180,000 per year.
Out-of-stock events at retail: reduced 34%.
Management decision time for supply issues: from 2 days (when someone noticed) to 2 hours (automated alert).
“The SAP integration was what everyone said would be impossible in the budget. ClickMasters did it in 4 weeks using RFC — working code, not a PowerPoint. The OTIF improvement from 87% to 96% has avoided approximately £180,000 in retailer penalties in the first year." — Supply Chain Director, UK FMCG Manufacturer (name withheld)”
Project Details
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