Manufacturing Planning Conversations

Manufacturing organisations are operating in a more volatile and operationally demanding environment than they were even a few years ago. Supply chain disruption, changing cost structures, workforce pressures, and increasing operational complexity are changing both the speed and importance of decision-making.

Why These Conversations Matter

Operational Complexity Is Increasing

Manufacturing businesses are not short on systems or data. The challenge is forming a coordinated view of what that information is collectively saying about the direction of the business.

As organisations grow, operational decisions begin carrying broader financial implications. Demand forecasts influence workforce requirements. Production assumptions flow through to inventory, margin, and cash outcomes.

Planning Expectations Are Changing

Planning is moving beyond budgeting and becoming part of how the organisation operates. Finance teams are increasingly expected to provide visibility that reflects what is happening operationally across the business.

This shift is changing how manufacturers think about forecasting, scenario modelling, workforce planning, and operational visibility.

Why These Conversations Exist

These sessions are designed as practical discussions around how manufacturers are approaching that shift.

Each session combines customer insights, practical planning examples, live demonstration, and audience feedback to explore how manufacturers are using Workday Adaptive Planning to support more connected operational and financial planning.

Webinar Two: Sanitarium Health Food Co. – What We Covered

Our second Manufacturing Planning Conversation explored how manufacturers can better connect operational activity, supply chain movement and financial performance through driver-based planning.

The session featured Grant Lewis from Sanitarium, who shared how manufacturing planning relies on more than a single budget or static forecast. Demand, production, inventory, workforce, supply chain, cost and margin all need to connect in a way that helps teams understand what is changing, why it matters and what it means financially.

The discussion covered how driver-based planning can improve forecast confidence, support scenario modelling and help finance, commercial and operational teams work from a more connected planning view.

The demonstration showed how Workday Adaptive Planning can support manufacturing planning across operational drivers, financial impact, reporting and dashboard visibility.

Watch Webinar Two: Sanitarium Health Food Co. Recording

The conversation continued with driver-based planning for manufacturing.

Catch up on the second Manufacturing Planning Conversation, where GK Horizons was joined by Grant Lewis from Sanitarium to explore how manufacturers can better connect operational activity with financial performance.

Guest Appearance: Grant Lewis, Commercial Manager, S&OP & New Business, Sanitarium
Date: 29 July 2026 | Duration: ~ 40 min | Demo: Workday Adaptive Planning

Manufacturing Planning Round Table – What We Covered

Following the two Manufacturing Planning Conversations webinars, GK Horizons brought the discussion together in person at Bopp & Tone in Sydney.

Joined by Grant Lewis from Sanitarium and Jonathan Peters, former CFO of Real Pet Food Co., the round table gave finance, commercial and operational leaders the opportunity to share where their organisations are today, the planning challenges they are working through, and where they want to get to next.

The discussion built on the themes from the webinar series and explored how manufacturers are approaching more connected, driver-based planning across operations and finance.

The discussion covered:

Connecting operational drivers to financial outcomes
Moving towards more driver-based forecasting
Improving visibility across production, inventory, supply chain and finance
Building greater confidence in the manufacturing forecast
Getting started with more connected planning
The importance of data, planning logic and organisational alignment
Where AI may start to support manufacturing planning, forecasting and scenario analysis

A recurring theme was that the P&L shows the financial outcome, but many of the decisions that shape it happen upstream. Better planning comes from making those operational drivers visible early enough to support forecasting, scenarios and decision-making.

Date: 19 August 2026
Location: Bopp & Tone, Sydney
Format: In-person round table lunch

Webinar One: Real Pet Food Co. – What We Covered

Manufacturing planning webinar speakers from Real Pet Food Company and GK Horizons discussing Workday Adaptive Planning

Our first Manufacturing Planning Conversation explored how manufacturers are improving visibility across production, finance and commercial performance using Workday Adaptive Planning.

The session focused on high-volume consumer goods manufacturing and looked at how demand, production, workforce, raw materials, inventory and product margin planning can be brought into a more connected planning process.

The demonstration covered sales planning, production mix planning, raw materials and inventory planning, workforce planning and product margin analysis.

Webinar Two continues the conversation with Sanitarium, moving from core manufacturing planning foundations into broader operational complexity, integrated financial planning, scenarios, reports and dashboards.

Watch Webinar One: Real Pet Food Co. Recording

The conversation began with high-volume consumer goods planning.

Catch up on the first Manufacturing Planning Conversation, where we explored how manufacturers can improve visibility across production, finance and commercial performance.

Guest Appearance: Jonathan Peters, CFO, Real Pet Food Company
Date: 23 June 2026 | Duration: ~ 40 min | Demo: Workday Adaptive Planning

Where Workday Adaptive Planning Fits in Manufacturing

Manufacturing complexity rarely breaks down inside operational systems. It tends to emerge when organisations attempt to bring operational activity, financial expectations, and leadership decision-making together into a single view.

Workday Adaptive Planning provides a connected planning layer where operational drivers can be brought together and assessed in a financial context. This allows organisations to compare scenarios, understand the likely impact of change, and build a clearer view of future business performance before decisions are made.

How Workday Adaptive Planning connects operational planning and financial decision-making in manufacturing

Why GK Horizons

GK Horizons has delivered many Workday Adaptive Planning environments across manufacturing organisations in Australia and New Zealand, spanning food and beverage, industrial manufacturing, supplements, chemicals, and other operationally intensive sectors.

This experience has shaped a practical understanding of how planning capability needs to operate inside manufacturing environments where operational complexity has a direct impact on financial performance.

The discussions within this series are informed by practical implementation experience, customer environments, and operational planning challenges observed across the manufacturing sector.

GK Horizons also maintains a manufacturing-focused Workday Adaptive Planning demonstration environment that reflects realistic planning scenarios across demand, production, workforce, inventory, and financial planning.

It also means the conversation moves quickly from theory to practical application.

Related Manufacturing Planning Resources

Manufacturing Planning in Practice

Explore how manufacturing organisations are using planning to improve visibility, coordination, and decision-making:

Real Pet Food Co case study – Manufacturing planning and forecasting with Workday Adaptive Planning

Go Healthy case study – Manufacturing planning and forecasting with Workday Adaptive Planning

Talk to GK Horizons about Manufacturing Planning

Whether you are reviewing your current planning approach, moving beyond spreadsheets, or looking to improve visibility across operations and finance, these discussions are designed to support practical conversation around how manufacturing organisations are using Workday Adaptive Planning to improve planning visibility and decision-making.

Contact GK Horizons to chat more about manufacturing planning.

Customer-led discussions exploring how manufacturers connect operational complexity, forecasting and financial performance.