We’ve recently started using Anaplan to model and manage our supply chain and production planning for a niche ecommerce business that sells custom-designed dolls — each made-to-order with specific features, materials, and delivery lead times.
A few interesting challenges we faced:
- SKU Explosion: Each doll can be customized with different skin tones, facial types, hair styles, and packaging. This quickly led to thousands of potential combinations.
- Demand Forecasting: Since many of our customers pre-order, we needed a way to model forecasts based on partial payments and historical seasonal interest.
- Component-Based Planning: Some dolls share parts or materials (e.g., same core structure, different outer features). We used Anaplan’s BOM modeling to optimize component ordering across multiple models.
Using Anaplan’s flexibility, we built a real-time dashboard for production tracking, vendor lead time alignment, and margin simulation based on material costs.
Would love to hear from others working with similar made-to-order product models — be it in toys, apparel, or even consumer electronics!
