How Kinaxis Helps Volvo Modernise Supply Chain Planning

Volvo Cars is facing a raft of supply chain pressures tied to a shifting global car market.

With operations in Europe, the US and China, and a presence in over 100 countries, the firm has been producing premium cars since 1927. But, as the automotive industry transitions from petrol engines to hybrid and fully-electric models, Volvo Cars is building all three types simultaneously.

This brings considerable complexity to its logistics and product lifecycle management, which must span more than 15 years for each vehicle line.

In 2024, almost a quarter (23%) of Volvo's sales were fully-electric models, while another 23% were plug-in hybrids. However, with this change comes a challenge. Maintaining the supply and service support for three different types of powertrains, while responding to growing demand and a fast-evolving market, means Volvo needs more agile, digital planning processes to meet delivery expectations and control costs.

"This wasn’t just about implementing systems," explains Adam Sutherland, Transformation Programme Manager at Volvo.

"This is a transformation across the business."

That thinking led Volvo to a two-part mission: introduce digital planning and use it to create a wider shift in how the business operates. Ultimately, the industry leader selected Kinaxis Maestro to turn vision into reality.

Digital supply chain planning

Volvo laid out four objectives in the delivery of its revitalised digital supply chain planning: first, it aims to gain visibility across the full supply chain—from supplier inputs through to customer orders; second, the planning system must support scenario modelling to weigh up multiple options before a decision is made; third, concurrent planning becomes essential, with the ability to update plans in real time; and finally, decisions must translate into measurable business outcomes, with costs evaluated across the full supply chain.

“We wanted to go from an environment with sequential planning and manual scenarios that is constraint-driven to a planning-centred approach," continues Adam.

While seeking a solution that would simplify its tech landscape and improve consistency across business functions, Volvo was keen to ensure the chosen platform would be standardised enough to adapt to future innovations.

“We know that if you customise your solution too much, it makes it difficult to adapt it to new solutions in the future," Adam goes on. "So, it was important that we selected a system that could be the foundation for adopting new technological advancements, like AI."

Following a thorough selection process, the team chose Kinaxis Maestro platform for its automotive capabilities, rule-based configuration features and the ability to demonstrate real-world outcomes using Volvo’s own data.

Volvo benefits from Kinaxis' proven experience

Maestro offered Volvo the out-of-the-box functionality it desired, along with the flexibility to tailor and expand the solution.

"We saw that the system delivered the core features we needed, including scenario planning and concurrency," says Adam. "It also included automotive-specific capabilities such as rule-based bills of material and could-be-built functionality."

Adam and his team also valued Kinaxis’ proven experience in the automotive sector: "Kinaxis had demonstrated expertise with OEMs, both through its team and its existing customer base. The team took a practical, hands-on approach, showing us solutions directly within the platform using our own data. It was clear they were fully committed to the success of the project."

The transformation has also brought about structural and cultural change, working with Grange Partnership to embed a full programme of readiness and engagement across departments. This included a Supply Chain Planning 101 course, platform familiarisation and team-building exercises before the 20-week planning phase began.

“We brought all the different parties to the table and helped them buy into the vision and feel a sense of ownership,” adds Adam.

Changing how the business works and makes decisions

Part of the project’s scope was to consolidate data from more than 20 legacy systems. Volvo created source-aligned, multi-purpose data products, securing at least 500 data fields and objects to support the new system. 

Maestro enables more accurate scenario comparisons and alerts the business to shortages before they escalate which should improve premium shipping costs and insight into product shortages,” notes Adam.

With Maestro, Volvo has the opportunity to better respond to changes instantly, reducing premium freight costs and allowing for better stock allocation, enabling timely commitments to customers and protecting profit margins.

Maestro also helps cut down the time planners need to make decisions—from hours to seconds. The result is higher output per planner, better control of inventory and improved alignment between budget and actuals. Lower write-offs and stronger planning accuracy are contributors to both lower costs and higher revenue.