PUMA: Harnessing Digital Twins Amid Rising Demand

Imagine if every warehouse, port crane and pallet had a living, breathing counterpart in the cloud – a mirror that predicts, learns and never sleeps. That is the promise of digital twins, which, in the supply chain, have already moved from pilot to performance.

By fusing sensors, process data and AI, digital twins let leaders rehearse tomorrow’s decisions today, exposing bottlenecks before they bite and modelling volatility without risking a single shipment. The result is sharper planning, steadier service and fewer surprises when the world throws a curveball – as is increasingly common. 

Beyond efficiency, this game-changing technology illuminates hidden emissions and waste, helping teams cut cost while cutting carbon. It also creates a common language between operations and IT, as well as between boardroom and shopfloor.

Pioneers, such as PUMA and Accenture, are scaling digital twins from assets to networks, turning smart models into decisive advantages amid turbulent times. 

Keeping pace with rising demand

Few sports brands have the cultural reach and performance pedigree of PUMA. For 75 years, the company has pushed the boundaries of sport and style – creating “fast” products for the world’s leading athletes, while shaping streetwear with designers and collaborators who carry its look far beyond the track.  

In India, the brand has grown rapidly across online and offline channels, with a broad portfolio spanning football, running and training, basketball, golf and motorsport.

That growth has brought a familiar challenge for modern retailers: how to keep pace with rising demand while holding down costs, maintaining service quality and meeting sustainability goals.

The supply chain challenge

PUMA India faces the same pressures that every consumer brand with national reach now feels. 

Customers expect fast, predictable delivery to any location; product ranges refresh frequently; promotions spike demand with little warning; the network must cover all states and union territories and serve both e-commerce and stores without creating excessive waste. 

Clearly, the stakes are high. Speed and efficiency are not just operational metrics but central to the brand experience.

Karthik Balagopalan, who was, until recently, Managing Director of PUMA India, explains: “As the leading sports brand in a competitive and growing digital commerce market, speed and efficiency are key to providing an excellent brand experience and building customer loyalty.

“To keep up our growth momentum and serve our customers better, we are constantly looking at ways to improve our processes and the quality of distribution.”

In recent months, PUMA India recognised a necessity to modernise its distribution model across large hubs and regional warehouses, redesign fulfilment centre layouts and improve material flow so orders could move through the system faster at a lower cost. 

Ultimately, it needed a network that could sense demand, rehearse decisions and execute with confidence.

Enter Accenture and the digital twin

To meet that brief, PUMA India partnered with Accenture, which brought advanced analytics and digital twin capabilities to the table. 

Working side by side, Accenture and PUMA India built an analytics-led solution to redesign the supply chain and distribution network. The model spans national hubs and regional warehouses and is tuned to actual consumer demand patterns across the country. 

With that insight, the team is redefining fulfilment centre layouts, streamlining material flow and orchestrating faster dispatches. The same foundation extends across both e-commerce and offline channels so inventory and service commitments stay aligned.

The targets are clear: the programme aims to increase order speed of delivery by up to 70% and reduce supply chain costs by up to 10%. It is also expected to double express-delivery capabilities for online orders. 

None of this is a one-off redesign; the power of the digital twin is continuous improvement. As demand changes, new facilities come online or constraints surface, planners can re-run scenarios and update policies without guesswork.

“Consumers have an array of choices in products, channels, prices and delivery options,” adds Saurabh Kumar Sahu, who leads Accenture’s India business.

“Brands wanting to successfully compete for share of mind and wallet need to reinvent their supply chains to improve speed to market, scale their operations and become more agile, relevant and sustainable.” 

“Using advanced analytics, this collaboration builds a solid foundation to drive profitability, operational efficiency and sustainability for PUMA in India.”

As mentioned, sustainability is built into the blueprint. By locating capacity closer to consumers and suppliers, the network can cut transport miles and therefore emissions. 

Accenture has also worked with third-party logistics partners to equip PUMA India’s fulfilment centres with solar power, reusable assets and EV charging infrastructure. The same design discipline that shortens lead times helps shrink the footprint of each order, aligning commercial and environmental goals without bolting on green initiatives after the fact.

Karthik adds: “Working with Accenture to design a mature, analytics-powered future ready supply chain and distribution network will allow us the flexibility to adapt and scale our operations as per the evolving needs of our huge customer base across tiers.”

A decisive edge

PUMA India’s collaboration with Accenture shows how a brand built on the premise of speed can integrate a similar level of speed into its supply chain operations. 

By fusing digital twin technology with disciplined analytics, the sportswear giant is redesigning its distribution model to deliver faster, lower-cost, lower-carbon outcomes across both online and offline channels. 

Most importantly, the solution gives PUMA India the flexibility to adapt as consumer expectations evolve. In a market where choice is abundant and patience is scarce, this edge could prove decisive.