Multi-Plant Consolidated Forecasting

This use case explains how to forecast across multiple plants, factories or production sites in Model Reef and consolidate results at group level.

You will:

• Represent each plant as its own branch.

• Attach revenue, cost, capacity and inventory structures to each plant.

• Add central overheads and group level financing.

• Produce plant level and consolidated forecasts for P&L, Balance Sheet, Cashflow and Cash Waterfall.

This pattern extends plant level models built using BOM and Unit Cost Modelling, Capacity and Production Planning and Inventory Turnover and Working Capital to a multi plant environment.

When to use this pattern

Use this pattern when:

• You operate more than one manufacturing or production site.

• You want clear visibility of performance per plant as well as group level.

• You need to plan transfers of production, investment or closure across plants.

• You use a mix of in house plants and contract manufacturers and want them in one view.

It is also useful for contract manufacturing arrangements where some production is internal and some external.

Architecture overview

The multi plant structure uses:

• Branch tree

  • One branch per plant, plus grouping branches if needed.

  • A group branch for consolidated results.

  • Optional branches for contract manufacturers and central overheads.

• Plant level models

  • Revenue, unit cost, capacity and inventory structures per plant.

  • Plant specific staffing and Opex.

• Group level structures

  • Central overheads, shared assets and group debt.

  • Equity injections, dividends and other group actions.

• Outputs

  • Plant level P&L and cash views.

  • Consolidated forecasts and dashboards.

  • Scenario comparisons for alternative network strategies.

1

Set up branches for each plant

In the branch tree, create a structure such as:

• Group

  • Plant - North

  • Plant - South

  • Plant - Contract Manufacturer

  • Central Overheads

If you have many plants, you can group them under regional branches, for example Region - EU, Region - US, etc.

Each plant branch holds that plant’s revenue, cost, capacity and inventory variables. The group branch is used only for consolidation and group level items.

2

Implement plant level revenue and unit cost structures

Within each plant branch:

• Implement BOM and unit cost structures for the SKUs or product families that plant produces.

• Define production volumes per SKU and period.

• Create revenue variables based on volumes and selling prices (which may be set centrally or per region).

Ensure that:

• Product naming is consistent across plants.

• Categories and subcategories are the same for all plants.

• Drivers such as selling price and unit cost are reused where appropriate via the Data Library.

This consistency allows reports and dashboards to aggregate meaningfully.

3

Attach capacity and production planning per plant

For each plant branch, include capacity and production drivers such as:

• Hours available per period (shifts, days, planned maintenance).

• Throughput per line and product.

• Efficiency or OEE modifiers.

• Production volumes per product.

Use the Capacity and Production Planning pattern so that for each plant you can see:

• Required hours.

• Utilisation percentage.

• Bottlenecks and unused capacity.

This allows you to:

• Check whether the proposed production plan per plant is feasible.

• Compare utilisation and headroom across plants.

• Evaluate moving production from one plant to another in scenarios.

4

Model inventory and working capital per plant

Use the Inventory Turnover and Working Capital pattern to approximate:

• Raw materials, WIP and finished goods per plant.

• Inventory days on hand and turns for each plant.

• Working capital tied up in stock across the network.

Implement this by:

• Creating Asset type variables such as Inventory - Raw Materials - Plant North, Inventory - Finished Goods - Plant South.

• Driving inventory levels from COGS and policy drivers like days on hand or turns.

• Letting the model compute changes in inventory so the Cashflow Statement and Cash Waterfall reflect working capital movements.

If inter plant transfers are material, you can represent them as:

• Additional COGS or internal revenue lines, or

• Reclassification entries between plants.

Keep in mind Model Reef is a planning engine, so keep intercompany logic simple and aligned with decision needs.

5

Add central overheads and group financing

Create a Central Overheads or similar branch with variables for:

• Group level staff costs (executive, central finance, HR, IT).

• Central marketing and brand spend.

• Group wide systems and licences.

• Shared services.

At the group branch, add variables for:

• Group debt and interest.

• Equity injections or shareholder distributions.

• Shared assets not tied to a specific plant (for example HQ building).

These structures:

• Keep plant branches focused on operational performance.

• Keep group branch focused on capital structure, central overheads and investor facing metrics.

6

Build plant and group reporting

Use reports and dashboards to provide:

Plant level views

• P&L per plant, including revenue, COGS and gross margin.

• Opex and staff cost per plant.

• Plant level Cashflow Statement and Cash Waterfall.

• Capacity and utilisation charts per plant.

Group level views

• Consolidated P&L across all plants plus central overheads.

• Consolidated Balance Sheet, including plant inventories and group debt.

• Consolidated Cashflow Statement and Cash Waterfall.

• Margin and working capital analysis by plant and in total.

You can add views such as:

• Revenue, COGS and gross margin by plant.

• Contribution per plant after allocated or unallocated overheads.

• Inventory and working capital by plant and in aggregate.

7

Use scenarios for network strategy

Clone the multi plant model into separate models to test network strategies, such as:

• Opening a new plant.

• Closing or downsizing a plant.

• Shifting specific products from one plant to another.

• Moving some production to contract manufacturers.

• Investing in additional capacity or automation.

For each scenario, adjust:

• Branch structure (for example adding or removing plant branches).

• Capacity, unit cost and production drivers per plant.

• Central overheads and group financing assumptions.

• Inventory policy and lead times per plant.

Compare scenarios on:

• Group level P&L and cashflow.

• Plant level margins and utilisation.

• Required capex and associated depreciation.

• Payback and valuation, using the Valuation Engine.

Check your work

• Each plant branch contains only variables that truly belong to that plant.

• Central costs and financing are separated from plant cost structures and clearly visible.

• Consolidated results at the group branch reconcile to the sum of plants plus central overheads.

• Capacity, margin and cash patterns are believable to both operations and finance stakeholders.

Troubleshooting

Plants look much more or less profitable than actuals

Check that revenue, cost and overhead allocations align with your accounting view, and calibrate plant level assumptions using latest actuals.

Inventory or working capital appears double counted

Ensure you model inventory at one level per plant and avoid representing the same stock in multiple branches or variables.

The model feels unwieldy with many plants and SKUs

Group smaller plants or product families into aggregate buckets and reserve detailed modelling for the largest or most strategic ones.

Related guides

• Build a Consolidated Forecast Model

• Build a Multi Division Model

• Data Library Mapping

• How to Enter Values