1. Why are inventory management and demand planning so important for Land O’Lakes? What is the business impact of not being able to manage inventory or predict demand for this company?
2. What management, organization, and technology issues had to be considered when selecting Oracle’s Demantra as a solution for Land O’Lakes?
3. How did implementing Demantra change management decision making and the way that Land O’Lakes ran its business?
4. Describe two decisions that were improved by implementing Demantra.

Originally founded in 1921 by representatives from 320 individual creameries as the Minnesota Cooperative Creameries Association, Land O’Lakes has grown to one of the largest producers of butter and cheese in the United States. The company handles 12 billion pounds of milk annually and generates revenues of over $ 12 billion. The company also owns several other brands, such as Purina, a major producer of animal feed, which it acquired in 2001. Land O’Lakes also runs Winfield Solutions, which sells farm seeding and crop protection products. All businesses dealing in consumer goods must deal with issues of supply chain efficiency and inventory management. For Land O’Lakes, the importance of those issues is heightened because its products are perishable and sales volume and product mix change greatly from season to season. In the winter, for example, Americans use more butter for baked goods, and demand spikes as high as 65 percent. The company must be prepared to adjust production and inventory accordingly.