Planning amid uncertainty: how to manage operations with shifting portfolios

🔍 Article co-created with Josep Berga, Industrial Director at Alzamora Group Spain (🇪🇸 Spain), and Augusto Unzaga, host of Keru Podcast.

🎙️ This article was inspired by Episode 30 of Keru Podcast.

Keru Podcast, created by Globalita.io, is a series of conversations (in Spanish) with industrial leaders from Latin America about management, technology and decision-making in complex environments.

01The challenge of producing without a fixed catalog

In many industrial plants, planning means predicting. But in others, such as Alzamora Group Spain, planning means adapting in real time. Its industrial director, Josep M. Berga Ferrés Alzamora Group, operates in an environment where the portfolio changes every week. The lines don’t repeat formulations. Priorities vary by batch, customer, volume or commercial urgency. And even so, the operation cannot stop.

“70% of what we produce this month we probably won’t repeat next month. And that’s normal.”

This statement sums up the complexity of industrial management with high product turnover. It’s not just about scheduling shifts or reserving materials: it’s about maintaining a fluid production logic when demand is not stable and the product changes all the time. In this context, operational planning in variable environments is not an auxiliary tool, but the heart of the business.

Berga’s team has had to develop systems that combine agility, control and constant coordination with areas such as design, sales, procurement and the plant. The key is to anticipate without trying to control everything. The production plan is a flexible agreement, not a fixed document.

“Our system has to be robust enough to absorb changes. Otherwise, change breaks us.”

02Operational adaptability: designing systems that withstand change

In industries where the product is stable, the system learns through repetition. But in contexts like that of Alzamora Group Spain, where customization is constant, repetition disappears and, with it, the traditional recipes for efficiency. In their place, another skill emerges: designing systems that can change without breaking.

Josep M. Berga Ferrés Spain says it plainly:

“Efficiency comes later. First, you have to make sure the system doesn’t collapse every time a new order comes in.”

This approach is the essence of operational planning in variable environments. It’s not just about forecasting volumes, but about organizing resources, people and technology to respond with structural flexibility to a portfolio that reinvents itself all the time.

From the master plan to dynamic S&OP

In most industrial companies, the master plan is reviewed monthly. At Alzamora Group Spain, the plan is reviewed every week… and adjusted every day. The planning area works in mirror mode with sales, procurement and production, using a tactical coordination system that takes the best of Sales and Operations Planning (S&OP) and adapts it to short cycles.

“We don’t use S&OP to stabilize, but to navigate change.”

The cycle includes:

• Weekly cross-functional meetings to identify changes in orders, capacities or priorities.
• Stress traffic lights by line and product type (urgent, variable, stable).
• Rapid-response protocols if the customer modifies specifications after orders are closed.

This dynamic makes it possible to respond without friction to portfolio variations, anticipating operational impacts before they affect the plant.

This approach is aligned with flexible Lean practices, where rigid standardization is replaced by adaptable standardization: defined processes, but prepared for variations.

Cognitive buffers: a new kind of stock

When product variability is high, physical stock is not enough. Something harder to quantify is needed: anticipated knowledge. At Alzamora, this translates into what Berga calls cognitive buffers: tools and practices that prepare the organization to respond before action is needed.

Some concrete examples:

• Machine presets for the most common order types, with parameters already validated.
• Technical design libraries that make it possible to retrieve molds or specifications quickly.
• Cross-training of staff, so that format changes don’t mean stopping for retraining.

“If your system needs to learn everything from scratch every week, you don’t have a system.”

These buffers are invisible to the ERP, but fundamental in industrial management with high product turnover. They make it possible to reduce adaptation time and increase effective response to new or reconfigured products.

SMED as a norm, not a project

In industries of constant change, setup is the Achilles’ heel. That is why Josep M. Berga Ferrés Alzamora Group decided to apply the SMED (Single-Minute Exchange of Die) method as an organizational principle, not as an isolated improvement project.

“Reducing changeover times is not an improvement. It is a condition for operating.”

Each new product reference is analyzed with a SMED approach from the moment it comes in:

• What can be prepared before the changeover?
• Which tools need standardization?
• Which previous format can serve as a basis?
• Which setup indicators will be measured?

The result: a fast changeover process, with a direct impact on the system’s responsiveness. On some lines, changeover time was reduced by more than 60%, without the need for investment, just by redesigning the steps and training the team.

This not only improves OEE (Overall Equipment Effectiveness), but also protects the delivery promise to the customer, even when there are three new launches in the same week.

Distributed leadership: the foundation of operational TWI

Changing products doesn’t just mean adjusting machines. It means adjusting people. At this point, Josep M. Berga Ferrés Spain implemented a distributed leadership model based on the principles of Training Within Industry (TWI). The idea is simple: if the product changes, knowledge must flow.

“You can’t have a boss for every micro-decision. The team has to know how to solve things.”

To achieve this, three practices were established:

1. Simplified standard instructions, accessible from screens on the production line.
2. Internal mentors for each work cell, with the specific role of continuous training.
3. Weekly improvement circles, where the team proposes process adjustments based on direct experience.

The result was not only greater operational autonomy. Team morale also improved, as the team now feels that it doesn’t just execute, but takes part in how to respond to portfolio variability.

This approach combines TWI, Kaizen and elements of autonomous cells, creating an ecosystem that learns to operate from the inside.

Iterative Policy Deployment: focus that doesn’t break

When everything changes, it’s easy to lose your way. That is why the planning and industrial team at Alzamora Group Spain works with an iterative Policy Deployment model: defining major annual objectives, but reviewing them in quarterly cycles to adjust them to the environment.

“We don’t give up on strategy, but we don’t use it as an excuse to ignore reality either.”

This makes it possible to maintain alignment in the midst of change. For example:

• If a product category gains relevance, indicators are adjusted.
• If the turnover of references increases, the setup model is redefined.
• If a new customer requires specific certifications, the documentation flow is reorganized.

In this way, the system doesn’t just respond: it also learns.

03Final reflection

Operational planning in variable environments requires a new way of thinking about industry. It’s no longer about controlling change, but about making change a strategic competence. In the experience of Josep M. Berga Ferrés Alzamora Group, this is not achieved with miracle tools, but with a system that combines method, team and culture.

Industrial management with high product turnover is a real challenge for many companies in packaging, food, cosmetics or medical devices. But it can also become a competitive advantage… if you learn to operate amid uncertainty with structure.

🔁 Keru is a podcast created by Globalita.io, where we talk with those who lead Latin American industry from the inside.

And you… are you planning to produce or to adapt?