Char-Broil Cruises Around Supply Chain Disruption To Deliver Next-Gen Grills

As COVID-19 led to more people working from home, interest in home improvement projects rose dramatically, with the backyard category being the most popular area to update. Deck construction increased 275% within the first few months and with that, customers were looking for new grills for their upgraded space.

For a leading grill manufacturer like Char-Broil, it presents the perfect opportunity to help fulfill high demand for innovation in the outdoor cooking space. But it also comes with a fair share of challenges, including, you guessed it, supply chain issues.

For over seventy years Char-Broil has made significant strides to make grilling easier and more accessible for everyone. The company introduced its first charcoal grill in 1948 and has grown its product portfolio to include a plethora of innovative gas and electric grills. Char-Broil also cooked up Amplifire, an innovative, infrared cooking system that provides even heat distribution with no flare-ups.

“We’re proud of the many ways we’ve been able to push outdoor cooking forward so that our products provide the tools and the confidence our customers need to get the most out of grilling,” said Mark Werner, President and CEO, Char-Broil. “Like many other companies though, we have faced some supply chain issues. We’ve been working hard with our suppliers to get products into stores earlier in the year to help avoid some of the backlog.”

SAP Integrated Business Planning helps Char-Broil account for volatility by extending planning lead-time and more precisely extending the transportation lead-time to account for extended dwell time throughout the supply chain.

“We’ve also increased our safety stock settings which signals us to order replenishment products earlier,” said Werner. “Having a higher safety stock gives us a higher inventory level and helps offset supply chain delays and disruptions.”

With the ability to better manage business disruptions, Char-Broil can rest easy, knowing its latest and greatest product innovations will reach retail partners, and ultimately, end consumers, in a timely fashion.

Heating up customer research

In the Spring of 2020, Char-Broil embarked on one of its largest consumer research projects to date, speaking to over 5,000 grill owners by conducting dozens of focus groups and nationwide surveys to see how consumers shopped, ate and cooked. Throughout the development process, Char-Broil shipped research participants a variety of different grills and created a community where they shared their thoughts on all things related to grilling to help shape the development of new products.

“We found that a lot of customers think all gas grills are the same, and come with the same pain points — the standard high, medium and low knobs can be hard to manage, and wild temperature swings can be difficult to control,” said Werner. “We used those insights to develop the Cruise Digital Gas Grill, that sets and maintains a cooking temperature from start to finish.”

The digital control dial on the Cruise Digital Gas Grill replaces the traditional knobs eliminating the guesswork with the “high, medium or low” knobs, and an auto-calibration feature keeps heat consistent, resulting in a higher degree of control.

“We’re constantly looking for ways to improve the outdoor cooking experience,” said Werner. “While we’re changing the game with products like our Cruise Gas Grill, we’re also working to innovate in other areas, including electric grills to make grilling more accessible for everyone. We’ve got a new electric grill we’re excited to introduce later this year and look forward to sharing more details in the near future.”

To get more expert insights on why integrated business planning is central to building a resilient supply chain in disruptive times, download a recent IDC Analyst Connection report here.