The Four Paths Forward: How to Unlock More Value from Kinaxis with ketteQ’s PolymatiQ™

Many supply chain executives eventually find themselves at a crossroads. After years of investment, their legacy supply chain planning implementation has delivered visibility and structure, but is no longer driving the step-change results they need.

The question becomes: what’s next?

When your planning platform reaches its ceiling, you only have four choices. Some keep pushing the status quo, others bring in consultants, a few attempt costly replacements, and then there’s a smarter option: enhancing your legacy planning system with ketteQ’s PolymatiQ™ AI Engine on top.

The Four Paths Forward

Here are the options executives face when their systems start to level off:

• Stick with your legacy planning system.
  Continue operating as is, and I hope for the best. Today’s lowest cost can quickly become tomorrow’s opportunity cost, leaving you capped while competitors push further.

• Hire more consultants.
  Many companies try this, spending years and millions to tune systems, but it rarely delivers breakthrough improvements.

• Rip and replace.
  High risk, high cost, and years before ROI. For most, it’s not realistic.

• Enhance with PolymatiQ™ on top.
  The fastest, lowest-risk path. Keep your Kinaxis foundation, add unlimited scenarios and adaptive solving, and unlock measurable financial and operational value in weeks.

From Plateau to Breakthrough: Partner in Pet Food

The story of Partner in Pet Food (PPF) illustrates the power of that fourth path.

A leading European pet food manufacturer, PPF, had invested heavily in Kinaxis. The platform delivered early gains, but after years of use and millions spent on consultants, capacity utilization plateaued at 88%.

It wasn’t a failure of Kinaxis; it was simply that the system had reached its natural limits. PPF needed more agility, speed, and intelligence than a legacy planning system could provide.

That’s when they turned to ketteQ.

Because many members of the ketteQ team had deep experience implementing Kinaxis and other legacy planning systems during their days at Barkawi Consulting and Genpact, PPF trusted we understood how to build on its strengths. The solution was simple: install PolymatiQ™ AI Engine on top of Kinaxis.

As CEO, Gerald Kühr explained:
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“We’d been trying to get good results from the existing planning solution for three years.  ketteQ’s PolymatiQ™ provides exactly what we need: real-time intelligence, seamless integration, and the flexibility to scale with our growth.”

Results in Weeks, Not Years

The impact was dramatic and fast. In just 4–5 weeks, PPF’s first plant went live with PolymatiQ™ on top of Kinaxis. Utilization jumped by over 13 percent. Waste dropped by eliminating 10.2% of unnecessary bulk production, saving 22 tons of cost. Agility improved across plants, markets, and customers.

From there, PPF rolled out the solution to 12 factories, spanning 10 countries and 35 markets.

Why PolymatiQ™ on Top is the Best Path

The PPF example underscores why enhancing with PolymatiQ™ is the most effective of the four paths forward. It allows companies to:

• Protect their existing Kinaxis investment.

• Deploy quickly, with minimal IT effort.

• Scale across global networks without performance tradeoffs.

• Deliver measurable financial and operational value in weeks.

Instead of accepting a ceiling or embarking on a risky rip-and-replace, PolymatiQ™ empowers supply chains to break through and accelerate ROI from their existing systems.

Your Takeaway

Every executive facing a plateau in their legacy planning system has the same four choices. Three of them, status quo, consultants, or rip-and-replace, lead to more cost, risk, or stagnation. Only one delivers a rapid, measurable impact.

ketteQ’s PolymatiQ™ on top of Kinaxis is that path.

Kinaxis got you here. PolymatiQ™ takes you further.

Want to learn more? Read The Guide to Maximizing Kinaxis Value Capture with ketteQ’s PolymatiQ™ AI Engine on Top