Supply Chain interview prep.

Behavioural questions to expect

1. Walk me through your background + your path into CPG supply chain.
2. Tell me about a CPG supply chain project you've owned end-to-end.
3. Why CPG food + beverage supply chain vs industrial, retail-side, or consulting?
4. Why supply chain specifically vs sales, brand, finance, or operations roles?
5. Why the firm?
6. What's your read on our brand portfolio and channel mix?
7. Tell me what you understand about our supply chain organisation and recent strategic moves.
8. Walk me through how you'd run or improve an S&OP / IBP cycle for a multi-brand CPG business.

Technical concepts to master

• S&OP / IBP + demand planning fundamentals (CPG)

  S&OP vs IBP (CPG flavour) · Statistical forecast + commercial overlay · MAPE + bias + FVA + promo forecast accuracy · Demand sensing - POS + syndicated data · Replenishment models - VMI / CPFR / CDM

• Retailer service + OTIF + perfect order

  OTIF (On-Time + In-Full) · Perfect order · On-shelf availability (OSA) + voids · Fines + chargebacks + deductions · Customer-team partnership + joint business planning

• Promo + new-item + SKU complexity

  Promo lift + cannibalisation · New-item launch + phase-in · Phase-out + EOL discipline · SKU rationalization + Pareto tail · Innovation rate + vitality index

• Cold chain + shelf-life + food safety

  Shelf-life + days-on-hand discipline · Cold chain integrity · FSMA + food safety modernisation · HACCP + SQF + BRC · Recall + traceability readiness

Practical drills

• You're planning a 4-week feature + display promo on a snack SKU. Baseline weekly volume = 100K cases. Expected lift factor 6x (display + feature). Cannibalisation from own SKUs estimated 15% of incremental, pull-forward 10% of incremental. SKU has 180-day shelf life; retailer requires 75% remaining at receipt. Plant produces in 50K-case batches with 2-week lead time. Calculate net incremental cases, pipeline build, and post-promo residual risk. Show your numbers.
• A $3B CPG snacks + beverages business with 8 brands + 4 plants + 6 co-mans runs a broken S&OP - demand review dominated by sales overlay (bias persistently +8%), supply review focused on weekly OTIF fire-fighting, finance integration absent, no executive S&OP. MAPE 35% at brand-month, retailer OTIF 91% (vs top mass-retailer 98% standard), days-on-hand 72 at plant + 18 at retailer DC, fines + chargebacks running $25M / year. CSCO asks you to redesign. Walk me through your approach + 12-month roadmap.
• Your top retailer (representing 25% of revenue) has just notified you that OTIF performance on your snacks portfolio has dropped from 96% to 89% over the past quarter. Fines + chargebacks have spiked to $4M / quarter (vs $1M baseline). The retailer category manager is escalating + threatening shelf-space reduction. Walk me through how you'd diagnose + recover + structure the customer-team partnership.

Smart-question anchors

• Supply chain org - centralised vs BU-led, CSCO presence + reporting line, central vs BU talent paths
• S&OP / IBP maturity - cadence, executive S&OP teeth, tooling roadmap (Kinaxis / o9 / Blue Yonder / Anaplan)
• Retailer service posture - OTIF trajectory, top-retailer scorecard standing, fine + chargeback governance
• Promo + new-item rhythm - innovation rate, RGM + trade-spend integration, launch + EOL discipline
• Working capital + days-on-hand - cash-conversion-cycle trajectory, retailer DOH targets, recent cash-out programs

Sourced from

APICS / ASCM CPIM + CSCP body of knowledge · Gartner Supply Chain research + Top 25 + Magic Quadrant for S&OP + IBP tools · CSCMP State of Logistics + Food Dive + Supply Chain Dive + Food Business News trade press · Walmart Supplier Quality (MAOTIF) + Target Vendor Income + Amazon Vendor Central program documentation · FDA FSMA + USDA + GFSI (SQF, BRC, FSSC 22000) food-safety standards