Manufacturing and procurement

Get real-time, actionable insights into your raw material spend.

Discover what ION can do for you

Over half of the world’s largest food and beverage manufacturers use an ION solution to manage their treasury and commodity risk

Businesses are facing unprecedented volatility in the costs of raw materials, which can harm profitability, shareholder value, and credibility with analysts. Large fluctuations in raw material spend are not easily transferable to the sale price of a finished good. With full visibility the cost of each raw material component, procurement specialists can build risk management and hedging strategies to flatten volatility, gaining a competitive advantage. With ION Commodities solutions, organizations are better prepared to navigate uncertain market dynamics and capitalize on opportunities.

Related sectors

  • Food and beverage (CPG)

    Procurement of the raw materials used in the manufacturing of food and beverage finished goods sold retail as consumer packaged goods.

  • Industrials

    Procurement of the raw materials used in the production of finished products, such as automotive, equipment, or chemicals.

Value delivered

  • Challenge

    Unpredictable prices

    Today’s price volatility across all commodities is unprecedented, making forecasting more difficult than ever. Businesses must plan promotions based on a cost assumption for a product not yet produced. The more scientific and modern the approach to demand forecasting, the greater the competitive advantage you can gain.

    Solution

    Optimize against volatility

    ION offers solutions that optimize your strategic planning. Our simulation and optimization algorithms increase demand forecasting accuracy and help maximize operating profit.

  • Challenge

    Lack of position visibility

    Commodity price volatility is always changing. As raw material costs increase, procurement specialists seek better visibility of covered and uncovered positions for both volume and spend needs. Managing a risk position in spreadsheets is no longer efficient. Better controls and faster reporting are necessary to implement a spend management plan that can react as fast as the market moves.

    Solution

    Componentized risk

    ION’s comprehensive spend management solutions break down material forecasts to componentize the risk of each raw material. Pricing agreements, cash contracts, and futures/options/swaps can then be used to provide coverage by pricing component. This gives your business the visibility to compartmentalize risk and execute a spend management plan for all raw materials, from ingredients to packaging.

  • Challenge

    Data rich, knowledge poor

    Compiling risk positions can be cumbersome. As market prices move, dashboards and analytics need to be updated constantly. Measuring performance against various metrics is vital to determining the best approach to managing material needs and spend.

    Solution

    Real-time analytics

    ION’s solutions offer full reporting of coverage by raw material and spend forecasts. Report versioning offers on-demand variance reporting of actuals versus forecasted budget, market, and historical data. You can test strategies with simulations and access a full dashboard to view performance in real time. This eliminates time lags and helps drive smarter, faster decision making.

Forecasting and planning
Covering and purchasing
Risk analytics and reporting

Products

  • TriplePoint

    An out-of-the-box, multi-commodity CTRM with configurable functionality.

  • WAM

    An optimization solution for supply and demand planning, integrated with ION’s CTRMs.

Frequently asked questions

  • Can ION products integrate with my existing ERP?

    ION solutions have standard adapters that integrate to ERPs to streamline workflows and data sharing.

  • Can ION products support my complex risk analytics?

    ION solutions offer advanced analytics for asset optimization, portfolio valuation, and complex option pricing. This provides your business with valuable insights to improve profitability and optimize price risk management.

Latest Commodities news

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Chartis Research ranks ION Commodities as a leading technology provider for energy markets for the fourth time in a row

28 February 2024
London – 28 February 2024: ION Commodities, a global leader in energy and ...

ION recognized by IDC FinTech Rankings as a FastTrack FinTech company

4 December 2023
LONDON – 4 December 2023: ION, a leading global provider of trading, analytics, ...

ION Commodities wins CTRM Software House of the Year for the second consecutive year at Energy Risk Asia Awards 2023

10 October 2023
LONDON – 10 October 2023: ION Commodities, a leading provider of energy and ...

ION Commodities ranks #1 in Chartis Research’s Energy50, winning 12 awards

17 August 2023
LONDON – 17 August 2023: ION Commodities, a global leader in energy and ...

ION wins Stevie Award for Customer Service for seventh consecutive year

19 July 2023
LONDON – 19 July 2023: ION, the largest global provider of trading, analytics, ...

ION launches Carbon Zero for trading and managing carbon credits and environmental certificates

22 May 2023
London – 22 May 2023: ION, a leading provider of trading, risk, and ...

Latest Commodities awards

Chartis Research’s Energy50 survey 2024

Leading technology provider for energy markets

Energy Risk Awards 2023

Oil, Gas/LNG, power, metals and agriculture products

Energy Risk Awards 2023

Market analytics, model valuation and risk exposure management

Energy Risk Awards 2023

Emissions and green certificates