Cascades redefines supply chain excellence by shifting from OTIF to in-stock as the core metric

When Jerome Porlier took the stage at the Tissue World Miami 2026, he did not begin with a product announcement. Instead, he focused on a key issue related to measurement. For years, the tissue industry, like most of the consumer goods manufacturing sector, has evaluated supply chain performance using OTIF, meaning on time, in full. The metric is clear, easy to track and, according to Porlier, no longer sufficient.

“You can have a great OTIF score and still have nothing on the shelf,” he told the audience. A manufacturer’s warehouse can be full, shipments can arrive on schedule, and the retailer’s distribution center can register a complete order, while the actual product is still not available to the consumer.

That gap between delivery performance and shelf availability became the strategic starting point for what Cascades now defines as its supply chain excellence transformation. The Quebec based manufacturer, with more than 2,000 employees in its tissue division, ten strategically located plants across North America, and a business mix weighted at approximately 63% retail and 37% away from home, shifted its primary service commitment from OTIF to in stock, a store level and daily measure of product availability.

The operational logic behind the shift is straightforward, even if execution is not. OTIF measures a transaction between the manufacturer and the retailer, while in stock measures the final outcome at the end of the chain. Moving to this approach requires connecting data that most supply chains do not usually integrate, including point of sale data from individual retail stores, inventory levels across distribution centers, production schedules, and replenishment triggers, all synchronized in near real time.

Cascades built that connectivity. “We are now tracking point-of-sale data across every retail store, every day,” Porlier said. “We can replenish and adapt to keep in-stock rates at 95, 98, even 99 percent.”

Three measurable outcomes have followed. The first is revenue preservation. By monitoring shelf availability in real time for one of its major retail partners, the company identified and addressed stock-out risks before they translated into lost sales, preserving USD 13 million in revenue over a twelve-month period.

 

The second outcome is capital efficiency. Improved data integration across the supply chain enabled Cascades to reduce inventory by approximately ten days of coverage without compromising service levels, freeing roughly USD 65 million in working capital. In a context where reinvestment competes with the cost of capital, this level of liquidity has immediate strategic implications.

The third outcome is structural. The company achieved a 15% reduction in administrative headcount, driven not by cost-cutting mandates but by the elimination of manual coordination tasks made redundant through connected data systems.

These results are not isolated from broader structural changes. Beginning in 2024, Cascades undertook a significant operational restructuring, closing more than eleven facilities, reducing its customer portfolio by approximately 50% of SKU flows, and investing over USD 500 million in platform modernization, particularly in converting capacity. The addition of its Oklahoma facility expanded geographic coverage in central and southern markets.

The objective was to simplify the network sufficiently to enable supply chain excellence to operate at scale, rather than as a fragmented, site-by-site effort.

Within the private label segment, the implications are both competitive and structural. Private label tissue operates with high volumes and limited margin flexibility. Unlike branded products, there is no marketing support to offset inconsistent availability. When a product is not on the shelf, consumers are pushed to choose alternatives, and that behavior is difficult to reverse.

Jerome Porlier presents a clear argument. In stock reliability becomes the main lever of differentiation available to private label suppliers. A manufacturer that can consistently ensure product availability at the shelf level, rather than simply meeting delivery requirements, becomes operationally essential to the retailer.

Cascades is now expanding this model through pilot programs with retail and distribution partners. The goal is to assess total supply chain costs, including duplicated planning, customer service, and administrative functions that exist on both sides of the relationship.

The objective is not to shift costs to one party, but to create shared efficiency through greater data transparency. The scalability of this model across the private label sector will depend on how many manufacturers can achieve this level of integration, and on whether retailers are willing to operate with the level of transparency it requires.