Implementing S&OP is simple but not easy; balancing supply and demand in the short and medium term should not be too difficult, although practice often shows otherwise. The biggest challenge in most cases is to create a process that adds so much value for the business that lasting buy-in is created from all stakeholders. The next step in S&OP...
The term DDMRP has been around since 2011 and has received much attention in recent years. The promises are big: improved service levels, inventory reductions of 30-40%, shorter delivery times (up to 80% reduction!) and minimal costs. Are the windows in your Supply Chain department already fogging up? DDMRP is based on the fact that variability...
S&OP is often pictured as a largely standard process; textbook S&OP starts with agreeing an unconstrained demand plan that is handed over to supply planning who need to ensure product availability. In case of important bottlenecks, the S&OP meeting is the final escalation step in the process, where all remaining imbalances should be resolved. ...
Many organizations have a basic S&OP process in place and now want to take the next step to integrated business planning (IBP) in order to maximize the benefits of the process. Supply Chain Media and Involvation have developed this roadmap showing typical obstacles on the path to IBP and how to overcome them. Download the Roadmap to Integrated...
Last week I had a discussion with a customer about his S&OP process, which in his view was not delivering enough value. Useful, but it did not really make the needles move and he could not get his fingers around the reasons why. The amazing thing was that in 2 minutes, we got to the core of the problem and I am happy therefore to share the...
In 2017, a lot has again been written about S&OP. One of the main topics still is how to ensure true buy-in of non-supply chain stakeholders, which is indeed a key challenge in many cases; not because they are genetically different, but because companies often fail to make clear links between S&OP and functional targets and incentives. In this...
After a number of sessions on leadership and change management in S&OP, it was time for a more technical central theme of the S&OP Professionals meeting on November 20th. Involvation facilitates these interactive sessions twice per year, aiming to exchange experiences in S&OP, learn from each other and create a peer network of S&OP...
In his brilliant book “Leading without Commanding”, Filip Vandendriessche describes how managers often create their own problems. By managing on input rather than output, they create resistance rather than buy-in. This simple observation also holds important lessons for S&OP. In a process where people make the difference, input management kills...
It will be difficult to find a manager in any professional organisation in the western world who would dare to claim that employees should not be empowered. Effective managers can get great results from their teams if they ensure that the targeted output is crystal clear, without dictating how exactly this output should be achieved. Most employees...
In our recent article Towards an effective S&OP with Stephen Covey, the power of Covey’s bestselling theory was applied to Sales & Operations Planning. We used Habit 3, “Put First Things First”, to make a high level design of an effective S&OP process. In this follow-up article, we will demonstrate that it is equally important to apply Covey’s...