More than 15 years ago, Heineken initiated its impressive program to implement S&OP globally and move through increasing stages of maturity. Starting with a basic process, the company subsequently added more advanced elements, including a regional S&OP hub in Europe and a recent program called “Connected Forecasting” to start driving the financial plans using the same volumes and assumptions as in S&OP.
High maintenance process
Despite the high-profile programs, the focus on change management and the presence of skilled S&OP managers in the operating companies (opcos), Heineken found that sustaining a high-quality process was not automatic. New priorities and a steady flow of new people could easily dilute its effectiveness as reflected, for example, in the outcomes of the ongoing self- assessments. This observation triggered Lars Ponsen, Global IBP Lead at Heineken, to initiate a program for sustaining a mature and effective S&OP process. Involvation was selected to support Heineken in the definition and delivery of this program.
Trigger based interventions
With 70 operating companies and sales in 190 countries, the global S&OP team consisting of only two persons had a huge challenge. Even more so as this same team was also driving the Connected Forecasting program in parallel. Potential interventions therefore had to be effective and efficient, and prioritising was essential.
Five triggers were defined that could initiate an intervention:
- Low S&OP expertise (individuals)
- Low S&OP maturity operating companies (opco)
- Sub-standard performance (low KPI scores)
- New people joining S&OP
- S&OP process updates
Operating companies will be prioritised based on a combination of assessment results and KPI performance:
Extensive program
Heineken and Involvation defined a program consisting of four elements:
- Heineken S&OP standards 2025
- E-learning
- Self paced program covering Heineken S&OP basics, with variants per role.
- Opco Deep Dive
- Content tailored to each opco’s specific requirements, using an extensive set of standard building blocks.
- Agreement about the focus areas with the opco before the workshop.
- 3-day face to face workshop, involving all S&OP stakeholders and leading to a presentation of the SWOT to the Management Team, plus the top five concrete improvement actions.
- Follow-up after the workshop, coaching the operating company and ensuring implementation of the agreed improvements.
- S&OP Master Class
- Periodic face to face and high energy workshops, followed by online coaching sessions.
Reflection
The program is (mid 2025) in its early stages but has already started delivering benefits and a number of important insights. The change should not be underestimated and will take time. It will only be successful if the Management Team is fully onboard, leads by example and are the ambassadors of the change. Think big, act small is another obvious but essential principle, combined with a straightforward PDCA cycle.
The Deep Dive workshops plus follow-up are quite extensive, but still rely on the operating company to realise the agreed improvements. Prerequisites: full buy-in of the Management Team, and a local S&OP manager with sufficient power to drive the change. Expectation is that this will be the case in most operating companies. For the remaining group, even more hands-on interventions will be required.
