In his brilliant book ‘Leading without Commanding’, Filip Vandendriessche describes howmanagers 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. No input management In a processwhere people make the difference, input...
Ever since the pandemic highlighted the inextricable link between a smooth-running supply chain and strong business performance, companies have been taking steps to improve their supply chain resilience. But how can you be sure that you’re optimally prepared for the disruptions that inevitably lie ahead? In this blog by Involvation’s Jeroen...
Supply chain training not only enhances employees’ individual skills and knowledge in the short term. It can also play a key role in improving a company’s long-term strategic performance by driving sustainable improvements and creating competitive advantage. Well-prepared participants and effective training design provide a strong foundation for...
AI and human intervention During my time at MIT, I had the privilege of attending lectures by Jay W. Forrester, the founder of system dynamics. Forrester was a pioneer in modeling complex systems in economics, business, and technology. He was one of the first to recognize how technology could enhance decision-making and planning, yet he always...
Thou Shalt Not... Misuse S&OP/IBP Disruptions and rapidly changing circumstances have become the norm over the past few years. It makes sense that many companies have started to focus more on short-term management, closely monitoring the balance between demand and supply in short cycles. While a typical S&OP/IBP process is applied in a monthly...
Despite being aware of the need to take an end-to-end view of the value chain and the importance of cross-functional decision-making, many businesses are still structured around ‘functional silos’. This results in internal operational barriers that hold back the efficient and effective value chain performance needed to cope with today’s...
Resilience has become a popular term after all the major events happened throughout the world last five years. These events have had a lot of indirect effects within economies and thus impacted the playground for almost all companies. It has pushed the need for resilience on the agendas on board level and more specifically have become targets for...
Uncertainty is a fact of life within the supply chain nowadays. In today’s volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous (VUCA) world, organizations need to be resilient in order to safeguard their long-term future in the face of ever-changing circumstances. This calls for new organizational structures, but also for employees with different skills...
Last spring, I ran my first marathon in Rotterdam. My goal was mainly to complete it entirely without a specific finishing time in mind. In my work, I spend a lot of time implementing Sales & Operations Planning (S&OP) processes. Here too, it is mainly about a good implementation rather than a speedy one. And there are many more parallels to be...
Supply chain development is essential for a fast-growing brand like Rituals. Building on a long-term partnership, Involvation and Rituals launched the first Rituals Supply Chain Academy in 2023. Here, Jeroen Scheepers, Partner at Involvation, explores the Academy’s co-design around Rituals’ end-to-end supply chain, and why a supply chain...