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...
Effective production management contributes to achieving the company goals. However, manufacturing companies regularly face challenges such as disappointing customer experiences and excessive costs. All too often it becomes apparent that long lead times are still too short, high inventories are still too low and substantial capacities are still...
Get out of the box! Supply chain-strategies are being discussed a lot. The need is clear, but how can we take decisions within the supply chain if we don’t have a strategy? Supply chain professionals themselves are the main cause of this problem because they keep on acting like Calimero. They have to stop staying at the sideline and need to...
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...
Some companies have a well-developed sales & operations planning (S&OP) process as a safeguard for structured decision-making. Those companies take an integral view of supply and demand, including the financial impact of mediumterm risks. The managers of such companies make results-based decisions and are truly at the helm. Supply Chain Media and...
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...
Since the publication of Covey’s “The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People” in 1989, more than 15 million copies have passed the counter, making it one of the best selling management books ever. The seven habits that Covey describes are brilliant in their simplicity. No more than common sense, you could argue, but why the massive interest and...
Not too long ago I spoke with a couple of planners at a manufacturing company. With a certain despair they confided that the planning they created had to be changed continuously. It was certainly no exception that the planning was changed at least 50 times between creation and execution. Even next day’s planning was subject to frequent changes.
When I recently returned from a customer appointment with a frowning face, a colleague asked what was the problem. To my own surprise, I was not able to explain to him why the particular case was so complex. After all, he concluded, the demand was stable, the product portfolio was limited and products had no short shelf lives. My colleague was...
A couple of months ago I was very fortunate to be present at a presentation by the world famous management guru Gary Hamel. A very gifted presenter and storyteller with a very inspiring presentation. Messages that made me think even deeper about themes I have been working and thinking on the last couple of years. How can I help organizations to...