Every day, we work with our customers to optimize their supply chains, whether as part of consultancy projects in which we explore better approaches to processes, systems and organizations, or by providing training to increase our customers’ knowledge of supply chain management so that they can continue to make lasting improvements themselves.
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...
Last week I found myself in a roomful of supply chain professionals where, as Involvation, we’d been invited to chair a discussion on ‘S&OP: achieving and maintaining S&OP effectiveness… and keeping all disciplines on board’. The key issue is how to motivate people and increase their action readiness in terms of Sales & Operations Planning...
A new year is always an opportunity for a fresh start. When making my new year’s resolutions for 2018, I first took stock of what I am happy/unhappy with in my daily life, before deciding what I want to change and how to do so. In our assessments, we basically apply the same logic when supporting our customers in their journey from Sales &...
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...
This was the central theme of the S&OP Professionals meeting on June 19th. Twice per year Involvation facilitates these interactive sessions of professionals in the field of S&OP. Goal is to exchange experiences in S&OP, learn from each other and create a network of S&OP practitioners. This time we had a broad participation of representatives from...
How can I get – and above all, keep – the Sales department involved in sales & operations planning (S&OP)? That’s the million dollar question in many S&OP processes. The Supply Chain organisation is the driving force in virtually all S&OP set-ups – which is logical, in a way. After all, the operation won’t get far without planning, and planning...
Implementation of a Sales & Operations Planning (S&OP) process is often considered as an important change in the way an organisation works. Therefore, an implementation project should take a solid approach that addresses all the success factors involved in that change. But the last step in the change approach is often neglected:...
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...