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...
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...
Last month I visited two different clients, in both cases for delivering an S&OP Master Class, and I subsequently attended their Demand Review meetings. Always interesting, a bit of theory that is applied into practice immediately afterwards. Part of the Master Classes was a simple S&OP Maturity Scan, mainly included to make people think. What...
Many companies embrace Sales & Operations Planning (S&OP) and consider it the perfect tool to balance out supply and demand. In addition, S&OP can act as a perfect link between the business strategy and operational execution. Sadly all too often, S&OP does not meet expectations. Many companies struggle to implement an effective and efficient...
It is the main theme of 2014. Again. Books, magazines, blogs, opinion and expert articles, advertisements galore! But how often do you happen to bump into something really new? When was the last time that you were surprised by a truly original view? It seems so logical. A process in which the plans of the different business functions are...
Without doubt, S&OP has been one of the most popular management buzzwords of the past decade. Gurus, consultants, blog writers and recently also software suppliers have claimed the topic. S&OP is hot and everybody wants to get a piece of the cake. Rightly so, because S&OP is a powerful concept with huge potential. Potential, that more often than...