Yearly Archives: 2010

Top 10 Mutant S&OP Terms

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Looking back over the year that was 2010, I jotted down several terms which struck me as interesting twists on some familiar terms.  Some of these twists were intentional mutations while others were totally unintentional.  My favorites tend to be of the unintended variety.  Here’s my Top 10 S&OP list of terms from 2010:

10.  Key Performance Medics:  Specially trained analysts who come to the rescue to turn around poor performance indicators

9.   Strategery:  a plan, approach, line of attack (very similar to strategy)

8.   Regression Forecasting:  Reverting to an earlier, more accurate forecast to give the impression of better forecasting

7.   Imperial Forecasting:  The ultimate Top Down forecast, dictated by the ruler of the kingdom

6.   Reactive demand shaping:  coming up with a marketing promotion during the month in which additional sales are needed rather than planning ahead as part of an overall strategy (or Strategery)

5.   Tough Luck Capacity Planning:  Similar to Rough Cut Capacity Planning; however, with Tough Luck, capacity is fixed so the supply plan drives the demand plan

4.   New Product Insanity:  The attempt to forecast new product launch dates

3.   Higher Keys:  Rooted in the data structure concept of hierarchies, this mutation is the idea that key groups are formed through aggregation

2.   Moving Adage Forecast:  A twist on moving average, continually changing forecast caused by management mood swings

And the number 1 term…

1.    Disaggravation:  The Steelwedge disaggregation functionality which enables users to enter forecasts at higher levels of aggregation, reducing the number entries and thus, reducing user aggravation.

Exploring the S&OP Master Class Videos

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In our last post, we talked about the new S&OP Master Class videos on our site. Check this out: Dallas does S&OP. A video tour to help you find your way around all the cool stuff we’re adding:

Guided Tour of the Steelwedge Website

Information Overload: Filtering for Expert S&OP Advice

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There’s a lot of really good information out there about S&OP, supply chain management, demand forecasting, business intelligence… but you’re busy. You’re probably too busy to keep up with everything. Seriously – do you have time to read the scores of books and journals and blogs that promise to fill you in on everything? Somehow, you need to find a way to filter out what you need to know, which is the best advice, and what really isn’t worth the free download.  There are some terrific resources out there, if you know where to look. Sometimes, however, the most obvious filter is to go straight to the top of the field. A few words from the acknowledged experts addressing the most important questions of the day can save you a lot of time and money.

Along these lines, some of our folks have posted thought-provoking discussions with Lora Cecere, a partner with Altimeter Group, and Blake Johnson, a Stanford University professor, on our website. These are short videos in a series – you only have to listen to what you need to know right now. You can always come back for other topics. Yes, we’re going to ask you to register once, but after that it’s a free ride.  In the series’ first installment, Lora Cecere discusses the business challenges that are driving S&OP adoption. You’ll learn why Lora has concluded that companies with strong S&OP processes and tools are flourishing in today’s economy, and in fact, are able to sense changes in demand five times faster than their competitors. Lora is a partner with Altimeter Group and is known as a supply chain visionary who understands technology. She brings seven years of industry analyst expertise coupled with two decades of manufacturing, marketing and software expertise. She knows her stuff!

In the series’ second installment, Blake Johnson, Ph.D. explains how leading companies are incorporating demand and supply uncertainty into their S&OP process to overcome the challenge of demand volatility. You’ll learn why Blake encourages leading companies to forecast a range of potential demand so that managers can confidently evaluate trade-offs to achieve the optimal level of supply chain flexibility. A consulting professor at Stanford University, Blake is an internationally recognized expert in the field of supply chain risk and flexibility.

These are the first videos in our S&OP Master Class series. We hope you’ll find them helpful and informative. We’re doing our best to get information out there, but if there’s something specific that you need, let us know and we’ll see what we can do!

Explore Steelwedge Software to get the best advice with just a little effort.

“Forget the S&OP Process … Start Making Decisions!”

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Webinar featuring Chris Turner of StrataBridge
Thursday, December 16 at 4:00 p.m. GMT

Register here!
What does Sales and Operations Planning (S&OP) mean to you and your company? Do you know if your demand and supply decisions are in sync with your organization’s strategic priorities? Is it possible to align your S&OP process with the big picture without getting bogged down with the many details in the “process”?

Sales and supply chain decision making is complicated – particularly in today’s era of demand volatility and complex, global supply chains. Every stakeholder in the sales, marketing, finance, and supply chain needs to be queried and considered. Forecasts and assumptions need to be checked, particularly when managers are used to relying on past performance and gut feel. You will likely find yourself spending long hours gathering the necessary data before you can even begin weighing the many sales and supply chain trade-offs at your disposal Is this the best way to spend your time? What if you could optimize the process so that you and your S&OP team can quickly and confidently determine the best way forward for your company?

Chris Turner, co-founder of strategy and change management consulting firm StrataBridge, is set to inspire us to stop fretting about process details and dive right into decision-making mode in a webcast entitled “Forget the S&OP Process … Start Making Decisions!” scheduled for Thursday, December 16 at 4:00 p.m. GMT. You can learn the answers to these questions and more when he teams up with John Sookias, Vice President of International Sales and Managing Director (EMEA) of Steelwedge, to discuss powerful ways to connect strategic planning with operational decision making.

In this webinar, you’ll discover how to view S&OP through a lens of the benefits to the business as opposed to the technicalities of the process. Explore the principles of “joined-up decision-making,” driven from where your organization is going, what it will take to get there, and the decisions it will need to confront along the way and learn how to establish “joined-up behaviors’” by making S&OP relevant to people.

This webinar will help you focus on the big picture of S&OP decision making and give you the tools to get buy-in from your executive team. Join our experts as they help you to save your sanity, increase your efficiency, and improve your bottom line!

Click here to register.

For S&OP to be successful, do all functional areas of organization need to have the same goals/objectives?

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S&OP presents many challenges to business enterprises to implement and sustain a world-class S&OP process. One common thread is the need for effective collaboration. What sounds simple, in general terms, is often difficult when the details come into play. Details may include different goals and incentives for disparate functional groups and individuals and inadequate tools to facilitate meaningful collaboration.

Functional groups have unique goals and performance indicators. Sales may be driven to achieve high revenue targets while the Operations group may focus on minimizing labor costs and inventory levels. Finance seeks to manage cash flow, minimize costs and maximize profit. Units of measure may differ from one functional group to the next. Some plan in units, others in dollars. Forecast horizons can vary from current quarter to planning horizon to fiscal multiple year projections.

The key point here is NOT that all groups and individuals should share the same focus and effort. To the contrary, best practice enterprises heavily leverage the unique talents of their employees. Sales sells and Operations drives the supply chain. That said, it is critical that the enterprise has a single, consensus plan that is feasible and all parties agree to execute against that plan. Companies that fail to achieve one agreed plan, are prone to falling well short of optimal inventory levels, customer service targets, availability of desired inventory and company financial goals. A less tangible, but very important by-product of a missing consensus plan is a culture that pits individuals and groups against one another rather than acting as a cohesive team.

From my work at Steelwedge with several clients, it’s been very pleasing to see how the Steelwedge tool promotes cross-functional interaction. Users exchange quantitative and qualitative inputs in an environment that pulls together information in a way that had not previously been available. Beyond data visibility, users are gathering field input, validating assumptions and driving an enterprise plan rather than multiple, isolated departmental plans.

At the end of the day, solutions depend on people, process and technology. If the process and the technology facilitate collaboration, the people become more productive…and happier, too!