[Ed. Note: As part of an occasional series, we invite industry experts and webinar hosts to discuss questions from our readers. You can search for these using the Agility Webinar Q&A tag. In this post, recent webinar host Tom Wallace provides his perspective. And stay tuned for additional questions from this webinar next week.]

Q: You mentioned Procter & Gamble (P&G) in the webinar. Is their success in S&OP based on the large scale of the company?  Is a small company with less resources capable of such success?

A: P&G’S success with S&OP is not due to the company’s large size; it’s in spite of it. The larger the organization, the greater the challenge. Of course, larger corporations do have more resources, and the challenge is to use them well.

I’ve seen very successful S&OP users as small as $30 million per year. 

Q: How do you reconcile strategy and tactical / execution in sales and operations planning (S&OP)? Too often there is an executive S&OP champion but no feed on input or linkage to execution on output?

A: To be successful, Executive S&OP must be tightly linked to the detailed planning processes: primarily the master schedule. That it turn drives requirements to MRP and kanban.

In companies using Lean Manufacturing, the output from S&OP enters directly into the calculations for Takt Time, EPEI, etc.

Q: Have companies been trying to embed inventory optimization (finished goods and components) in the S&OP process?

A: Yes, they certainly have. Your can learn about one such company—BASF—by viewing the webinar I did for Steelwedge in November of last year. 

If you attended this webinar but we didn’t get to your question here, let us know in the comments.

[Ed. Note: As part of an occasional series, we invite industry experts and webinar hosts to discuss questions from our readers. You can search for these using the  Agility Webinar Q&A tag. In this post, recent webinar hosts Chris Turner and Ed Lewis provide their thoughts]

Chris Turner on revising your strategic plan
I think it is important to consider not only the frequency of strategic planning, but also the approach to development, deployment and delivery of that strategy.

A  volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous (VUCA) environment renders predictions obsolete sooner, unexpectedly challenges long-held and implicit assumptions, and generally shortens strategy lifecycles. The external world does not change neatly in-line with our arbitrary calendars and the separation between ‘strategy development’ and ‘strategy execution’ has always created an unhealthy disconnect. Continue reading →