As part of our commitment to drive engaging dialogue in the industry around the best and ‘next’ practices, Steelwedge recently teamed up with Sales & Operations Planning expert Tom Wallace to host a webinar. ‘Taking S&OP to the Next Level’ is based on the new book, Sales and Operations Planning: Beyond the Basics. You can watch a recording of the webinar here if you missed the live event. Given that S&OP is a top priority for companies to tackle volatility, the Steelwedge webinar drew a huge attendance and just as many questions! Due to time constraints, our experts couldn’t answer all of them.

In this blog post, Tom Wallace answers some key questions from his perspective.

Q. Is S&OP ideal for large organizations which have their own manufacturing, inventory & products? Is S&OP applicable to a service company?

Yes to both. Some of the most successful users of S&OP are large organizations with manufacturing, inventory and product: BASF, the largest chemical company in the world; Procter & Gamble, the largest consumer packaged goods company; and Staples, a very large on-line retailer. S&OP has been shown to work well in organizations that don’t make physical products as well: banks, central engineering staffs, IT departments and the like.

Q. Should the same forecast drive both manufacturing and profit and loss?

Absolutely. The forecast, once authorized, becomes the one and only one statement of future demand. Only with this can you achieve a “one-number process,” which means running the business internally with one set of numbers.

Q. How do you balance continuous improvement to the S&OP process against over-engineering the process?

Listen to the people actually using the process, including senior management. The best way I know to drive continuous improvement is, at the end of each…

Webinar featuring S&OP Expert Tom Wallace
Wednesday, November 30 at 10:00 a.m. PST

Register for the webinar here!

Just as the Sales and Operations Planning practice has evolved dramatically over the past decade, so have the global market dynamics and complexities. In global business, volatility is the “new normal.” So, how do S&OP leaders adapt to that volatility and still make the best executive-level decisions that balance supply and demand, and integrate operational and financial plans?

This month’s webinar presenter, noted writer and educator Tom Wallace, asked just that question to some of the world’s best practitioners. He has collected their stories of taking planning to the next level –beyond the basics– to deliver Executive S&OP that runs the business with one set of numbers for better agility, performance and profit against a backdrop of global economic, political and environmental turmoil.

‘Taking S&OP to the Next Level’ is scheduled for Wednesday, November 30 at 10:00 a.m PST. Here, Tom will share case studies from experts who’ve used Executive S&OP to:

• support the merger of two businesses into one high-performance business unit
• serve as the basis for earnings calls to Wall Street
• help create a new business
• optimize global production plans and profits and
• make cash flow projections 18 months into the future based on operational demand and supply plans.

Tom will talk more about his belief that Executive S&OP is quite simple in its structure and logic. But in practice, he sees that this often misleads companies into assuming that the process is simple to implement, while nothing could be farther from the truth.

Following Tom’s presentation, Nari Viswanathan, Steelwedge’s Vice President of Product Marketing will use industry examples to outline the additional value of deploying Collaborative S&OP Platform technology.

Finally, get answers to all…

Steelwedge recently hosted a webinar with Nari Viswanathan, Vice President of Solutions Marketing on the topic ‘Seven Keys to Integrated Business Planning Success.’ The webinar held on October 13^th witnessed a huge turnout. There were several questions asked during the session which we would like to summarize and make available for you here:

Q. If Sales is more focused on opportunity conversion, who should build sales forecast and revenue plan? Is that Finance?

A. Sales should definitely focus on building the sales forecast based on opportunity conversion. Finance should focus on building the revenue plan.

In the near-term, Sales should be able to leverage the opportunity pipeline as a somewhat rationalized basis for the sales forecast. Beyond the opportunity pipeline horizon another basis for sales forecast is needed. Depending on accuracy this can take the form of the marketing forecast, the demand plan or in some cases the stat forecast. This also applies to industries that are not opportunity driven. Whatever the basis, it’s important Sales participates in building the sales forecast and has an ownership interest in it. There is no better way to bake the ‘field’ perspective into the forecast.

To reiterate the point expressed in the webinar, S&OP/IBP should really start at the first stage of the order lifecycle. This will bring greater engagement from the sales team.

Q. You mentioned integrating the Third Party Logistics providers into the S&OP process, could you please share with us an example of this and the benefits achieved?

A. An example of this is industries such as apparel which involve a short life cycle in terms of fashion changes or season changes but also involve offshore manufacturing which results in long lead-times. In-transit inventory plays a critical role in these industries because if the demand for products in the short…

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…