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 of your questions with an interactive Q&A session with Nari and Tom. Find out the process, organization and cultural challenges for achieving Best-in-Class Executive S&OP. Feel free to click here to send your questions in advance.

The Steelwedge S&OP Service Delivery Platform dramatically enhances the ability of our clients, partners and users to rapidly configure, integrate, implement and train users on a process-driven collaborative Steelwedge S&OP solution.

S&OP has quickly become a management necessity for companies operating complex, global supply chains in today’s climate of uncertainty and risk.  Executives facing pressure to manage volatility and risk have embraced Steelwedge to align demand and supply decisions with revenue, margin and customer service goals.  Companies that have rolled-out best-in-class S&OP practices have realized big gains, including a year-over-year gross profit margin increase of 48 percent, according to a recent study published by Aberdeen Group.

“In today’s volatile world, companies need to rapidly respond to changes in supply and demand as never before.  The Steelwedge S&OP Service Delivery Platform is truly a breakthrough for companies desiring to rapidly implement and adopt a flexible S&OP solution that drives corporate agility.” explained Glen Margolis, CEO of Steelwedge. “This new technology platform enables companies to quickly and cost effectively adopt globally collaborative S&OP processes.”

To learn more about our cool new technology, visit our web site.

I’m going to be the guest for #SCMchat, hosted by Jeff Ashcroft  aka @SupplyChainNtwk. Here’s what Jeff has to say about it:

#SCMchat allows us to get to know SCM greats better & also get together to discuss cool SupplyChain and Logistics topics.

To chat, simply use the hashtag #SCMchat to be included in #SCMchat transcript. If you aren’t on Twitter, you can follow along using your browser to just listen! http://bit.ly/fJqqdf

Participants will have a chance to ask questions. The challenge will be keeping answers to 140 characters!

Do companies need to substantiate and quantify critical risk scenarios as part of their planning process?

Financial analysts evaluate return and earnings potential on a risk-adjusted basis. In other words, analysts incorporate an understanding of the volatility associated with returns when evaluating the underlying value of a business.

Today the only certainty is uncertainty.  How can one plan in a world seemingly dominated by unanticipated terrorist events, political upheaval in and around oil producing nations, natural disasters striking presumably well prepared, developed economies wreaking global havoc, and energy production disasters of all sorts?

What does this mean for planners? Validated and informed risk management and risk-based decision making is more important than ever.  Quantitative support and innovative solutions can help measure and estimate impacts; facilitate key business, financial and operational scenario management, and reduce the uncertainty attached to strategic growth, budgeting, change, and macroeconomic volatility.  In this environment sales and operations planning must truly be transformed into some sort of risk-adjusted integrated business planning scenarios (IBP).

What Will You Say When Shareholders Ask: “What Happened?”

Accurate quantification and assessment of risk is paramount to an organization’s success.  Executives need to ensure that their organizations are undertaking an efficient and effective process of quantifying risk.

Are key decisions made in the context of risk-adjusted scenarios?  Should we be doing some sort of actuarial analysis?

Is there an understanding of the full range of financial outcomes associated with a particular S&OP scenario?

Can we able to back up our scenarios with substantiated, sound, risk analysis?

Do we know how much risk and/or volatility can be sustained?

Does our organization have the right tools to navigate inevitable “Black Swan” events that will disrupt the best laid S&OP scenarios?

Are we confident that we have posted liabilities to match the risks our organization faces?

Who’s looking out for you?   In the coming months, we will explore this further.

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.

Unexpected events can have a profound impact supply chains.  Take the BP gulf oil spill.  Nobody could have predicted this event, the length of time needed to stop the flow of oil or the impact on surrounding communities.  A disaster which continues to impact many thousands of lives.

A major US industrial goods company supplies a wide variety of products to meet numerous industrial needs.  I spoke with an executive at the company about the oil spill.  He said, “We supply hundreds of cleaning products.  None exemplifies the supply chain challenge more than chicken boots.”  “Chicken boots?”, I asked.  He replied, “chicken boots are the name we use to describe knee-high, yellow rubber boots.  For the gulf oil spill, the clean-up workers are provided chicken boots and rags.  They mop up the oil and at the end of the day, dispose of the chicken boots.  The next day, they do it again with new chicken boots.”  The demand for chicken boots went stratospheric. 

The immediate challenge was to make more boots.  Many more boots.  Overtime, raw material expedites, whatever necessary.  But one must ask, is that all we can do?  Are we relegated to simply reacting to life’s unexpected challenges?

Forecasters address such challenges by looking at many variables to make the most accurate future predictions.  Did they predict the need for chicken boots?  No way.  Missed it by a mile.  Why?  Because there was nothing in the past that would have suggested that an oil spill of this magnitude could persist for such a protracted period.

Is there something else we can do?

 
Sales and Operations Planning affords us an ability to look beyond forecasts.  A well-designed, effective S&OP process enables participants to view scenarios in advance and plot various courses of action.  S&OP creates an efficient collaborative environment for quickly maneuvering to meet changing business needs and opportunities.  Are raw material suppliers up to meeting the added demand?  How much can they expand supply before we need to introduce additional supply sources?  How much manufacturing capacity can we add in the short or long term?  What other resources may be impacted by a sudden demand shift?

Scenario and contingency planning enables a better ability to react quickly.  You never know what global event may impact the demand for your products.  Be prepared.  Do your homework.  Use S&OP to align functional areas, model scenarios and drive strategic decisions.