S&OP continues to gain visibility among global manufacturing companies as a key process to drive improvements in revenue, profitability, customer service and competitive advantage. Unfortunately, many companies are confused about what it is and where it fits. Executive S&OP is focused on the medium to long term planning horizon based on product family volume versus SKU level unit mix. Engaging executive management in a monthly review for a 1-2 hour meeting requires a more aggregate level of planning to drive strategic level decisions around balancing supply and demand.
The types of decisions addressed in Executive S&OP are as follows:
– How much to increase or decrease plant capacity Should we add or delete operational shifts?
– Do we need to pursue alternative global sources of capacity?
– Does our pre-build inventory strategy support our needs looking out 3 quarters?
– What is the best timing for a major new product introduction?
– How does reducing our capacity by 25% impact Revenue and Margin?
Is it practical for executives to log onto an SAP or Oracle ERP, CRM, Demand Planning, Supply Chain Planning, or Business Intelligence application to get answers to the above questions? Do these applications provide the appropriate level of detail in one solution to support strategic level decisions?
Most enterprises do not have a single application with the appropriate level of detail to support Executive S&OP. The primary application used to support the process is desktop Excel, which has many short comings including: manual data consolidation, lack of security, limited version control…
Steelwedge Software (www.steelwedge.com) is purpose-built for Executive S&OP. The application is designed to consolidate data from multiple applications and provide multi-level aggregate views needed for cross functional collaboration and Executive level decisions.
The week’s Blog entry is provided courtesy of Christian Smagg, a respected French SaaS expert. Further commentary by Christian can be found at http://www.saastream.com/my_weblog/ Christian’s experience is very simliar to the Steelwedge experience on a daily basis – demand for SaaS appliciations are rising.
As experienced in previous economic downturns, companies that invest smartly during the bad times, emerge quicker, and better equipped to grow faster after the recession. Thinking creatively about how to do more with less is the key to IT innovation during challenging times and allow companies not only to survive but also to seize the extraordinary opportunities that arise during periods of vast uncertainty. When you think about it, creative application of new technologies during weak economies actually gave rise to huge waves of productivity like Software-as-a-Service, Web 2.0 or social networking.
But fear is driving decisions at many companies these days, causing this unhealthy lock-up of budgets. Current miasma should not slow down or prevent companies from innovating and creating value so as to survive, weather the economic storm or even outperform competition.
Financial crises are often having a huge impact on IT departments, resulting in significant increases in business activity, placing greater burden on IT resources and forcing them to find new ways to boost productivity while slashing expenses. At times like these, it is highly recommended that companies seriously consider leveraging applications delivered via a software-as-a-service (SaaS) model, harnessing the broader value that these solutions can play in not only moving the business forward but moving it beyond the current economic crisis as well.
Indeed, CIOs should take a much closer look at SaaS solutions as a way to avoid significant up-front investments in new software platforms by simply “renting” on-demand applications that would provide added returns where most needed: the top…
The week’s Blog entry is provided courtesy of Christian Smagg, a respected French SaaS expert. Further commentary by Christian can be found at http://www.saastream.com/my_weblog/ Christian’s experience is very simliar to the Steelwedge experience on a daily basis – demand for SaaS appliciations are rising.
As experienced in previous economic downturns, companies that invest smartly during the bad times, emerge quicker, and better equipped to grow faster after the recession. Thinking creatively about how to do more with less is the key to IT innovation during challenging times and allow companies not only to survive but also to seize the extraordinary opportunities that arise during periods of vast uncertainty. When you think about it, creative application of new technologies during weak economies actually gave rise to huge waves of productivity like Software-as-a-Service, Web 2.0 or social networking.
But fear is driving decisions at many companies these days, causing this unhealthy lock-up of budgets. Current miasma should not slow down or prevent companies from innovating and creating value so as to survive, weather the economic storm or even outperform competition.
Financial crises are often having a huge impact on IT departments, resulting in significant increases in business activity, placing greater burden on IT resources and forcing them to find new ways to boost productivity while slashing expenses. At times like these, it is highly recommended that companies seriously consider leveraging applications delivered via a software-as-a-service (SaaS) model, harnessing the broader value that these solutions can play in not only moving the business forward but moving it beyond the current economic crisis as well.
Indeed, CIOs should take a much closer look at SaaS solutions as a way to avoid significant up-front investments in new software platforms by simply “renting” on-demand applications that would provide added returns where most needed: the top…
Now is the time to set high goals – and achieve them! The Japanese phrase “kicking out the ladder” examplifies what is required in these times – climbing to the top and hanging on even after the ladder has been pulled away. The closest equivalent phrases in American culture are “Sink or Swim” and – courtesty of NASA - “ Failure is Not an Option!”
In other words, set high goals and achieve them because there is no choice! It is succeeding when our very survival requires success. Our livelihoods depend on it – even our families depend upon it.
The video below created by Honda Motor’s illustrates this concept and exemplifies the spirit of the Steelwedge sales and operations planning software team.
Kicking Out the Ladder
