We’ve recently announced the release of a ground-breaking solution for improving the speed, flexibility and ease of implementing and adopting the Steelwedge Cloud-based S&OP solution.
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.
Photo: Comparison of the ship sailed by Christopher Columbus with the giant ships sailed by Zheng He in 1405 (source:Wkikipedia)
The world of global sourcing, manufacturing and distribution is rapidly turning upside down. Just a short time ago many pundits relegated India as a place filled with IT genius and broken infrastructure totally inhospitable to manufacturing. After all, China was the place for manufacturing. However, with each passing day history is moving in full circle.
It was very precisely 606 years ago that Zheng He, representing the Ming Dynasty, made his first trading voyage from China to India. He visited Calcutta, Cuchin, Sri Lanka and other well know places during his journey, traveling in a fleet of ships in 1405 that dwarfed in both size and number the ships that Christopher Columbus later sailed in 1492. With these enormous ships Zheng He established a brisk trade between India and China in a twenty-five year period. At the time it was the world’s largest sea trade.
European ships would not surpass these enormous Chinese vessels in size, sophistication or capacity for another 400 years. Zheng He also managed to clear the seas extending all the way to the Horn of Africa and Somalia of pirates that had long plagued traders.
Today, analysts predict that the volume of trade in manufactured goods between China and India will surpass that of any other global trade route by the year 2020. And just a few months ago China surpassed every other country in the world other than the United States in terms of economic output. Anyone intrigued by the world of maritime shipping is aware that the biggest “post-panamax” ships were recently built by Chinese shipyards and are now operated by Chinese shipping concerns. Those in involved in…
I’ll be participating in my first Twitter chat tomorrow – I hope you’ll join me! The topic is The Continuing Emergence of Sales and Operations Planning. We’ll be live on Tuesday April 26 at 1pm Pacific time / 4pm Eastern time.
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!
Does this sound familiar?
The Sales VP is agitated…very agitated. “Don’t tell me what you CANNOT do, I made the sale, now you fill the orders!!!” The Operations VP responds in kind, “Your forecast was not even close to what you just booked. We cannot increase supply that fast!”
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Where do they fit in an S&OP cycle?
Sales and Operations Planning serves as a critical process to project, balance and manage the integration of supply and demand. The process starts with the demand signal. The Sales organization collects bottom-up forecasts from the distributed sales force. Sales management provides a top-down review injecting market and product insights. At this point, no supply constraints have been levied to temper the forecast. Thus, we refer to this as an unconstrained demand forecast.
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The S&OP cycle continues with demand and supply reviews. The intent of these cycle steps is to validate assumptions, check reasonableness and align resource plans needed to support planned demand. Although planning horizons vary from one business to the next, in general, manufacturers must commit in advance to facilities, material purchases and even labor. These supply side plans will limit the ability of the organization to significantly exceed its projected business level. Limitations tend to be tighter in the near term with greater flexibility in the medium to long term.
Through the S&OP process, the organization sets a projected business level that balances expected sales and production capabilities with financial and inventory implications. The constrained demand plan reflects a demand plan aligned with the supply plan.
Do we need both?
Many companies find it useful to distinguish and track the gap between unconstrained and constrained demand plans. An increasing gap may indicate lost opportunity to realize sales that exceed current capacity. Companies should scrutinize unconstrained demand…
