Webcast--Save the Date
Three Keys to Successful S&OP
Tuesday, January 23, 2007
10am Pacific, 1pm Eastern
Adam Coonin, Vice President and David Williams, Director
Hitachi Consulting
Watch for an email invitation
Sponsor: Steelwedge Software

7th Annual World Class
Sales Forecasting Management Conference
When: May 15-17, 2007
Where: Knoxville Marriott Hotel

VIEW 2006 CONFERENCE SCHEDULE

Previous Webcast--
Sales Forecasting—
How To Improve Collaboration
Tuesday, July 25, 2006
1pm Eastern, 12noon Central,
10am Pacific
Dr. Tom Mentzer,
Ph.D. Marketing & Logistics
Dr. Mark Moon,
Ph. D, Marketing & Logistics
University of Tennessee
Click here to view recording

Previous Webcast--
Selling Beyond the
Sales Force--
Leveraging Technology
to Improve Sales Effectiveness
Tuesday, July 11, 2006
1pm Eastern, 12noon Central, 10am Pacific
Dr. Jag Sheth, Marketing Professor Emory University
Click here to view recording

Industry Blogs
Here are the Industry Blogs that
we watch, and you might want to:

www.crmblog.org
www.supplychainer.com
www.andyonenterprisesoftware.com
www.siliconvalleywatcher.com
blogs.ittoolbox.com/crm
blogs.ittoolbox.com/supplychain
www.vics.org/blog

Steelwedge Podcasts
•  OEM Forecasting Challenges
•  EPPM
•  S&OP-Challenges
•  S&OP-Design, Process

From the Press
TMC.net
June 2006
Steelwedge Offers Tellabs Sales, CRM Help
By David Sims

BusinessWeek Online
June 2006
The Real Disaster: Inadequate Preparation
By Kevin O'Marah

Chief Supply Chain Officer June2006
S&OP Customers Go Cross-Functional and Show Results
By Jacqueline Emigh

If you have ideas for future articles or how we can improve this newsletter, please send us your feedback

Sales and Operations Planning (S&OP) for OEMs
in a Global, Outsourced Manufacturing Environment

Sales and Operations Planning (S&OP) is designed to bring together key departments (e.g., finance, production, sales, marketing, transportation,    and procurement) to develop a single business plan that allows companies to balance supply and demand, and to better manage corporate performance. While S&OP is an important process for any type of manufacturing organization, companies that have outsourced their manufacturing to strategic partners (Original Equipment Manufacturers or “OEMs”) face unique challenges and require distinct processes.

Moreover, globalization and margin pressures are driving OEM organizations to develop increasingly sophisticated S&OP processes. Consumer products organizations such as Nike and Reebok, which adopted an outsourced approach long ago, and leading high technology manufacturers such as Juniper Networks, Tellabs, and Cisco Systems are being forced to respond to these pressures.

How to Collaborate with your Suppliers to Fundamentally Improve Delivery Performance

Find Out in Five Minutes Using this Supplier Collaboration Checklist

Logistic experts have meanwhile come to realize that manufacturers are only able to reliably supply customers if their suppliers also commit to (and keep) reliable delivery dates. The smoother the communication within the supply chain and the closer the supplier collaboration, the more reliably and quickly customer orders will be fulfilled.

What is Sales and Operations Planning?

Each year, the imbalance between supply and demand costs companies billions of dollars in out-of-stocks, excess inventory and excessive
discounting. Promotions, new product introductions, packaging changes
and changing demand patterns can all wreak havoc on the demand and
supply planning process.

But companies that use Sales and Operations Planning (S&OP) are gaining the visibility and agility to improve product management and promotional planning, minimize unnecessary buildups of inventory and better predict revenue.

Steelwedge welcomes the following new customers