SupplyChainGuru

Getting Sales & Marketing on Board with S&OP Talking recently with my S&OP mentor, Bob Stahl, he mentioned that at a recent conference on forecasting, he heard the keynote speaker say, “…we should spend less time trying to precisely predict the future, and more time preparing for its inevitable variability.” This statement got me to thinking: the reason Executive S&OP has gotten such traction is that it does just that; it provides a tool that allows companies to better see the future with its uncertainty and variability in a way that they can better prepare for it. Executive S&OP not only looks at the demand side of the business but converts that picture into resource needs and financial consequences, without knowing full granular detail for the full horizon. Here are some of the things that make that possible:   Using “Market-Facing” Family definitions enables correlation to extrinsic market indicators resulting in a more reliable

My friend Monty Boyle worked with the SCOR (Supply Chain Operations Reference) working group during its formative years some time ago. Monty recommended a book by one of the other members, Peter Bolstorff. I read the book and made the following summary, posted here for your review.  Does anything resonate with you and your organization? Comments welcome! “Supply Chain Excellence” by Peter  Bolstorff  15 Causes of Supply Chain misalignment 1.     Lack of technology investment plan 2.     Little or no ROI (on technology investment) 3.     Isolated supply chain strategies 4.     Competing supply chain improvements 5.     Faulty S&OP 6.     Failure to Meet financial commitments 7.     Lack of support and specialized expertise 8.     Mismatch between corporate culture and ERP - functional management versus process management 9.      Under-utilization of existing technology 10. Vaguely defined goals - ex. Differentiation through strategy of operati

During a career spanning nearly 40 years, I have worked in--and visited--many machine shops. These ranged from small subcontractors to valve OEM s (Original Equipment Manufacturers) and commercial aircraft manufacturers. Everyone is looking to improve their operations. Those who aren’t are either going out of business or already out of business. The real question is how and where does one start? Follow a simple 3-step process. Step 1: Focus. Trying to fix everything all at once will ensure that there will lots of effort expended with little return in either the short- or medium-term. Start by focusing on known bottlenecks. These are usually best identified via regular walks through the value stream (known as a GEMBA walk) and by simply asking employees about trouble spots. A few machines almost always have piles of work in front of them while the work at other machines ebbs and flows. Step 2: Gather data. This can be done manually in the short-term quite easily. It may invol

Starting Off the New Year By: Stephen Cherlet, CSCTA My colleague, Tom Gottlieb, and I are fortunate in being able to have regular discussions with Sales and Operations Planning (S&OP) luminary Robert (Bob) Stahl. Our discussions are wide-ranging on the topic of S&OP but always interesting and illuminating. We try to extract some of the pearls of wisdom that come out of those discussions, so we can share them across a wide audience. Our format is like a “fireside chat” that can lead in any,  and multiple directions but the basis for our talks is consistently Bob’s book Sales Forecasting--A New Approach , Sales & Operations Planning--The How-To Handbook . The steps and phases outlined in the book are summarized at the end of the article for easy reference. In today’s discussion, the three of us were talking about S&OP implementation. Bob pointed out that the strength of an implementer is not founded on specific knowledge of S&OP but rather on the