Sales and Operations Planning
We increase your forecast quality and delivery reliability.
Supply chain management services
Supply chain management services
Optimal alignment of supply chain networks
Improved planning and higher delivery reliability through coordinated sales & operations planning
End-to-end operational planning – sales and operations planning – is necessary to control and target complex supply chain networks.
Against the backdrop of ever-increasing fluctuations in sales and procurement markets, delivery reliability and cost efficiency cannot be maintained without comprehensive planning. We help you to introduce and implement an S&OP concept.
S&OP tools and software
Consulting
Once the S&OP processes have been successfully introduced, the sales data is compared with the production data on a rolling basis. There are various approaches to supporting this process with software. We will be happy to advise you independently on the current solutions on the market.
What are the reasons to get involved with Sales & Operations Planning?
Supply chain excellence encompasses the active development and coordination of stable and agile supply chains along the entire value chain of a product or service.
The aim is to improve the long-term performance of the individual companies and the entire supply chain and to achieve value-added benefits.
Supply chain management has increasingly come into focus due to the tendency to concentrate on core competencies and reduce vertical integration. This has led to an increasing number of supply segments based on division of labor, which have to be coordinated and controlled.
The ifp consulting approach to Sales & Operations Planning (S&OP)
Sales & Operations Planning (S&OP) is a holistic process for cross-departmental and cross-location corporate management. The result is a binding production and delivery plan that is coordinated with all departments. The planning frequency and planning horizon depend on the specifics of the industry. Short product life cycles and highly volatile demand require a tighter S&OP than products with constant consumption. If successfully implemented, the S&OP process also enables effective supply chain management.
S&OP can be pursued across three levels: operational, tactical and strategic. Information, decisions and data are exchanged between these levels.
What is our understanding?
- Conception of an individual S&OP process
- Introduction and piloting, taking into account the procedural and organizational framework conditions
- Digital transformation of S&OP and digital interfaces
- Vendor-independent software selection and implementation
Factors of success
What are the biggest advantages of a functioning S&OP?
- Higher delivery reliability with lower finished stock levels for make-to-stock companies
- Higher delivery reliability with lower backlogs and shorter delivery times for make-to-order companies
- More stable production rates and less overtime, resulting in higher productivity
- Increased visibility of future capacity problems
- Improved cooperation between the responsible departments (Sales, Operations, Controlling, Product Development)
- The regular and joint updating of planning leads to a uniform, improved and more reliable forecast.
Take away
S&OP
S&OP’s digital transformation is critical to targeting and impact. Cross-departmental analysis and digital reporting then lead to a coordinated production and delivery plan.
