Sales & Operations Planning
Operations
Planning
Sales and operations planning (S&OP) is an integrated planning process that aligns demand, supply, and financial planning and is managed as part of a company’s master planning. S&OP is designed and executed to support executive decision making related to approving a feasible and profitable material and financial plan.
The sales and operations plan is part of both strategic and tactical planning. Strategically, insights into how demand may shift in particular geographies or for specific product lines can impact decisions such as increasing (or decreasing) manufacturing capacity, the need to increase (or decrease) the workforce, or determining longer term supplier management. The level of analysis and the trade offs presented allow the executive team to understand the decision criteria and come to a consensus decision on a plan the company should move forward with.
Tactically, the S&OP process creates a production plan, approved by executive management, which is used to create a master schedule and a material requirements plan (MRP).
Key Benefits
Establishes accurate & recurring reporting on key demand & supply inputs to support the decision – making process
Recognises changes in demand or supply which will require management consideration prior to plan approval and transforms large data sets from multiple systems into actionable, decision-support information for reporting
Easily presents the decision criteria in terms of decision impact on KPIs, such as customer service, supply chain costs & revenue
Planning for the introduction of New Products, the end of life of Existing Products, or the incorporation of new (or divestiture of sold products and/or product lines) as a result of a Merger & Acquisition
