Sales & Operations Planning Process

Challenge

Diagnosed, developed and implemented a new Sales & Operations Planning (S&OP) process and tracking tool that rapidly delivered significant performance improvements for this large food manufacturer. Presenting issues were:

• Low product availability (80-90%)
• High inventory levels (7-8 weeks)

These problems were largely due to disconnected planning processes and a lack of performance measurement.

Approach

• Conducted a rapid, fact-based analysis of key performance drivers.
• Designed and launched a cross-functional team S&OP approach, with weekly meetings chaired initially by the business unit’s CEO, emphasizing real-time resolution of issues.
• Implemented cascading weekly, monthly and quarterly reviews.
• Built a simple Excel-based tracking tool to support the new process.

Results

• Dramatic improvements were achieved within seven weeks:
  • Product availability rose from 91% to 99%
  • Inventory dropped from 7.2 to 6.1 weeks of supply.
• Client left with a robust ongoing process and decision-support tool.