Route to Market & Supply Chain Blog

I have been thinking about Africa this year & its particular needs regarding supply chain. We have been working there since 1993 & it came back into consciousness during the World Cup. Many African countries are growing rapidly. However, I have been…

What a week it’s been. Plenty of S&OP tracks moving up the charts this week and some old favourites still hanging on – but only just. At number 10 it’s We Don’t Talk Anymore from Cliff Richard – A sign you need an S&OP process. When did you last…

Research and experience has shown that where companies view Sales & Operational Planning (S&OP) as a supply chain process and planning system it invariably fails to deliver the expected results and benefits. Conversely where S&OP is seen as the…

Before you ask, no there is nothing wrong with Pennsylvania. I found it to be a great place with the most helpful tourist office I have ever visited. Bear with me and I will get back to this later and also introduce Polly. “We have always done it…

"Yes, I know what you said you could sell but this is my target!" An all too familiar "demand discussion" between Producer Sales Rep and Distributor Manager. The Producer may operate a tight S&OP process but this commonly falls flat on its face with…

Reading through commentary and professional opinion on the subject of S&OP, best practice processes, its alignment to ERP etc, it’s pretty clear that raving about the importance of embedding S&OP will always grab popular support and light applause.…

Sales & Operational Planning (S&OP) has been used by companies now for many years as the planning process that provides “one set of numbers” for the organisation on which to base its business planning. In many countries and cultures S&OP in its…

The CEO listened while the Commercial Director & Supply Chain Director tried to reach an agreement during the monthly S&OP meeting. Not only was he disappointed to hear a version of the same arguments from previous months (“we are short of stock…

I had planned to write something about the importance of teamwork & S&OP & then try & link it to sailing – this would be an easy association. And then a real live incident made the story for me. We finally set sail again – break in the weather - &…

After the grand total of 1 days sailing during the first week – the Mistral is back again & we are port bound - moral is flagging. ‘Customer service levels’ are dropping. This mind is wandering. Time for some nautical S&OP stuff again. Let’s…

No, of course it’s not true but I bet it grabbed your attention! If there is a more put down, criticised and unrecognised function in any FMCG/Pharma company then I would like to hear about it. Supply Chain is routinely the brunt of complaints from…

We finally got going (sailing that is) yesterday when the wind dropped to a breezy Force 4 on the beam (that’s from the side) - wonderful sailing weather. And it was marvellous – whizzing along at 7-8 knots. Mind wandering territory again ...…

This is a debate that I am starting to loose, I’ll stick with it though at least until such time as IT systems develop intelligence and personality. The theoretical debate on the role of IT in S&OP will of course run for a long time, hence this…

It’s amazing how the mind wanders when one is stuck. In my case I have just started a sailing holiday with family in tow. Here we are in the South of France west of Marseille, boat at the ready & raring to go. Problem – there is a Mistral blowing.…

This week’s success factors cover the areas of organisation and people when developing S&OP. Some time ago the president of a major CEE trading group summarised the outcomes of a business wide S&OP implementation in three words “we are…