Route to Market & Supply Chain Blog

In my blog post Reasons for establishing S&OP in Mobile Telecoms, I recounted a success story of S&OP in a mobile telecoms company. I then went on to discuss the principles of S&OP design in the post Learn the 8 Basic Principles of S&OP in Mobile…

In an earlier blog Reasons for establishing S&OP in Mobile Telecoms, I recounted a success story of S&OP in a mobile telecoms company. Reasons for establishing S&OP in Mobile Telecoms. I continued my dialogue with the Senior Telecoms Executive –…

Impossible, over my dead body, not in a million years - the usual knee-jerk objections to any suggestion of getting too close to a competitive operation. Such comments are usually spouted by Marketing colleagues who are frankly living on agency…

I have two recent stories to tell. Story 1 Recently I was chatting to a Senior Executive in a mobile telecommunications company. We first met about a decade ago when he was the Supply Chain Director for an FMCG multinational in Kenya. The…

I have had several further discussions with our Supply Chain Executive from a recent blog on the subject of supply chain and S&OP compliance and its relationship to supply chain assessment. Let me reiterate the key issue. Many organisations…

Barcelona won the Champions League finally quite easily and to actually hear Sir Alex say something like “they gave us a good hiding” was refreshing. Messi was far from untidy and several Barcelona players looked head and shoulders above their…

Did anyone hear the loud clanging noise on Tuesday around 14.30? The sound was similar to a very large church bell being struck by a huge iron bar and that bar was in the hands of Arnold Schwarzenegger. Arnie was also in a very bad mood! The noise…

My earlier blogs about supply chain and S&OP compliance have prompted a number of further discussions. One particular issue that has emerged is an area of potential confusion. It came to light during a recent discussion with a Supply Chain Executive…

I have had several discussions in response to my last blog on the subject of supply chain and S&OP compliance. A common theme was the practicalities of measuring compliance. So here are 5 steps to make it happen. Supply Chain & S&OP Operating Model.…

The majority of Supply Chain Director-level openings paint a picture of dynamic, forward thinking companies already operating at top performance and requiring you just to “keep the ball moving”. This is not always the case so I wonder how an advert…

Why don’t people just do what they say they will do? This, in a nutshell, was the substance of a discussion I had last week with a senior supply chain executive of a Fortune 500 FMCG multinational. It is also similar to many conversations I have had…

Frankly, if you do not have a sense of humour you will be lost in the Supply Chain. Seldom recognised, under paid, under graded, under stress and most of all, misunderstood. The only real fun is reading the sales force accuracy figures and the…

We have started a debate about S&OP - “What has S&OP ever done for us?”. Our protagonists are REGINALD, the CEO of a multinational FMCG company and JACEK the new Head of Supply Chain Development at the same company. Both do not believe that S&OP is…

Our mailbag is expanding ... Sire To S&OP or not to S&OP: That is the question: Whether ‘tis nobler in the mind to suffer The claims and errors of outrageous sales forecasts Or to make plans against a sea of market uncertainties, And by opposing end…

From Monty Python to S&OP via integrated supply chain planning to forecasting and related issues, and a conclusion shared by our two protagonists that S&OP is not really necessary, we received the following in our mailbag ... Dear Mike, I have been…