You can control your supply chain or your supply chain can control
you. Now, you might be asking yourself, “Christine, what the heck is a supply
chain anyway? Isn’t it just logistics and/or transportation?” NO! “Isn’t
it something relative to manufacturing companies?” Yes, but not
exclusively. “Maybe, it is for big
companies, but mine is just a small, home grown business?” You still have a supply chain. Any company that provides a product or
service has a supply chain. In my humble
opinion, most can benefit from some iteration of Sales and Operations Planning.
Sales and Operations Planning, affectionately referred to as
S&OP, is the monthly business management process that translates, aligns,
and focuses strategic objectives into tactical, executable activities. S&OP ensures that we understand customer
demand and that we can balance that demand with our available capacity. So, whether you are operating a global,
mega-entity like Amazon or Apple, or a small restaurant or retail store,
S&OP can provide value.
My apiration in sharing Berry Global’s S&OP journey at the
2018 IBF/APICS Best of the Best Conference later this week is to inspire others
to leverage this fundamental but powerful tool to drive performance. I am planning to cover the following:
- How S&OP is a key enabler of the Integrated Planning process
- Insights into how standardized and repeatable supply planning processes are a key part of the rigor and methodology to support the executive review
- How to increase supply chain maturity and add integrated, policy governed organizational layers that support streamlined and standardized business process and tools
I am hopeful many of you will join me in discovering how S&OP
supported by best in class people, process and tools, can move the needle and
provide competitive advantage. We have to take control of our supply chain and
S&OP provides the framework.
Join me on Friday, 15-June at 9:45 AM CDT at the IBF/APICS Best of
the Best S&OP Conference in Chicago for “Leveraging S&OP to Build an
End-to-End Supply Chain.” https://ibf.org/events/chicago2018/#schedule
For those that cannot attend the conference, I will post a follow
up along with the presentation materials.
Christine (Reed) Barnhart
