Demand planning determines how much inventory is needed to meet customer demand.Sales & Operations Planning (S&OP) is a crucial process for any organization looking to achieve business success. It involves integrating the company’s sales, marketing, operations, and financial plans to ensure alignment and effective decision-making. S & O Planning enables organizations to balance supply and demand, improve production rates, reduce lead times, and enhance customer service levels.

Are you struggling to keep your business on track toward achieving its goals, strategy, and plans? Do you find it challenging to manage your business functions in a synchronized manner? If yes, then Sales & Operations Planning (S&OP) is the solution you’ve been looking for.

S & O Planning is a decision-making process that involves everyone in your company’s tactical plan to support its goals, strategy, and business plans.

What is S&OP?

S&OP is essential for maintaining balance and alignment across your business functions. It involves routine reviews and conflict resolutions centered on market demands and supply resources. Originally, S&OP was used to identify aggregate planning, but today, it has evolved to simultaneously consider short- and long-term horizons.

Why Implement eS&OP?

The executive component of S&OP is the eS&OP, where top management, middle managers, and specialists meet to balance supply and demand, align operational and financial planning, connect strategic planning with day-to-day sales and operations, and establish policy, strategy, risk, and budget changes via a disciplined discussion.

When it comes to procurement, S & O Planning plays a critical role in ensuring that the right products are available at the right time, in the right quantities, and at the right cost. Procurement teams need to be actively involved in the S&OP process to ensure that demand forecasts are accurate, supply plans are optimized, and inventory levels are balanced. By aligning procurement plans with the overall S&OP process, organizations can ensure that they have the right materials available to meet customer demand while minimizing inventory carrying costs and reducing the risk of stockouts.

The Five-Step Process of eS&OP

eS&OP follows a five-step process consisting of:

1. Data Gathering
2. Demand Planning
3. Supply Planning
4. Pre-Meeting
5. Executive Meeting

Data Gathering

The data-gathering process in the procurement teams’ Sales and Operations Planning (S&OP) is critical in ensuring that the right decisions are made about inventory levels, production schedules, and other key aspects of the supply chain. The data gathered should be accurate, timely, and relevant to the organization’s specific needs.

The process typically involves the following steps:

1. Identify the data needs
2. Collect the data
3. Clean and validate the data
4. Analyze the data

The data-gathering process is an essential part of the S&OP process. By gathering accurate, timely, and relevant data, procurement teams can make better decisions about inventory levels, production schedules, and other key aspects of the supply chain. This can help to improve customer service, reduce costs, and increase profitability.

Demand Planning

Demand planning is the process of forecasting future demand for a product or service. It is an essential part of S&OP, as it helps to ensure that the right amount of inventory is available to meet customer demand.

Demand planning typically involves the following steps:

1. Identify the demand drivers. The first step is to identify the factors that will drive demand for the product or service. These factors may include economic conditions, competitor activity, and customer behavior.
2. Collect historical data. The next step is to collect historical data on demand for the product or service. This data can be used to identify trends and patterns that can be used to forecast future demand.
3. Build a forecasting model. Once historical data has been collected, a forecasting model can be built. There are a number of different forecasting models available, and the best model for a particular situation will depend on the factors that are driving demand.
4. Forecast demand. The forecasting model can then be used to forecast demand for the product or service. The forecast should be updated regularly to reflect changes in the demand drivers.
5. Communicate the forecast. The forecast should be communicated to the appropriate stakeholders, such as sales, marketing, and operations. This will help to ensure that everyone is on the same page and that the right decisions are made about inventory levels, production schedules, and other key aspects of the supply chain.
   Data gathering is an important part of demand planning. The data gathered should be accurate, timely, and relevant to the organization’s specific needs.

Data gathered for demand planning typically includes

• Historical sales data
• Current inventory levels
• Production capacity
• Customer demand forecasts
• Economic data
• Competitor activity
• Customer behavior

By gathering data, we can build forecasting models and forecast future demand. We can then use the forecast to make decisions about inventory levels, production schedules, and other key aspects of the supply chain.

Successfully implementing the eS&OP process leads to better teamwork, greater accountability, more stable production rates, higher customer service, shorter make-to-order product lead times, better insight into existing and probable future resource problems, and a monthly update to the annual business plan.

Data gathering and demand planning are both important inputs to the supply planning process. Data gathering helps to ensure that the demand forecasts are accurate and timely. Demand planning determines how much inventory is needed to meet customer demand.

Supply Planning

Supply planning is the process of determining how much inventory to have on hand to meet customer demand. It is an essential part of S&OP, as it helps to ensure that the right amount of inventory is available to meet customer demand without overstocking or understocking.

Supply planning typically involves the following steps:

1. Review demand forecasts. The demand planning team reviews the demand forecasts. By doing this, we determine how much inventory is needed to meet customer demand.
2. Consider supply constraints. The next step is to consider the supply constraints that may exist. These constraints may include production capacity, lead times, and supplier availability.
3. Set inventory targets. The procurement team sets inventory targets. These targets must be realistic and achievable.
4. Create a supply plan. The final step is to create a supply plan. This plan outlines how to meet the inventory targets.

Executive Meeting

The executive meeting is the final step in the S&OP process. It is a chance for the senior leadership team to review the plans, make decisions, and approve the final plan. The executives typically hold a meeting once a month.

The executive meeting typically includes the following steps:

1. Review the plans – Are the plans realistic? The organization’s goals should align with the plans. Are there any potential risks or challenges associated with the plans?
2. Make decisions.
3. Approve the final plan.

The executive meeting is an important opportunity for the senior leadership team to provide input and direction to the procurement team. By participating in the executive meeting, the senior leadership team can ensure that the S&OP process is aligned with the organization’s goals and that the plans are realistic and achievable.

The Benefits of S&OP

With S & O Planning, you can achieve better production unit and revenue outcomes. The process allows you to manage the time horizon starting at the cumulative material lead time (demand time fence), typically not shorter than 18 months. By implementing S&OP, you’ll experience better teamwork, greater accountability, more stable production rates, and higher customer service levels.

In conclusion, implementing S&OP is crucial to achieving business success. It is a decision-making process that involves everyone in your company’s tactical plan to support its goals, strategy, and business plans. By following the eS&OP five-step process, you can experience better teamwork, greater accountability, and more stable production rates while achieving better revenue outcomes. Don’t wait any longer to implement S&OP and take your business to the next level!