OVERVIEW

The sales and operations planning (S&OP) process is one of the most talked about and appreciated process topics in business today. The interesting aspect about this is that it is not a new process. In fact, some might agree that it is an old process. There is just a lot of new interest in it, and for good reason it pays off. Tim Frank, CEO of the Grafco PET packaging company, a well-managed blow-molding business headquartered in Baltimore, has become so convinced of this that his company is working with its customers to coach improvements in their S&OP processes. The company actually has high-level managers who regularly attend customer S&OP processes just to help with improving the mechanics. Many organizations are working with their suppliers in this same mode, which is more common.

Virtually all high-performance organizations do some form of an S&OP process regularly. In these organizations, the S&OP is a monthly top-management planning review meeting where metrics and performance are assessed and adjustments are made based on recommendations from data collection and analysis done in preparation for this review. The key to success is preparation and good data mining in advance of the decision process. This activity is followed by an analysis of the "30 60 90"-day time frames going forward. Beyond ninety days, only the exceptions are reviewed through the rest of the twelve-month rolling horizon. A complete list of agenda components within the S&OP follows.

1. Review of last thirty days The accuracy metrics by product...