Learn more about Tom, books, white papers and other resource material. _______________    EDUCATION BULLETIN #3 Executive S&OP Sessions CHERRY HILL, NJ: June 7 & 8  and  ATLANTA, GA: November 29 & 30 In conjunction with the Institute of Business Forecasting, Bob Stahl and I are presenting a two-day session on Executive S&OP. The two-day format gives us ample time to cover S&OP from soup to nuts, so to speak. We'll be talking about high level issues such as the participants in the Executive meeting, nitty gritty topics such as how to display the S&OP information, and lots of other items in between. You may want to consider attending or sending others from your company if: You're evaluating Executive S&OP but want input on how best to get started. You've been having difficulty "selling" the process to your executives. You feel that your Executive S&OP process is broken and want to know how to fix it. You're aware that S&OP is growing and becoming more powerful, and you feel the need for refresher education. You have some new people on board who need initial education on Executive S&OP. This last point can be of real benefit to companies already operating Executive S&OP successfully. Often new people come into the organization who will be key players in the process, but have no prior knowledge of it. Sometimes they need more than just a brief "walk-through' but rather require an in-depth explanation of the process to fully understand it and thus participate effectively.   For details about the June 7& 8 session in Cherry Hill, NJ - click here For details about the Nov. 29 & 30 session in Atlanta,GA click here     Is that timing is not good for you? Or do you feel the need to educate more people than a handful? Bob and I are available to provide in-company sessions on Executive S&OP. These, of course, are tailored to the individual company's situation and needs, and can be a highly effective way to jump-start an implementation.   For more info, contact me at tom@tfwallace.com or 513-281-0500. Another IBF event that I'll be participating in is their annual Executive Forum, scheduled for Las Vegas, NV for September 11 and 12. We're planning to do a panel discussion, featuring key players from companies that are highly successful with Executive S&OP. In addition to that event, there will be lots of other first-rate material presented by people who are doing it.   For more on this, click here.

Would you like to know if Tom or Bob will be presenting in your area?  Visit our website for an up-to-date list. _________________  Do you have overseas affiliates (sister divisions, contract manufacturers, sales affiliates and the like) who could benefit from S&OP education?   In November, I'm scheduled to be in China - Shanghai and Shenzhen - teaching one-day sessions on Executive S&OP and Building to Customer Demand (Postponement). This will be our first time there, and we're quite interested in learning about this fascinating country first hand.   Come February and March of next year, we plan to return to Australia and New Zealand to teach there. Tentative locations are Melbourne and Sydney in Australia, and Auckland and Christchurch in NZ.   Here also, for more info, contact me at tom@tfwallace.com or 513-281-0500   Thanks for listening,   Tom

Simpler & Better   Someone once said, "Complex things get studied; simple things get done." Things all around us are becoming more complex, and as a result making improvements often rests with our ability to keep things simple. While not everything can be simplified, Lean Manufacturing has certainly moved us to that direction. Progress with Executive S&OP has also moved towards simplicity. Executive S&OP helps us handle complexity through the use of simplifying assumptions: about revenue projections  about capacity consumption  about the relationships of individual products to their families This has enabled us to do medium and long-range planning more effectively and much more easily. Done well, this kind of planning sets the conditions for success in the short term. But don't confuse simple with easy. Doing things more simply is often more difficult because it is not intuitive and it can be very different from our experience. When achieved, however, simpler & better is a winning combination. Keep it simple!

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