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PRODUCT BULLETIN #2 - Jan. 2007
TIME FOR A CHECK UP?
Has it been a while since you've given your planning and forecasting processes a good
"physical exam?" Have you run an EKG on them, taken their blood pressure, maybe even done a stress test? If not, you may be overdue. Of course, a
question you may be asking yourself is: "Okay, but how do we do that?"
Sales & Operations Planning: The
Self-Audit Workbook is a book and CD package that gives you the means to self-assess your basic processes for Executive S&OP, Sales
Forecasting, and Master Scheduling. Please note the words "self-audit" and "self-assess." This means that it's a do-it-your project, not one that
normally requires outside assistance.
We stress this do-it-yourself aspect because it raises positive energy for improvement. An audit by
outsiders often puts a company's people on the defensive, raises negative energy, and thus becomes a blockage to improvement. And, of course,
improvement is what it's all about. |
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Performance metrics can be divided into two groups:
- Resulting Measures are things such as sales, gross profit, customer service levels,
inventory turns, forecast error,
schedule attainment, and the like measure outcomes. They're results oriented.
- Enabling Measures
focus on processes. Good processes make it possible and practical to
hit sales and profit targets, ship on time, turn the inventories
rapidly, and so forth. Without good processes, you will probably not
get the results you're after over the medium and long run.
The Self-Audit Workbook focuses on processes - and their enabling
measures - for Executive S&OP, Sales Forecasting, and
Master Scheduling. It
contains:
1. The checklists themselves, one each for Executive S&OP, Sales Forecasting,
and Master Scheduling. These are series of questions
which focus on process elements, data integrity, techniques, accountabilities, and in some cases, behavior. (View sample
checklist)
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2. Sets of principles that underlie the questions. These enable the
user to
understand the purpose of the questions and their
importance. (View sample
principles)
3. Excel files
for each set of questions, on a CD, which of course can be
projected. This facilitates group evaluation and consensus building,
helps to raise enthusiasm for the improvement tasks ahead, and supports
the management of those tasks by showing assignments and target
completion dates. (View
sample of
Excel files)
In summary, the Self-Audit Workbook can enable you to a) assess your current
processes for balancing demand and supply across your entire supply
chain, b) gain consensus on the most important areas for improvement, and c) manage the improvement tasks
effectively. The objective: to make things
better. In some cases, depending on how far you have to go, much better.
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WHAT'S NEW ON THE WEB SITE?
This is not really a question, but rather a statement of fact. It's similar to "Who's on
first?"
We've added a new section to the site labeled: WHAT'S NEW. Its purpose is to
keep you up to date with what Bob Stahl and
I are up to, pass on some thoughts about new developments in the field, and perhaps ask for your help from time to time.
Our Webmaster recently
suggested that we do a blog. After I regained consciousness, I informed him that I simply don't have enough new stuff to talk about to justify
bothering people several times a week. There's just not that much happening in the field of Sales & Operations Planning compared to, for example, the
political infighting in Washington or the international trade situation.
We'll try not to waste your time with trivia, but rather to pass along
S&OP-related information that may be relevant to you. If you have time, check it out.
Thanks for listening,
Tom
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