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New S&OP book by Tom Wallace

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By Topics | Advanced Analytics

Two weeks ago I had the pleasure of reading Tom Wallace's new book, Sales & Operations Planning: Beyond the Basics.  This is not an introductory "how to" book -- Tom and Bob Stahl have already written those -- but instead covers nine major companies that have implemented (and extended!) S&OP in creative ways.  The case studies (and the way each company used S&OP) are for:

  • Applied Materials (demand planning)
  • BASF (strategy enhancement, global S&OP, supply planning)
  • Cisco Systems (strategy enhancement, demand planning)
  • Dow Chemical (strategy enhancement)
  • Jarden Corp (risk management, supply planning, new product launch)
  • Newell Rubbermaid (new product launch, FVA analysis)
  • Proctor & Gamble (financial planning, process metrics, global S&OP)
  • Staples (non-standard applications)
  • V&M Star (financial planning)

As Tom states, the book is "intended to present advanced practices, in use today, that build on the basic S&OP processes of demand/supply balance and operational/financial integration."  S&OP isn't just for manufacturers anymore.  For anyone doing S&OP now, or considering it for the future, the book can provide new ideas for generating even more value from the process.

For additional ideas, see the white paper "Enhancing Sales & Operations Planning with Forecasting Analytics and Business Intelligence" by my colleague Jack Hymanson.

 

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About Author

Mike Gilliland

Product Marketing Manager

Michael Gilliland is a longtime business forecasting practitioner and formerly a Product Marketing Manager for SAS Forecasting. He is on the Board of Directors of the International Institute of Forecasters, and is Associate Editor of their practitioner journal Foresight: The International Journal of Applied Forecasting. Mike is author of The Business Forecasting Deal (Wiley, 2010) and former editor of the free e-book Forecasting with SAS: Special Collection (SAS Press, 2020). He is principal editor of Business Forecasting: Practical Problems and Solutions (Wiley, 2015) and Business Forecasting: The Emerging Role of Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning (Wiley, 2021). In 2017 Mike received the Institute of Business Forecasting's Lifetime Achievement Award. In 2021 his paper "FVA: A Reality Check on Forecasting Practices" was inducted into the Foresight Hall of Fame. Mike initiated The Business Forecasting Deal blog in 2009 to help expose the seamy underbelly of forecasting practice, and to provide practical solutions to its most vexing problems.

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