A CFO I worked for once famously said; ‘give me the golden nugget, don’t give me all the dirt’. What he meant is that although he knew the finance communicate navigates its way every month through a lot of data, he was only interested in key insights. Presented in an understandable way, without too many numbers please. Makes sense doesn’t it? Well not when we … Continue reading How to find gold in Big Data
My last blog I wrote on the 5th phase of S&OP. That 5th phase refers to behavioural capability that is required to take S&OP beyond the process, systems, reporting and KPI’s S&OP practitioners usually talk about. I called that phase emotionally competent as that felt just about the right description for knowing yourself, your behaviours, controlling your behaviours and adapting your behaviours to different circumstances … Continue reading A perspective on collaboration and IBP
This blog follows on an interesting discussion I had in the Tom Wallace S&OP group on LinkedIn. The discussion started because I didn’t necessarily agree with Tom’s statement: Successful S&OP = better teamwork To me it feels this formula makes some short cuts and the big assumption that better teamwork just appears because of S&OP. S&OP will definitely provide an opportunity for teams to work … Continue reading The 5th phase of S&OP maturity
In January 2014 it was 5 years ago that I arrived in Australia from the Netherlands. As I did several times before, I quit my job, moved country and started a new job. An approach that is not always helpful if you want to climb the corporate ladder, but it is great for getting new ideas and new life experiences that feeds curiosity and the … Continue reading A journey of 30 blogs on S&OP
I’ve seen it before and I’ll probably see it again, but it still takes me by surprise every time. In the last 6 months I’ve observed two 2 billion $ well-respected FMCG companies with some very well-known world brands make the same mistake with IBP. First they build up the burning platform for IBP. Their customer service levels are not up to scratch, waste levels … Continue reading It’s a complex business process, STUPID!
The following is some more detail behind the attached presentation I gave at an Australian planning & forecasting conference. YOu can find the presentation here: 2013 The role of DR in IBP October 1st v2 The changing role of planning The key message in my presentation was that Planning & Forecasting is not only about numbers anymore. Forecasting must mature beyond numbers, systems and spreadsheets only. … Continue reading The changing role of planning
Collaboration is widely accepted to add value to a business network. Yet few companies will say they have truly a collaborative culture. The supply chain function and S&OP process can be catalysts to drive a collaborative company culture. For this to happen, the traditional left brain thinking supply chain organization has to start activating and using right brain skills and S&OP needs to start leading … Continue reading The right brain and S&OP: cornerstones to a collaborative culture
In the S&OP pulse checks I conducted in 2010, 2011 and 2012 ‘the organizational silos’ were chosen as a top 3 roadblock in implementing S&OP for 3 consecutive years. ‘Senior leadership support’ was the number one roadblock in all three years. We do indeed feel more comfortable in our own silo and vertical reporting line. It seems that’s just how we are. Working horizontally across … Continue reading Have you crossed an S&OP silo lately?
IBP suffers a deadlock in maturity. Independent companies and maturity measurement all point in the same direction. Find below some evidence that IBP gets stuck in early stages. Gartner found in 2010 that 67% of companies can’t get further then step two from their four step maturity model. An Oliver Wight white paper on the transition from S&OP to IBP tells us that most companies … Continue reading The lack of system thinking in IBP
This is a follow-up on my blog on the right brain chasm, which had a lot of traffic. Well, at least for my blog it had! I was also encouraged by an S&OP practitioner who told me that he was inspired by my lecture on this topic during a conference. I think I have to set something straight. Some of the comments on my blog … Continue reading Why S&OP needs the right brain
Supply Chain Trend 