S&OP Archives | ToolsGroup

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Sales & Operations Execution (S&OE) vs. S&OP

2 March 2021

S&OP (Sales and Operations Planning) or SIOP (Sales, Inventory and Operations Planning) is a well known supply chain planning process, yet not all supply chains have embraced Sales and Operations Execution (S&OE). As we all know, what you plan for[...]

19 March 2019

How Supply Chain Planning Can Create Profit in a Declining Market

When a business finds itself in a declining market, failing to stay in lock step with customer demand poses an existential threat. Trends and other market forces that impact commercial opportunities need to appear on the planning radar. Therefore, traditional[...]

11 September 2018

Decoding the Language of S&OP

Since demand forecasting has developed many “personalities” over the decades, I recently wrote a blog that “decoded” the language of demand. That got me to thinking about decoding the language of Sales & Operations Planning (S&OP) which, like demand forecasting,[...]

9 January 2018

Analysts Support a Single Model for Sales and Operations Planning

A new report from Nucleus Research, Value Drivers of Single Model S&OP, concludes that the historical disconnect between planning and execution in Sales and Operations Planning (S&OP) is best bridged by a single unified data model that allows companies to[...]

11 July 2017

Avoid “Lost in Translation”. Monetize S&OP to Include Finance.

Finance speaks a different language than supply chain. But by monetizing Sales & Operations Planning (S&OP), supply chain planners can speak the language of finance while developing S&OP into a more mature process. In its report Partner with Finance to Monetize the[...]

27 June 2017

Gartner says “Add S&OP to your Financial Planning”. Here’s Why.

“Based on our research, every organization which aligns top-down financial plans with bottom-up demand plans, as part of their S&OP, sees an improvement in the accuracy and predictability of their financial forecast.” - Matthew Spooner, Research Director at Gartner In Real[...]

10 May 2017

Gartner Releases a New S&OP Magic Quadrant

Gartner Research just released its new Magic Quadrant for Sales & Operations Planning Systems of Differentiation (S&OP SOD). They say that compared to just two years ago “there have been significant shifts in the relative positions of several vendors.” Gartner says that the[...]

22 March 2017

Why S&OP Needs In-Memory Computing

Sales and Operations Planning (S&OP) or Integrated Business Planning (IBP) has a problem, and in-memory computing offers an answer. Gartner says that, “The No.1 challenge among manufacturing companies is connecting S&OP to operational plan/execution.” There is a disconnect between: financial[...]

7 February 2017

A Nobel Prize-Winning Economist’s Four Steps to Minimize Forecast Bias

A problem with Demand Collaboration is that we humans naturally tend to overestimate our own forecasting skills and underestimate or even distrust computer generated statistical forecasts. We ignore the statistical probabilities of outcomes and assign great significance to the few facts we[...]

19 April 2016

Increasing S&OP Clarity by Adjusting “Depth of Field”

In last week’s blog we talked about the fundamental challenge of connecting tactical S&OP down to detailed execution. Here we look in the other direction and examine the challenge of connecting tactical S&OP up to the strategic plan. S&OP creates a common[...]

12 April 2016

What’s Wrong with S&OP?

“The No. 1 challenge among manufacturing companies is connecting sales and operations planning (S&OP) to operational plan/execution.” – Gartner Research1 There are few competencies more core for a company than the ability to coordinate sales with supply chain in order[...]

10 November 2015

Five Types of Inventory Optimization You Should Know

[caption id="attachment_7932" align="aligncenter" width="541"] For inventory optimization, optimizing inventory configuration is often the predominant issue in most manufacturing environments, versus optimizing inventory policy in most distribution environments[/caption] Here are five types of inventory optimization that you should be aware of if you[...]

Demand Sensing reduces demand variability by extracting signals out of noisy demand, provides earlier demand insights, and enables more accurate short-term plans and faster reactions to market changes.

ToolsGroup’s Sales & Operations Planning (S&OP) solution helps companies achieve both higher levels of S&OP maturity and better business outcomes by bridging the gap between strategic planning and operational execution.

Promotions Planning gives cross-functional teams the visibility to synchronize demand shaping campaigns and promotions with supply chain operations ensuring that inventory is in the right place to meet demand on a daily basis, right down to the store level.

Production Planning provides unparalleled visibility, insight and control of the entire production process to improve efficiency and quality control, and service demand.

Inventory Optimization factors in multiple planning variables and probabilities to generate an optimal multi-echelon inventory plan for every item in a portfolio to achieve target service levels.

Allocation and Replenishment automatically calculates optimal inventory levels for both existing and new items to create a time-series plan that achieves target service levels even in the face of demand variability and distribution complexity.

Demand Forecasting and Planning automates the creation of demand plans using machine learning and empowers demand collaboration reducing forecast error and optimally deploying inventory.

Supply Planning provides visibility across vendors and warehouses, simplifies collaboration with suppliers, optimizes the supply network and leverages machine learning to continually improve planning by analyzing a wide range of variables and data across the supply chain.