Category

Structure

S&OPOperationsStructure

The S&OP Merry-Go-Round

“Demand and supply are happening at the same time, don’t separate them integrate them”. The notion that ‘demand’ occurs and ‘supply’ responds is a fallacy, in fact, the two are symbiotic whereby one is as dependent upon the other as much as the other on the one. These two entities have a mutually beneficial relationship that should, must, be leveraged however there’s one significant issue; they speak different languages. When I say ‘different languages’ I don’t mean variants of the Germanic language, I mean one speaks Klingon and the other Dothraki. Although by no means an expert linguist I can’t…
Kim Britton
October 6, 2020
Structure

Value

I call it the relentless search for value realization. No sooner has the enterprise decided IBP is necessary as the question of ‘where’s the value’ starts. You’ve been given a month following your appointment, why is IBP not deployed, fully functional, and delivering the proclaimed value? The simple answer is that the first six months is spent uncovering rocks that have laid dormant for many years. It’s akin to an architect survey the land on which to build; to a large extent, the final structure depends both on the plot upon which it is to be built and the skills…
Kim Britton
September 24, 2020
Integrated Business PlanningStructure

The Importance of Strategy for IBP

Integrated business planning designs a business structure that facilitates alignment across the organization with transparency to performance issues, that enables the business to focus on the critical decisions in order to achieve business long-term ambitions. Although many leaders in an organization are eager to realize the potential benefits that are derived from a fully operational IBP process, many are not cognizant of the significant change such an implementation will need to endure.  It is common that deployments of IBP began within the supply chain organization by enabling alignment between supply and demand, however, it quickly becomes exhausted by foundational capability…
Debbie Evans
September 21, 2020
Business ImplementationStructure

A Reflection on Implementing IBP

My journey with IBP began on Halloween in 2013.  A day to remember as that was the day of the first MBR workshop with the leadership team and it was a day full of challenges, contention, and even hope.    Oliver Wight consultants did their best to keep this group together while being challenged from every imaginable angle but never faltering from the barrage of questions thrown at them like cannons in a war zone.  With much of the tension centered around trust, alignment, behaviors that would need to change for a fully functioning IBP process, and after much deliberation…
Debbie Evans
September 21, 2020