Supply Chain Shaman

APRIL 24, 2025

Today’s planning market is muddy : the methodology is inadequate to compare entities that are not alike. I liken today’s selection process to making a bowl of minestrone soup. Let’s play out the analogy. For 80% of industries, the supply chain metrics represent more than 40% impact on value. The reason?

Gartner 195

Gartner Supply Chain Planning Software Supply Chain Planning Scenario Planning 195

Supply Chain Shaman

FEBRUARY 14, 2022

I wrote my first report on Sales and Operations Planning (S&OP) while sitting on the floor in the Atlanta airport in 2005 when I was an AMR Research analyst. The model in Figure 1 became the foundational model for the Gartner S&OP model. Sales and Operations Maturity Model from 2005-2008. Figures 2 and 3.

S&OP 195

S&OP Supply and Demand Procurement Analytics Manufacturing Procurement 195

Supply Chain Shaman

AUGUST 21, 2016

I will also pen my 95th report for this week’s Supply Chain Insight’s newsletter. The open content research model is working. Figure 1: Driving Open Content Research. In the course of the cycle of building content–research, writing and speaking–I get many questions. How do I get started?”

S&OP 150

S&OP Supply and Demand Supply Chain Planning Software Price Reduction 150

Supply Chain Shaman

JULY 11, 2015

Sales and Operations Planning (S&OP) is over thirty years old. I have been studying it as a researcher for fifteen years. With the rise of the global multi-national, S&OP increased in importance as a way to align and drive organizational balance. Today, companies do not have one S&OP solution.

S&OP 150

S&OP Supply and Demand Supply Chain Planning Software Modeling 150

Supply Chain Shaman

SEPTEMBER 21, 2015

An effective S&OP plan is the goal of many, but there is no clear industry definition of an effectiveness. While there are many maturity models, most are not research based. To better understand the characteristics of an effective S&OP plan, we just completed a study of seventy-three companies.

S&OP 150

S&OP Supply and Demand Supply Chain Planning Software Supply Chain Planning 150

Supply Chain Shaman

OCTOBER 25, 2015

” I think it is the most complete assessment of the S&OP value proposition I have seen in the industry. It is always fun to write great research. Building S&OP maturity takes time, discipline and focus. However, companies that do S&OP well give their planners time to plan.

S&OP 150

S&OP Supply and Demand Supply Chain Planning Software Supply Chain Planning 150

Kinaxis

JULY 14, 2014

by Melissa Clow Just a quick post to share some research courtesy of Lora Cecere of Supply Chain Insights LLC. Supply Chain Metrics That Matter: A Focus on Aerospace and Defense. The research highlights the supply chain challenges for this industry, as well as the critical importance of getting it right. Get the research.

Aerospace 187

Aerospace Metrics Supply Chain Planning S&OP 187

Supply Chain Shaman

JUNE 6, 2013

In research study after study, we see that the greatest challenge to achieving supply chain excellence is the understanding of the supply chain by the leadership team. Closing the gaps happens when there are aligned metrics, clarity of vision and aligned planning processes. Metrics Alignment. They lack cohesion.

Supply Chain Planning Software 330

Supply Chain Planning Software Supply Chain Planning Optimal Sourcing Scenario Planning 330

Supply Chain Shaman

APRIL 14, 2013

I have worked for Gartner Group, AMR Research, Altimeter Group and now my own company, Supply Chain Insights. Here, I would like to share some background information on the Index and how I intend to use it in developing a higher level of research. It will become one of the cornerstones of our research. How was it developed?

Gartner 286

Gartner S&OP Pharmaceutical Supply Chain Planning Software 286

Supply Chain Shaman

JULY 6, 2020

As a result, we shelved Ed’s idea. Testing Ed’s idea was beyond my circle of control. Despite goals to improve agility and resiliency, functional metrics for manufacturing efficiency continually throw the supply chain out of balance. Strength in S&OP. The So What? Organizational Alignment.

Agile and Lean Supply Chain 362

Agile and Lean Supply Chain Supply Chain Design Software Supply Chain Planning Software Supply Chain Strategy 362

Supply Chain Shaman

JUNE 5, 2013

Integration of corporate social responsibility metrics in planning. Sales & Operations Planning (S&OP). There is a lack of clarity on what drives value and metrics are functional. Planning data is often debated and participation in S&OP decisions is often ad hoc. Functional metric orientation.

Supply Chain Planning Software 255

Supply Chain Planning Software Supply Chain Planning Supply and Demand Supply Chain Design Software 255

Kinaxis

JUNE 2, 2017

by Alexa Cheater As Gartner Research Director Matthew Spooner noted in his recent presentation at the Gartner Supply Chain Executive Conference, advanced sales and operations planning (S&OP) is like a hotel. In fact, Spooner says S&OP isn’t a supply chain process at all. What exactly does that mean?

S&OP 113

S&OP Supply and Demand Forecasting Inventory Reduction 113

Supply Chain Shaman

DECEMBER 15, 2022

In my research, I find that the lack of alignment has a direct impact to value (operating margin and market price to book value). To entice you to participate let’s look at the data more closely. These gaps cannot be closed by a simple focus on S&OP or the implementation of a technology. Functional Metrics.

Manufacturing Procurement 397

Manufacturing Procurement Supply Chain Design Software Supply Chain Planning Software Procurement Analytics 397

Supply Chain Shaman

OCTOBER 11, 2023

Let’s explore nine in this blog. Today’s supply chain leaders have a fascination with Artificial Intelligence (AI) but are blind to the advantages and capabilities of Web 2.0 Software built on graph technology can model flow, but the transactional paradigms of historic practices hold development team’s hostage.

Supply Chain Planning Software 417

Supply Chain Planning Software Supply Chain Software Forecasting Software Supply Chain Network Software 417

Supply Chain Shaman

JUNE 24, 2022

As I search for answers, three questions are top of mind in my current research. One of my stark realizations this year is that smaller companies are beating larger and often more established companies on growth metrics, inventory turns, operating margin, and Return on Invested Capital (ROIC). (In Look for the full report next week.).

Supply Chain Planning Software 397

Supply Chain Planning Software Supply Chain Design Software Supply Chain Planning Supply Chain Software 397

Logistics Bureau

JANUARY 21, 2025

Let’s look at some of the best ways to make your supply chain more efficient. Here’s 10 things you should focus on to improve supply chain efficiency and performance: 1. It’s not enough to just categorise by product groups; you’ve got to dig deeper into line item analysis. What is Supply Chain Efficiency?

Supply Chain Design Software 98

Supply Chain Design Software Supply Chain Planning Software Supply Chain Software Supply Chain Design 98

Kinaxis

AUGUST 29, 2014

Supply Chain Insights recently published a Metrics That Matter report covering both the Semiconductor and Hard Disk Drive (HDD) industries. Despite being hit hard by the recent recession, overall the research shows that these two industries have fared well over the last decade and are positioned to continue that success. by CJ Wehlage.

Metrics 171

Metrics Supply Chain Planning Software Manufacturing Procurement Thailand 171

Supply Chain Shaman

JUNE 19, 2013

Today, I spoke at the Chief Supply Chain Officer conference in Chicago at the Eye for Transport event on the results of the research. Companies with strong horizontal processes of revenue management, new product launch, Sales and Operations Planning (S&OP), Supplier Development and Corporate Social Responsibility have higher performance.

Forecasting 320

Forecasting Supply Chain Planning Software Agile and Lean Supply Chain Forecasting Software 320

Supply Chain Shaman

JUNE 29, 2014

They also brought me and my colleagues at AMR Research stuffed Llamas. The advanced Llamasoft user has a model on a computer tablet (Sherpa product) that enables the visualization of S&OP trade-offs within the S&OP meeting. I smiled as I began to present the story of the “Metrics that Matter.”

Supply Chain Design Software 268

Supply Chain Design Software Supply Chain Design Network Design Software Supply Chain Planning Software 268

Supply Chain Trend

NOVEMBER 7, 2016

In the last 30 years S&OP improved performance in many businesses. However, S&OP has not yet substantially delivered on its ultimate promise of enterprise wide resource management, rolling financial forecasting and strategy deployment. Worse, overall S&OP development and progress seems to have stalled.

S&OP 107

S&OP Supply and Demand Supply Chain Design Software Supply Chain Planning Software 107

Logility

AUGUST 3, 2012

In today’s uncertain times, a clear vision and strategy of where you need to be is the key to rally the company and propel your business forward; forward into new markets, new geographies and ahead of your competition. One of the key challenges to a successful global S&OP process is the language barrier. ” *.

S&OP 100

S&OP Inventory Reduction Global Expense Reduction 100

Logility

APRIL 13, 2021

Is it identical to sales and operations Planning (S&OP), an extension of it, or something altogether separate? Call it what you want, IBP is probably best thought of as mature S&OP. Lora Cecere reminds us that IBP is actually the third step of maturity in an S&OP implementation.

Supply Chain Planning Software 240

Supply Chain Planning Software Supply Chain Planning Scenario Planning S&OP 240

Supply Chain Shaman

JULY 12, 2013

In fact, as the research shows, alignment happens through leadership in horizontal processes. 2) Build Strong Horizontal Processes like S&OP. Supply chain centers of excellence help with metrics alignment, and product portfolio alignment, between finance and the supply chain team, and the supply chain team and marketing.

Supply Chain Design Software 322

Supply Chain Design Software Supply Chain Planning Software Modeling Modeling Software 322

Logistics Viewpoints

FEBRUARY 16, 2021

And the linked nature of supply chains mean that collaboration is necessary to ensure that a solution to a problem doesn’t meet the metrics for one link but negatively impact another. In the last year, many companies saw their S&OP cycles shrink from monthly to weekly or even daily cadences. Sightlines for success.

Supply Chain Visibility 329

Supply Chain Visibility Agile and Lean Supply Chain Supply Chain Planning Software Scenario Planning 329

ToolsGroup

JANUARY 9, 2018

A new report from Nucleus Research, Value Drivers of Single Model S&OP , concludes that the historical disconnect between planning and execution in S&OP is best bridged by a single unified data model that allows companies to continuously synchronize their strategic, tactical and execution plans.

Modeling 179

Modeling Scenario Planning Optimization Modeling S&OP 179

Supply Chain Shaman

JULY 22, 2019

In the research, I’m trying to understand the impact of choices—technology, process innovation, and leadership– on balance sheet performance. The research is independent and data-driven. For the past six years, I have analyzed public reporting and triangulated the results to the quantitative research. What have I found?

Supply Chain Design Software 304

Supply Chain Design Software Supply Chain Planning Software Gartner Supply Chain Software 304

Supply Chain Shaman

MARCH 21, 2024

In the research, we find that deploying an outside-in model always beats an inside-out model, reducing process and data latency while improving the organization’s ability to make decisions at the speed of business. The evolution of S&OP to IBP increased process latency in 70% of companies. Lack of aligned metrics.

Inventory Reduction 434

Inventory Reduction Supply Chain Planning Software Cost Reduction Strategies Supply Chain Design Software 434

Kinaxis

SEPTEMBER 8, 2014

While MRP and S&OP were defined as early as the 1980s, these provided rough cut analysis at the aggregate level, nowhere near the level of detail that is possible today. Now they want to deploy an S&OP process. I studied Industrial Engineering and Operations Research focusing on Optimization Theory.

Supply Chain Planning Software 259

Supply Chain Planning Software Supply Chain Design Software Supply Chain Planning Modeling Software 259

Supply Chain Shaman

OCTOBER 17, 2013

Today, I launched the The Supply Chain Shaman’s Journal. In January, 2014 the Shaman’s blog will be four-years old. The inaugural issue focuses on Sales and Operations (S&OP) planning and features 23 select articles on the subject. Each Journal is centered around a theme. Read it, share it and enjoy!

Journal 210

Journal S&OP Supply Chain Design Supply Chain Planning 210

Logistics Viewpoints

DECEMBER 15, 2022

Price index and price elasticity are useful metrics on their own, and a combination of these can help determine the right price point to maximize revenue and profit. Since there are often differences in store sizes, a metric representing the size can be added as well for a two-dimensional clustering approach.

Optimal Sourcing 261

Optimal Sourcing Analysis Procurement Analytics Purchasing Skills 261

Supply Chain Shaman

AUGUST 11, 2014

Over the course of the last two years, we at Supply Chain Insight s have worked on a methodology to gauge supply chain improvement. We have found that supply chain metrics are gnarly and complicated.During In our program, cost avoidance, while desirable, does not count towards the metric. We named it the Supply Chain Index.

Case Study 305

Case Study Optimal Sourcing Supply Chain Planning Software Supply Chain Design Software 305

Supply Chain Shaman

JUNE 21, 2016

Functional silos define today’s supply chain organization. My first job was in manufacturing in the 1980’s. Inside-out processes assume that the order represents demand, and that the supply chain’s role ends with a perfect shipment. The metrics reward functional thinking. The silos compete.

Supply Chain Design Software 218

Supply Chain Design Software Supply Chain Planning Software Network Design Software Modeling 218

Supply Chain Shaman

OCTOBER 8, 2019

Next year’s conference will be on September 8th-11th in Franklin, TN, south of Nashville, TN. Here are nine considerations: #1 S&OP Budget Constraints. Sales and operations planning (S&OP) is a horizontal process to drive organizational plan alignment. The Role of the Budget in S&OP.

Supply Chain Design Software 207

Supply Chain Design Software Inventory Reduction Supply Chain Planning Software Forecasting 207

Kinaxis

MAY 4, 2017

Gartner defines a sales and operations planning (S&OP) System of Differentiation (SOD) as a software solution that supports a Stage 4 or higher maturity S&OP process. According to the report, “Leaders have a strong vision for their S&OP SOD capabilities. 1 Payne, T., May 1, 2017.

Supply Chain Planning Software 130

Supply Chain Planning Software Prescriptive Analytics Software Supply Chain Design Software Analytics Software 130

Supply Chain Shaman

JUNE 16, 2014

The research that I have conducted has enabled me to look at this holistically. When I left AMR Research I invested over 400K in building a database of supply chain financial ratios to correlate supply chain results. After three years of research, I have just refined the methodology to start to pull the trends. I am an old gal.

Supply Chain Design Software 319

Supply Chain Design Software Network Design Software Supply Chain Planning Software Supply Chain Network Software 319

ToolsGroup

NOVEMBER 8, 2016

You’ve likely already recognized the limits of deterministic planning if your company has recently launched (or relaunched) an S&OP initiative, or you’ve started to migrate from traditional platforms like SAP APO to advanced demand analytics tools, or trained your planners on supply chain performance trade-off competencies.

Forecasting 220

Forecasting Forecasting Software Demand Planning Software Modeling 220

The Network Effect

AUGUST 1, 2014

Yet despite these advances it is still difficult to normalize and compare performance metrics given the geo-demographic, product, financial, political, and socio-economic differences they face in each increasingly competitive national, multi-national or global market. Cloud S&OP SCM The Network Effect cloud Collaboration PaaS'

Supply Chain Planning Software 193

Supply Chain Planning Software Supply Chain Network Software Optimal Sourcing Analytics Software 193