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WORDS FROM WALLACE - Sept. '06
IS YOUR PRESIDENT IN TUNE WITH S&OP?
Many organizations have tried to implement Executive S&OP but have not been successful. Other
companies haven't even tried. Why is that? Well, let's answer that question with another question: what's the most important element of successful
Executive S&OP?
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Answer: Executive buy-in, support, leadership, and hands-on participation.
And another question: what's usually the toughest thing to acquire for an Executive S&OP implementation?
Answer: Executive buy-in, support, leadership, and hands-on
participation - up to and including the leader of the business:
president, general
manager, COO, managing director, etc.
To those of us who've been active in this field for a long time, this is not news; here's what we've known for years:
1.A high percentage of users are not satisfied with how well Executive S&OP is working.
2.The major cause of this sub-par performance is the lack of hands-on involvement by executives.
Other problems include lack of participation from Sales and Marketing,
difficulties in acquiring the data, and little or no tie in to the
financial
plan. These are serious shortcomings, and they all have one thing in
common:
Fixing
them is far easier if the president is actively engaged in the
Executive S&OP process. When he or she says, "We are definitely
going to make this work very well; failure is not an option," things
have a way of happening; reluctant people get on board and momentum
begins to build.
A principle of
warfare states: "Hold the high ground." In implementing Executive
S&OP, the high
ground is the president's office. Once that person is providing the
necessary leadership, rapid progress can be made and results in a
successful
implementation
This is the first S&OP book written specifically for executives. It's intended to be an
ice
breaker: to introduce the subject to a busy executive so that he or she can become informed about S&OP and the substantial benefits that it can
provide.
Bob Stahl and I wrote this book to be "executive-friendly" and we think we've succeeded. It's an easy read - no jargon, no advanced math, no
arcane Plus it's a quick read - less than 100 pages, excluding appendixes and front matter
Here's what the reader will learn:
- Why Executive S&OP is so popular. (Answer: it provides great benefits.)
- The experiences of successful users of the process. (From real world
companies.)
- How the process works. (To enable better decision-making.)
- Top Management's role. (There's good news here.)
- How to implement it the right way. (Yes, there is a right way and many wrong ways. If
you do it the right way, it will work.)
And much more. Click here to see the Table of Contents.
This book is just off the press. Our hope is that it will prove to be
the launch pad for many successful implementations of Executive
S&OP. This
means that individual businesses - and industry as a whole - will
operate better than before. And that's what it's all about.
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Upcoming Events:
Executive Forum, Tucson, AZ, September 19
"Executive S&OP." A three-hour presentation and panel discussion with executives from
successful
S&OP users .Sponsor: Institute for Business
Forecasting.
Workshop, Orlando, FL
Oct. 26
Executive S&OP: Balancing Demand & Supply
Sponsor: Institute
for Business
Forecasting.
APICS International Conference, Orlando, FL
Oct. 29-30
Visit with Tom & Bob at Booth 724 and Schedule a one-on-one visit with Tom & Bob
Attend Executive S&OP- Making It Work - interactive session with Tom & Bob Monday Oct. 29, 2:15
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