Sales and Operations Planning

This step in the learning path is available as content within the Retail and Consumer Goods Wiki and EPSS.  Sales and operations planning (S&OP) is a critical process in running a consumer goods manufacturing company.

Essentially, it addresses the issue of how to plan production recognising all the complex inputs to the process.  For example, sales performance is important, but more important is to use the sales history to create a demand forecast and then decide how much of the demand it is important to satisfy. It may be too expensive to attempt to satisfy all of it.

Consumer goods companies spend a lot of money on marketing and trade promotions.  These inputs frequently create spikes in demand and you have to decide whether to gear up for the spike, or spread production over a longer time period.  Which is more economic?

This page looks at the challenge of S&OP in detail.

If you are already a WIKI/EPSS subscriber, you will have access to the entire WIKI and so can easily locate this content here.

The WIKI/EPSS subscription is included free of charge if you buy the Performance Enhancer version of any class, alternately you can purchase it seperately using the link below.