From my previous blog post, it’s clear that the road to achieving sales and operations planning (S&OP) excellence is not an easy one.

But having the right solution to drive performance, beat the competition and maximize profits is a step in the right direction. Read on to learn how to transform your S&OP workflow, boost your scenario planning capabilities and get the most out of your S&OP process.

Never be late again

Imagine this: Just before the S&OP meeting, you realize that someone forgot to include his data. Has this happened more than once?

The reality is that S&OP is a process that concerns nearly every function in the organization. Different departments have different areas of focus and input – for example, marketing may consider the impact of market share, new products, green initiatives and advertising spend while sales is focused on key accounts, order books and revenue plans. Inaccurate or incomplete data from just one department can lead to low-quality plans that are of little practical use.

You need to have the right statistics and figures at your fingertips — not across 10 spreadsheets and three systems. This is where your S&OP workflow comes in. Watch the video below to see how to address your biggest S&OP workflow challenges.

It’s critical to have a flexible solution like DELMIA Quintiq that can adapt to your company’s unique processes. The best part about having a solution that’s adaptable? Whenever there’s a change of process, the DELMIA Quintiq solution will grow with you through different maturity stages.

Multiple scenarios, one profitable decision

Take this example: A company decides to go ahead with the manufacturing of a new product based on sufficient plant capacity and favorable sales forecast. However, what the company fails to foresee is the negative impact it will have on transportation capacity.

Without the ability to perform a thorough what-if analysis, you are unable to assess the full impact of a decision on the entire supply chain. And there are more what-ifs to be analyzed:

• What if demand for your product is under forecasted?
• Would adding a new machine reduce costs in the long run?
• How will the plan affect your KPIs?

In order to remain relevant in the market, you need to analyze all possible outcomes before finalizing a decision, because one wrong move could spell disaster – a major disruption to the flow of operations or a significant dent in the bottom line.

Enter scenario planning: It’s every forward-thinking company’s answer to closing the gap in its S&OP process. It’s also the edge you need to overtake competitors in the market. Watch the video below to learn how to transform your scenario planning in three ways — without spreadsheets!

With the DELMIA Quintiq solution for scenario planning, a forecast is no longer a single number but a bandwidth of possibilities. The solution enables planners to work with different scopes and different levels of detail, for different purposes. It allows flexible, end-to-end modeling of your supply chain including production, sourcing and transportation.

Let’s say you want to create a scenario in which demand from all your US customers increases by 10%. DELMIA Quintiq gives you the flexibility to create alternative sets of data quickly and easily. The solution allows you to edit numerous data elements in one quick action – instead of one by one.

ROI of an optimal S&OP process

With an optimal S&OP process powered by DELMIA Quintiq S&OP, the results are clear: Companies typically see a significant reduction in costs and an increase in sales. They also experience lower safety stock and inventory levels. All of which helps to boost the bottom line by an average of 3%, in as little as six months from going live.

But don’t take our word for it — listen to our customers like Novelis.

Aluminum giant Novelis wanted to enter the automotive market and needed to determine if its plant in Oswego, United States would be able to support this massive initiative. The wrong decision would cost Novelis tens of millions of dollars.

It was crucial for Novelis to make the best decision possible. The company turned to the DELMIA Quintiq solution, which allowed Novelis to load its data into the system and analyze scenarios with different models of CASH lines and different volumes of automotive production. With DELMIA Quintiq S&OP, Novelis was able to assess all impact on its standard business before confidently proceeding with the CASH lines purchase.

The short clip below captures the ROI of an optimal S&OP process — powered by the DELMIA Quintiq S&OP solution.

With the DELMIA Quintiq S&OP solution to drive performance, beat the competition and maximize profits, you’ll be on your way to achieving S&OP excellence in no time. Be inspired to transform your S&OP right away — contact us today.