S&OP and Stephen Covey: Are you empowered?
It will be difficult to find a manager in any professional organisation in the western world who would dare to claim that employees should not be empowered. Effective managers can get great results...
View ArticleGet more out of your production
Effective production management contributes to achieving the company goals. However, manufacturing companies regularly face challenges such as disappointing customer experiences and excessive costs....
View Article‘Pee contracts’ are not the way to go
‘Pee contract’ (plascontract in Dutch) just missed out on being crowned Dutch ‘Word of the Year’ in 2016. Pee contract. Maybe you heard about it? The Dutch called it a disgrace. There was a written...
View ArticleThe Wheel of Five for Supply Chain Management
Recently, one of my customers stated that ‘the total supply chain inventory says as much about the health of a company as weight says about the health of a person’. If you look at it like that, then my...
View ArticleMindmap for Continuous Supply Chain Learning
Driven by big and global developments and specifically in supply chain management, continuous learning should be seen as a continuous process. Since each individual and organisation is unique,...
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Service is a choice
In an edition of the Dutch newspaper Het Parool dated 17 February 1967 I came across a full-page advertisement in which the high-end Amsterdam department store De Bijenkorf proudly announced its 26 (!)...
View ArticleMachine builders become reliable, fast and efficient
Machine manufacturers suffering from high costs and long unreliable lead times can make huge gains in terms of competitive edge if they manage to resolve the so-called ‘service paradox’: from...
View ArticleMRP does more harm than good
After years of oscillating between shortfalls and surpluses and the necessary chaos and frustration that entailed, calm has recently returned for one of my clients and his supplier. How come? They...
View ArticleHow action ready are the people in your S&OP process?
Last week I found myself in a roomful of supply chain professionals where, as Involvation, we’d been invited to chair a discussion on ‘S&OP: achieving and maintaining S&OP effectiveness… and...
View ArticleMind map for S&OP and IBP
Increased demand volatility is one of the main reasons why many companies are busy implementing Sales & Operations Planning (S&OP). They are trying to go further than simply balancing expected...
View ArticleChecklist Integrated Business Planning
If you have completed the first few phases of Sales & Operations Planning (S&OP) and are now ready to take things to the next level, it is time to take a closer look at Integrated Business...
View ArticleThe path to Integrated Business Planning (IBP)
Many organizations have a basic S&OP process in place and now want to take the next step to integrated business planning (IBP) in order to maximize the benefits of the process. Supply Chain Media...
View ArticleAn S&OP and IBP travel guide
The topic of sales & operations planning (S&OP) continues to receive plenty of attention from supply chain professionals. As far back as 2010, I reported on it as a ‘hot topic’ and noted that...
View ArticleTaming the bullwhip effect
The bullwhip effect is not only one of the best-known supply chain phenomena, but also one of the most damaging. By increasing the upstream variation and uncertainty, it pushes chain partners...
View ArticleReliable forecasting is a piece of cake
In our attempts to anticipate future changes in demand, we often depend on forecasts. Unfortunately, however, they are rarely reliable in practice – with all the implications that brings. The ‘good...
View ArticleDemand-driven theme parks
Sometimes you hear about new ideas that are so logical that you ask yourself, ‘Why didn’t I think of that?’ Recently I heard about a new app that enables you to pay for your visit to a theme park based...
View ArticleHow thinking fast and slow can help you when choosing S&OP/IBP software
There is much to do about S&OP/IBP software lately. Last month Involvation had the pleasure of presenting the executive programme on ‘From S&OP to IBP’ at the Rotterdam School of Management...
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