The current state of S&OP

As a prequel to my upcoming post about the future of Sales and Operations Planning (S&OP) I thought it would be good to at least once discuss S&OP as it stands today. Rather than re-invent the wheel on this much discussed domain I’ll refer to one of the acclaimed experts on S&OP, Tom Wallace.

Sales and Operations Planning has become somewhat of a confusing term. The domain has existed and evolved for decades. In the process it has changed considerably and of late has been hyped a lot. Nowadays when people talk about S&OP nobody really knows what form of it one means. In my opinion Tom Wallace explains it best in his book Sales & Operations Planning - The How-To Handbook, 3rd edition. For anyone who has to embark on an S&OP project, but has no hands-on experience doing so, this book is a recommendation as a starting point.

There is an interesting interview with him on the 21st Century Supply Chain blog. In my upcoming blog post I will follow the same direction Tom Wallace takes in his books and this interview.