In my last post, I wrote a little on the importance of extending participation in the sales and operations (S&OP) collaboration process as well as knowing what questions to ask each party. In this blog, I would like to step away from collaborating with internal departments to discuss collaborating with customers.
What-if scenario planning is an excellent technique that allows a planner to ask questions on the future. Given a working model that represents a business, a planner can quickly ask the questions that represent the range of possibilities in the foreseeable future which can render the current plan obsolete.
I am fairly new to the supply chain industry. Ever since joining Arkieva, I have been immersed in all things manufacturing, planning and optimizing related. As I worked with my colleagues I observed that naturally every company is different and these differences can be seen especially during the implementation process. The steps, rules, politics, etc.,
Recently, I was visiting with a prospect in Pennsylvania and they lamented on the effect of the ongoing port shutdowns on the west coast. He went on to say how they have heard of a threat for a shutdown for many years and everyone had become accustomed to it.