S&OP – Sales and Operations Planning
In today’s VUCAL (Volatile, Uncertain, Complex, Ambiguous, Limited) environment, traditional S&OP processes fall short. Citwell’s S&OP Transformation service addresses these challenges by evolving your planning process to meet new market demands.
With Citwell, your S&OP will be equipped to thrive amid complexity, ensuring agile and effective decision-making.
Your stakes
Citwell recognizes the critical challenges that can hinder your Sales & Operations Planning (S&OP) processes. From performance issues and decision-making hurdles to IT inefficiencies and alignment gaps, these pain points can significantly impact your business outcomes. Our S&OP Transformation service is designed to address these challenges, ensuring your operations are optimized, aligned, and equipped with the latest technologies for long-term success.
Performance
- Bad service levels, high inventories, and lost of market shares.
- No business continuity plan to sustain performance.
- High inventory with sometimes products expiry leading in substantial losses due to obsolescence.
Decision
- Poor decision making due to lack of alternatives and preparation
- Lack of hindsight and learning from past cycles.
- Lack of analyzis from past decisions results.
IT Tools & New Technologies
- Multiple IT systems and scattered Excel sheets hinder consolidation and visibility.
- Overly complex tools and a flood of new technologies create confusion and fear of missing out.
- Business teams lack ownership, and tools are not user-friendly for visualization and scenario planning.
Process
- Failed pilots and projects due to poor adoption.
- No process re-engineering to allocate sufficient time for anticipating alternatives across the entire supply chain, from procurement through manufacturing to distribution.
Alignment
- Lack of alignment on strategy between departments.
- Lack of collaboration among teams towards a shared objective due to differing perspectives and timelines.
- Difficulty bridging financial forecasts and operational planning arises.
Our convictions
Segment products, markets, and risks to identify bottlenecks and adapt strategies.
- Classify products (ABC) and markets (XYZ) with marketing, sales, and customer service.
- Identify bottlenecks in distribution tools, factories/suppliers at risk.
- In order to adapt the level of involvement (analysis, investigation…) to the issues at stake
Enrich demand forecasts with product managers and sales for better future planning.
Statistical forecasts are no longer enough to anticipate the future and require collaborative enrichment:
- with product managers for product and range life-cycle management
- with sales to take account of promotions and visibility in the field
Manage risk by addressing market demands and capacity issues efficiently.
- Implement a risk management process to respond to exceptional markets or requests and find solutions to capacity problems (capacity & resource planning).
- Focusing energies on the subjects that require them
Decide or escalate key issues with the Executive Committee, ensuring clear communication.
- Involve the Executive Committee in key decisions
- Offer to choose between a few successful and valued scenarios, modeled & expressed in the language of and stakes of each business department (in terms of value, budget, logistical units, batches, etc.) to enable smooth exchange and decision-making
- Ensure that decisions are taken at the right level and communicated
Change Management is essential to the success of your project
- The target must be understood and applied at every stage of the flow.
- It must also meet the needs of each contributor to the process.
Our solutions
and approach
Our S&OP solutions are designed to address the complex challenges faced by organizations in today’s dynamic environment.
We combine advanced technology with deep industry expertise to create a seamless planning process that enhances visibility, fosters collaboration, and enables agile decision-making.
Map & Assess
- Assess current S&OP performance
- Conduct a mapping of culture and management rules
- Understand pitfalls & identify growth leverages
Experience with the Fresh Connection
- Live a true hands-on experience, decide within multiple S&OP cycles and understand the consequences on the business thank to the simulation platform
- Build a team spirit and share a common life-changing moment
Test & Learn with Board
Operate S&OP cycles with an advanced simulation tool
Use a Citwell-design starter kit on Board
Mentor
Coaching process leaders to ensure adoption
Ensuring sponsorship from C-level executives
Measure
Implement the right metrics and dashboard to measure results and impacts (Growth, OTIF, EBITDA, Inventory…)
Implement the right process and organization to steer towards success
Embed
Ensure process sustainability and adopt new practices
Ensure thorough business stakes & understanding of the “why” and “how”
Your gains
Service rate
+ 10% -20%
Overstocks
– 30% to 50%
Top Management Commitment to the Process
80%
Manufacturing Costs
– 5% – 10%
Purchasing Costs
5%
A project? Contact us
Country Manager US
Pierre is a seasoned professional excelling in Sales and Operations Planning (S&OP), with over 17 years of consultancy experience. He’s led 30+ transformative projects in large corporations and SMEs. Currently serving as Citwell’s US Affiliate Country Manager, Pierre
work on subjects combining Operations, Services, and IT.
Pierre’s background as a Mechanical and Supply Chain engineer, coupled with certifications like ASCM and DDI, underscores his commitment to staying ahead in the industry. But Pierre doesn’t just talk the talk, he walks the walk. Certified by Inchange, CIPE, and the Demand Driven Institute, his seminars, and training are tailor-made to optimize S&OP processes, ensuring attendees leave with actionable insights.
Among our references
Business Case
S&OP process in retail & distribution
About:
Major player in the French retail sector, this company has 2,000 sales outlets in 15 countries, including all food retail formats (hypermarkets, supermarkets, convenience stores, drives, digital). This retailer company has created the DPW (Direction Product Worldwide) international structure, bringing together all international own-brand product activities (food and non-food).
Challenges:
- Over the past 2 years, the DPW has undertaken the role of Product Manager for the non-food business of the company. In 2021, a significant project was initiated to transition from a country-centric ‘picking’ model, as per the private label product catalog defined by DPW, to a centrally driven model (push flows). The primary aim is to enhance the availability and visibility of private label products across all company’s outlets, thereby optimizing inventory levels and increasing productivity.
- This initiative underscored the pressing need to implement a robust Sales and Operations Planning (S&OP) process. The S&OP is critical to ensuring effective management of their own brands, facilitating alignment of objectives, proficient inventory management, precise purchasing control, and efficient sales margin management, among other crucial aspects.
- Consequently, the company sought assistance from Citwell to collaborate on designing and implementing this essential S&OP process.
Citwell’s Involvement:
Exploration & Diagnostic
- Immersion interviews, benchmarks and visits.
- S&OP maturity diagnosis.
Team awareness and onboarding
- Central and country kick-offs.
- Organization of « serious game » sessions, The Fresh Connection.
Overall and detailed design of the S&OP process
- 3 cycles of co-construction design workshops.
- Elaboration of a detailed RACI with KPI for each ritual.
Pilot for 3 S&OP cycles
- 4-month pilot on a specific identified scope: 2 departments, 4 countries involved.
Change management
- Support for change in business practices.
Tool
- Adaptation of an S&OP tool developed under Board to accelerate process implementation.
Results:
- Defined global process (Activities, KPI & RACI).
- Steering and scripting tool (Board) deployed and used by teams.
- 2 S&OP cycles completed to date.
- Team involvement.
