World Class Sales and Operations Planning

CONNECTING SUPPLIERS TO THE S&OP PROCESS

Suppliers are obviously the lifeline of any manufacturing company. If the supplier’s process links directly to the customer’s, the opportunity for lean and flexible results exists. In some companies the objective is not just cheapest cost from suppliers, but instead lowest cost through the supply chain. This requires commitment to the cause of process linkage and handshakes on common goals. These goals can include flexible lead times within certain product families, inventory buffered in strategic points to offset process variation, and differing cost points depending on forecast information and accuracy. ...