White Papers | Supply Chain Consultants

Supply Chain Software & Supply Chain Planning - Concepts

Supply Chain Consultants maintains an extensive library of articles that capture our experience through the years. We are delighted to share a selection of these white papers here. Please contact us if there is a particular topic of interest and we will search our library for relevant material.

Forecasting Fallacy: "Locking" a Piece of a ForecastFrequently, people looking at Demand Planning software will express a need to "lock" some customers' forecasts while leaving others unlocked. Read about the problems with attempting to "lock" a forecast and the alternatives for addressing levels of uncertainty.

Essential S&OP Software RequirementsWith the appropriate software and supporting business processes in place, S&OP provides the "headlights" needed for a business to foresee and prevent potential problems. The key features discussed within this white paper will help you be aware of the proper implementation requirements to look for in software for your S&OP support.

The Role of S&OP in a Depressed Economy Demand is weak and getting weaker. It’s harder and harder to borrow money to finance day-to-day operations. People are being let go. Those who remain have more and more to do. Everyone is scrambling. Here’s why S&OP processes are more important in this environment than ever before and how they can help your business weather the storm.

Making Your Supply Chain a Competitive Advantage Businesses, of course, are at various stages along the path to effective S&OP. Some are beginning from scratch, with no formal processes or tools in place. Others have software “pieces” like demand planning and/or supply planning. Such enabling tools are necessary for all but the simplest of businesses -- necessary, but not sufficient. Tying these “pieces” together in an effective S&OP process will exponentially increase the benefit provided by the tools alone and allow your supply chain to truly become a competitive advantage.

What Does It Take To Sustain The Gains Once you’ve implemented a supply chain improvement project, how can you ensure that the benefits realized will continue and that people won’t fall back to the “old” way of doing things? This brief lists some pitfalls and how to avoid them.

Technology Strategies for Integrated Business Planning Benchmark Report Based on a survey of nearly 140 enterprises, Aberdeen Group found that traditional sales and operations planning (S&OP) processes and supporting technologies are no longer sufficient in today’s high pressured business environment. Sales and Operations Planning has evolved to become Integrated Business Planning. It is a truly cross-functional, multi-dimensional process that includes all elements of demand, supply and financial analysis in relation to the business goals and strategy.

The History of Supply Chain Planning in the Process Industry This article outlines the growth and evolution of Supply Chain Planning and Advanced Planning and Optimization. It provides a broad perspective on Supply Chain Planning and its history in the process industry. This white paper also outlines the evolution of Supply Chain Planning Software; while the first generation relied on integration with third-party software applications, the current versions incorporate third party applications.

Next Generation Supply Chain Planning The new generation of Supply Chain Planning systems exploit currently available technology and their design is based on the lessons learnt from earlier Supply Chain Planning implementations. The solutions directly mitigate risks associated with the cost and sustainability of Supply Chain Planning systems.

ATP, AATP, CTP: Order Commitment Alphabet Soup A continuing problem is the lack of standard definitions for many of the functions within the supply chain. This lack of standards is particularly apparent in the order promising area. This paper traces the evolution of support for the order commitment process, examines the components that make up the solutions in currently available systems, discusses performance issues, and touches on future directions.

The Collaborative Pyramid A large part of supply chain improvements are achieved by increasing collaboration within and outside a company. This paper explains what collaboration is and who needs to collaborate. It also identifies the prerequisites to effective collaboration.

What's Wrong with Excel for Supply Chain Planning? This whitepaper analyzes the technical and planning issues generated by using Excel as the primary supply chain tool in industrial applications.

One Link at a Time: A Supply Chain Success Story for a Process Industry Case study: This paper describes the supply chain planning improvements over the course of 4 years at a billion dollar unit of a major chemical company.

Shipments or Sales History as Historical Basis for Forecasting Statistical forecasting is based on bucketed history – but which date from your ERP system should you use for those buckets? This brief explains the advantages and disadvantages of chosing various dates (e.g., invoice date, ship date, request date) for projecting future needs.

Prerequisites for Using APS in S&OP MPS Processes This case study, out of Sweden, discusses in detail the positive effects of APS usage in the S&OP and MPS processes. The unnamed company in the case study uses Zemeter software tools for the S&OP and MPS processes.