“Why am I focused on the supply chain? The answer is simple. It is a barometer of my business. All the problems show up first in the supply chain….”
— Dell Founder, Chairman and CEO, Michael Dell
I love this quote from Michael Dell. It came from an interview when I was writing the book, Bricks Matter.
Leaders are clear that good planning matters. The rest of the world continues to look for evidence. As a researcher, I am attempting to measure the impact.
Over the course of the last week, I have been writing about maturity in supply chain planning. This week, we will be sharing research from over 90 respondents on Sales and Operations Planning (S&OP). It is from a new quantitative survey. Check out our new report.
In this report, we find that S&OP processes have grown more complex in scope and governance over the last decade. The average company over 3B$ in annual revenue has four S&OP processes. We also find that S&OP maturity matters. As companies mature in S&OP that they rate themselves 2X more mature on ability and 46% better on cross-functional alignment. To accomplish this, the goal of the S&OP process needs to move from a focus on volume to evaluate product mix/profitability. Companies the most mature in “what-if” analysis and the use of optimization tend to rate themselves higher in maturity.
Who doesn’t want a more agile and aligned organization? Don’t miss this webinar on Thursday, June 13th at 1:00 PM. We hope to have you join us!
Is your Supply Chain AI Ready?
A simple quiz to assess an organization’s AI readiness.
The pace of change is fast and furious. Every day, technology advances faster than we can digest. A great challenge to have.
Determining whether a supply chain is “AI-ready” is less about technology and more about the gray matter between the ears of supply chain leaders. Leadership, alignment, and clarity of goals matter.
Too few companies are clear on the definition of supply chain excellence. Measuring and rewarding functional metrics reduces the firm’s value. Putting agentics on top of today’s processes can make bad practices run faster, reducing value.
The toughest job for the supply chain leader is challenging existing supply chain paradigms that were defined by the limitations of decades of supply chain technologies. As the curtain lifts on the potential of new forms of technology, process redefinition is our opportunity, but only if we are clear on what drives value. (Here, I link to the Supply Chains to Admire reports to help you define value. The next report will be published on June 23rd, along with my Dynamic Benchmarking Product, to help you define value in the face of your AI readiness. More information about the launch is at the bottom of this blog.)
