The big importance of S&OP

At present, companies and their stakeholders are going through great challenges, which
represent adversities and great opportunities, without a doubt, the management and
planning of resources adds to one of the great premises that every organization must
take care of.
One of the most important concepts that adds the most value in the industry is Sales
and Operations Planning, better known as S&OP; is a fact that today we must take care
of resources, both those that we can touch and those that are intangible. This planning
will help us improve the benefits of both, the company and our customers, since one of
the main objectives of this process is to balance the demand and the supply necessary
to cover it.
The integration of this process will allow the institution to have greater control over
financial, human, raw material or input resources, machinery, etc., giving guidelines for
generating a coordinated plan to be able to anticipate and meet the requirements that
our customers need satisfy.
This process will not only help the continuous search for satisfaction, but also allows the
organization to reduce possible risks that may arise in the supply of resources that are
necessary or vital for the operation. The strategy that will be sought is easy to
understand. Below, I briefly mention the main objectives to be achieved:
1. Development of a sales plan and a production rate for each product family.
2. Verify that the aircraft are validated and realistic.
3. Integration of manufacturing with other activities of the business plan.
4. Develop a strategy that allows “knowing” the demand.
5. Eliminate “hidden decisions”.
6. Reach a consensus under a single operational plan.
The aforementioned objectives, although they allow us to have a clearer picture of the
path we want to reach, it is important to mention that it is imperative to use tools that
facilitate their fulfillment, such as standardization, "lean" philosophies, technology and
analysis of the data quantitatively and qualitatively.
Like any process, it must comply with a methodology, which is based on 6 important
points: forecast, planning of demand, supply, establish communication and prior
validation of sales and operations, once having solid data, communicate it for final
approval, complete the tasks and archive the information for future use.
In summary, the S&OP process allows the organization to add strategies, to clarify its
present and future, as well as beneficiary to clients, partners and the company itself, in
order to increase income, reduce costs, increase productivity, as well as improving
performance at all possible levels.