Operations and Supply Chain Management - 1100 Words

Operations and Supply Chain Management (Essay Sample) Content: OPERATIONS AND SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT by (Name): Course: Tutor: Institution: City and State Date Operations and Supply Chain Management Initially, supply chain excellence was described as the lowest manufactured outlay. The principle was that the supply chain excellence might be achieved by â€Å"sweating the assets.† The set of beliefs created the basis for the proficient supply chain. Following the advancement in supply chain processes, inventory levels were lowered, costs reduced, and waste eradicated. However, every corporation reached a point at which they could no longer simply cut costs devoid of trading off customer service to clientele (Cecere not as an improved way of doing commerce for a firm. It is apparent that supply chain excellence is necessary for the delivery of the company’s results. The initial goal for using supply chain processes to hook up from the suppliers’ supplier to customers’ customer has be en bogged down in practical processes Importance of Sales and Operations Planning (S&OP) Sales and operations planning is an integrated management process of a business established by Oliver Wight in the 1980s,  through which the executive team recurrently achieves alignment synchronization, and focus among all operations of an organization (Sheldon 2006, p. 3). Although it assists the management team to recognize how the company attained its current performance level, its focus is on the anticipated results and future actions. Companies with an integrated management process apply the S&OP process to check the implementation of the company’s tactics (Palmatier n.d). Because this plan affects several functions of the company, it is usually prepared using information from manufacturing, marketing, engineering, materials, and marketing (Dougherty n.d). If  the activities of S&OP are not integrated and aligned, petite problems rapidly escalate into major challenges that adve rsely affect business performance.  Ã‚  As each part of an organization jockeys to suit its priorities, precious resources and time are wasted. This eventually leads to meager  customer service. The major objective of S&OP is to provide a "one plan" planning process that connects all functional areas of the business from top management to the shop floor on a regular basis (Boyer, 2004, p. 5). Traditional supply chain processes that rely on historic orders can be thrown out the window. For this reason, it is more critical than ever for cross-functional teams to work together to sense, shape, and drive a lucrative demand response. Demand-driven leaders use S&OP to make this happen (Cecere, Barrett, & Mooraj 2009). Each year, the imbalance between supply and demand costs companies billions of dollars in out-of-stocks, excess inventory and excessive discounting. Promotions, new product introductions, packaging changes, and changing demand patterns can all wreak havoc on the demand a nd su...