Towards great challenge in sales and operation planning

Abstract

This paper addresses the issue of successful Sales and Operations Planning (S&OP) in Supply Chain Management. S&OP is a monthly process which consists in several steps, and involves a lot of roles inside a company. The paper offers a survey of ideas and best practices for a successful sales and production plan. Last section presents a case study of a laboratory-based manufacturing cell. The S&OP process in this system is supported by software architecture which incorporates subsystems for demand-planning and supply-planning. An S&OP workbench is also supported. Using this system, various system components need to be synchronized for best performance.