Sales & Operations Planning Drives Manufacturing Efficiency
Sales & operations planning (S&OP) is an essential tool for manufacturers, providing reliable short- to long-range forecasts of market needs.
It is an effective complement to enterprise resource planning (ERP) and manufacturing execution systems (MES) solutions during normal business cycles. It becomes a critical component when encountering unforeseen events such as the current COVID-19 pandemic.
It enables internal resources to be quickly allocated to meet changing production targets without incurring unnecessary costs.
Unanticipated disruption can derail the smooth operations of manufacturing in a global economy. In a sudden turn of events, manufacturers are challenged to find alternative sources for critical parts to prevent an interruption of production.
This is particularly true for the automotive industry, which is dependent on suppliers, manufacturers and customers in multiple countries.