Sales and Operations Planning

by Phil Robinson

Sales and Operations Planning (SOP or S&OP) is one of the quickest and simplest but most effective planning techniques to manage the interface between sales and operations. No fancy software is required; most companies just use a spreadsheet. Sales and Operations Planning not only provides a tool to show how manufacturing or operations can meet sales and marketing's objectives but also provides a remarkably precise forecast of financial output for the coming months and so is a tool to help you deliver the most important business objectives. Sales and Operations Planning is not difficult to learn or apply to most businesses. Our experience in helping companies apply this technique is that they quickly develop a dramatically improved visibility of the future. Sales and Operations planning is currently used in over 50% of manufacturing companies around the world.

29 pages, Kindle Edition

First published February 10, 2012