Sales & operations planning (S&OP) implementation

To reduce costs and optimise global capacity, one of the leading global suppliers of generic pharmaceutical goods needed to implement a standardised S&OP process across their 15 subsidiaries. 3Peaks were requested to produce a template for a standardised process and to manage the pilot study at one of the subsidiaries.

The challenge

The market place for generic pharmaceuticals is highly competitive. As a consequence there is a need for a reliable, accurate and responsive global planning process to support the key business drivers of:

• Rapid time to market.
• Swift response to demand changes.
• Low costs.

Each supply site had developed its own Sales and Operations (S&OP) planning process making it difficult to consolidate a global view of demand and supply and to maximise sales opportunities. The requirement was to create a standard S&OP process template to be used at all the sites, incorporating company and industry best practice.

The solution

A workshop analysed selected S&OP models used within the company and compared these with business requirements and best practice. These were combined to develop a best fit S&OP model that could be rolled out across the company. Detailed documentation was produced that described for each stage of the process.

• Inputs
• Meeting agendas and attendees
• Outputs
• Key performance indicators

A simulation of the full S&OP model was developed that enabled final design improvements to be made and training of process participants and key stakeholders. This allowed a detailed implementation plan to be developed, followed by a full scale pilot using live supply and demand data.

Upon successful completion of the pilot, the process was trialled for a period of 3 months to facilitate fine tuning. The resulting S&OP model was then rolled out across the company to achieve full benefits.

The benefits

The rapid implementation of a standardised S&OP process gave immediate benefits to the pilot site in terms of:

• Increased customer service level and improved product availability.
• Reduced costs from higher resource utilisation, reduced obsolescence and waste.
• Improved cash flow due to optimised inventory and improved schedule adherence.