Monthly S&OP | Get chaos or get the first weeks right | Ep. 23

Most companies know they need an S&OP process. Few have one that actually works.

The gap between having the meetings and having a functioning integrated business plan is where most organisations quietly struggle, and where the biggest operational and commercial risks accumulate.

In this episode of the S&OP MasterClass, Søren Hammer Pedersen sits down with Benjamin Obling – a practitioner with 16 years of focused S&OP experience across industries and organisations – to work through the first two weeks of a monthly S&OP cycle. Not the theory.
The actual steps: who does what, when, with which tools, and what goes wrong when any of it is missing.

Benjamin brings the perspective of someone who has seen both extremes up close: companies with sophisticated IBP tools and no process, and companies with well-structured processes and nothing to put in them. His argument is that neither works alone. The foundation of a reliable S&OP process is built in weeks one and two, in demand planning and supply planning, the engine room of the S&OP process.

Get those two weeks right, and the rest of the cycle becomes a decision-making conversation grounded in data. Get them wrong, and you spend weeks three and four firefighting.

This episode is the first in a two-part series. Today covers demand planning and supply planning. Part two will go into the balancing and executive S&OP stages.

In This Episode

• Why having an S&OP process without the right data tools, or the right tools without a process, produces equally poor results
• The four main steps of a monthly S&OP cycle, and why skipping the first two guarantees chaos in the last two
• The difference between minor and major forecast overrides and why most minor adjustments are a waste of time
• Why inventory planning is a strategic decision disguised as a technical one and the risks of leaving it to a few specialists
• How to run a supply-side MRP simulation before uploading your demand plan to the ERP system
• The two non-negotiables for a high-functioning S&OP process: strong data tools, and clear process ownership

Episode contents
00:07 Recap: the four phases of S&OP
08:49 Why balancing week matters — and why most companies skip it
15:20 The "loudest voice wins" problem in demand prioritisation
30:03 Simulating MRP before it hits the ERP system
31:47 Extending visibility up and downstream: suppliers in the picture
34:26 Rule of delegation: what to resolve in week 3 vs. escalate to week 4
36:18 Outputs of the balancing week
25:37 How to get C-level to actually show up and engage
27:25 Structuring the executive meeting: State of the Union + decisions
09:17 Avoiding the post-planning firefighting trap
37:22 The fifth step: following up on actual planning behaviour
38:56 Summary & closing thoughts
39:13 Outro & call to action

Production
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This podcast is produced by Montanus.