Driving Forecast Value in S&OP Process Management

Inventory management leaders at an American medical equipment manufacturer partner with Gartner to optimize sales & operations planning (S&OP) process management. 

Mission-critical priority

The supply chain planning function at an American medical equipment manufacturer was without a functioning S&OP process and highly siloed, meaning planning systems weren’t scaled for efficiency. The Vice President and Associate Vice President of Inventory Management turned to Gartner for help improving planning maturity, to include growing the planning team, upgrading planning technology and establishing strong governance for planning processes. 

How Gartner helped

The client used:

  • Gartner analysts specializing in S&OP best practice to audit monthly S&OP meetings and provide feedback for improving decision making.
  • Objective, practical advice on project management – e.g., prioritization, goal setting, ROI calculation, risk mitigation.
  • Gartner Supply Chain Score for Planning, a diagnostic that identifies high-priority, low-maturity performance areas and recommends actions for closing gaps.
  • Magic Quadrants and Critical Capabilities resources to evaluate and select the right planning solutions for the organization.

Business impact

With support from Gartner for Supply Chain, the client: 

  • Defined the S&OP team, charter, agenda and process.
  • Delivered improved forecast value add of 22% over prior year.
  • Realigned demand planning staff under centralized leadership, which emulates best practice.
  • Gained approval from corporate leadership to grow headcount on the demand planning team by 11.7%.
  • Targeted investments for improving planning accuracy according to diagnostic results.

Industry:
Medical Equipment Manufacturing

Employees:
+ 10,000

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