Our latest surveys indicate that the S&OP process is a reality in large Brazilian companies, being seen as a valuable opportunity to align business and operations plans at the tactical level. However, there are other alignments that need to be carried out for companies to fully appropriate the value generated by the integration of their functional areas.
At the strategic level, the value package to be offered, in most companies, is defined in a fragmented way between the commercial and operations areas. While the commercial area defines the type of promotional support, discount policy and payment terms, the operations area takes care of the logistical service package to be offered, such as delivery frequency, availability, delivery times and rules for special orders.
The customer, however, does not see the value package offered in a fragmented way, which forces companies to increase coordination between their areas in the formulation of their service policies. The Customer Service area plays a fundamental role in this alignment, but often works only as an “order killer”, having its role reduced and only taking care of expediting orders with the logistics area.
At the operational level there is also much to be done! Ensuring the commercial and operational execution of the plan published at the end of the S&OP process is an immense challenge that should not be overlooked. Here, it is necessary to ensure that customer service policies are in perfect harmony with commercial execution and the operation. For this, the area RTM must ensure that the sales teams are well aware of the value package, including the operational part, to be offered to each customer profile in their portfolios.
The conclusion is that in the pre and post S&OP, the conversation between the operations and sales areas needs to continue, with the interlocution of the areas of RTM and Customer Service, so that alignment takes place not only at the tactical level, but also in strategy and execution. These levels hide relevant gains in efficiency and productivity of the sales force and the operation that companies cannot give up, especially in view of the challenging economic scenario that presents itself.
References
https://ilos.com.br/web/routes-to-market-como-vantagem-competitiva-em-empresas-de-bens-de-consumo/
Leonardo Julianelli
https://ilos.com.brExecutive Partner of ILOS. Graduated in Production Engineering from EE/UFRJ, Master in Business Administration from COPPEAD/UFRJ with extension at EM Lyon, France, and PhD in Production Engineering from COPPE/UFRJ. He has several articles published in periodicals and specialized magazines, being one of the authors of the book: “Sales Forecast: Organizational Processes & Qualitative and Quantitative Methods”. His research areas are: Demand Planning, Customer Service in the Logistics Process and Operations Planning. He worked for 8 years at CEL-COPPEAD / UFRJ, helping to organize the Logistics Teaching area. In consultancy, he carried out several projects in the logistics area, such as Diagnosis and Master Plan, Sales Forecast, Inventory Management, Demand Planning and Training Plan in companies such as Abbott, Braskem, Nitriflex, Petrobras, Promon IP, Vale, Natura, Jequití, among others. As a professor, he taught classes at companies such as Coca-Cola, Souza Cruz, ThyssenKrupp, Votorantim, Carrefour, Petrobras, Vale, Via Varejo, Furukawa, Monsanto, Natura, Ambev, BR Distribuidora, ABM, International Paper, Pepsico, Boehringer, Metrô Rio , Novelis, Sony, GVT, SBF, Silimed, Bettanin, Caramuru, CSN, Libra, Schlumberger, Schneider, FCA, Boticário, Usiminas, Bayer, ESG, Kimberly Clark and Transpetro, among others.
