Why You Don’t Need Perfect Data to Begin Implementing Sales & Operations Planning

Royal Boon Edam a global market leader in entry solutions, was looking to shift towards a combined business model of “made to stock” and “assembly to order” – where modules which could be placed into a configuration requested by the customer would be ready for production, this meant the company needed a different logistics approach to fulfilling these orders.

An interview with Boon Edam’s Aron Waas

Implementing Sales and Operations Planning (S&OP) has many benefits.

To truly leverage it to improve business performance and predictability, you need to embark on a change management process and you need the right technology to self-enable your team.

Often, teams think they also need plenty of clean and accurate data to do it right.

But starting small can pay off. We spoke with Aron Waas, Global Supply Chain Director at Royal Boon Edam International to hear about his company’s experience.

Hello Aron, can you tell me more about Boon Edam and your role as Global Supply Chain Director?

Boon Edam is a private, family-owned company that is over 140 years old. We are a manufacturer of premium entry systems, such as revolving doors and security access gates.

We have 3 factories, one in the USA, one in China and one in the Netherlands (in the city of Edam). We have over 20 sales subsidiaries and, at this stage, 3 different Distribution & Support Centers.

These centers (or D&SCs) support our sales subsidiaries with all their inquiries, service requests and the delivery of products and services.

I am part of the global management team, responsible for everything that has to do with supply chain management. The directors of our D&SCs report directly to me.

You are currently using AIMMS to enable your S&OP process. What was the driver to look for S&OP technology and how did you do things before?

We have worldwide demand for all kinds of products and services and as I mentioned before, we have 3 different factories. We were trying to optimize the workload between these factories to have our manufacturing be as efficient as possible.

We had a financial reporting tool and based on the financial forecasting of our different sales subsidiaries, we made a forecast for products and services which was translated into a monthly demand plan and a capacity plan. This process was based on a lot of assumptions.

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Apple makes “significant progress” with green supply chain ambitions

Apple’s efforts to create a greener supply chain resulted in significant progress in 2017, according to the tech giant.

Since 2007, almost 15mn supplier employees have been trained on their rights, including 3mn just last year.

All iPhone final assembly sites around the world have now been certified as zero waste to landfill, while more of Apple’s products were made using renewable energy, while also reducing overall energy usage and carbon emissions.

In a release, Apple said its suppliers implemented energy efficiency improvements that reduced more than 320,000 annualised metric tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions in 2017.

Apple claims it “goes deeper into the supply chain to find issues and fix them” more than any other company in its industry and each year it will do more to raise the bar and protect the people who make Apple products as well as the planet.

Last year Apple launched a programme to help improve health awareness for women at its suppliers, so they are better prepared to take control of their health and share that knowledge back to their families and communities.

The programme started at facilities in India and China and provides information and access to services, including self-examination for early cancer detection, nutrition, personal care and maternal health. Apple aims to reach 1mn women at its suppliers around the world by 2020.

“We believe that everyone making Apple products deserves to be treated with dignity and respect and we’re proud that almost 15mn people understand their workplace rights as a result of the work we’ve done over the years. We’re going further with health education programs and new opportunities for advancement at our suppliers,” said Jeff Williams, Apple’s COO.

“A new preventive health care curriculum is encouraging women to focus on their personal health, and hopefully share that knowledge with their families and communities. Our goal is to reach 1mn women by 2020. We know our work is never done and we’re committed to raising the bar every year across our supply chain.”

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Lasting Effects of Supply Chain Mismanagement

In New York City, March 25, 1911, 123 women and 23 men died from fire, smoke inhalation, or falling or jumping to their deaths when a fire broke out in the building where their factory resided on the eighth, ninth, and tenth floors.

The incident was known as the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire and is the deadliest industrial disaster in the history of the New York City.

This tragedy and loss of life eventually led to legislation requiring improved factory safety standards.

While this famous incident is over 100-years-old, workplace deaths and injuries are still happening today.

In a recent case, Cusseta, Ala., Regina Elsea was working at an auto parts manufacturer on the assembly line when a mishap occurred, and Elsea was impaled by one of the robots. She died the following day.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration reviewed Elsea’s case and found the contracting company she worked for was in violation of a federal law that could have prevented her death.

Sadly, in both cases these accidents could have been prevented with better evaluation of contractors and adherence to higher standards of safety in the workplace.

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