A globally operating B2B lighting manufacturer, with its European headquarters in the Netherlands, was struggling with a combination of performance-suppressing factors: high inventory levels, a backlog of undelivered orders, and high logistics costs. The core of the problem consisted of several elements: lack of visibility in demand planning, low maturity of the S&OP process, limited use of the S&OP tool (Optimact), and the need to build up the planning organization.

In times of supply chain disruption, Sales & Operations Planning (S&OP) can bring peace of mind. 4Supplychain was asked to help a client make choices and make the organization work better together. Our client was facing huge market challenges and wanted to get a better grip on their inventory and logistics costs through sales and purchasing planning.

One of the world’s larger steel producers needed a more precise alignment of production capacity and sales planning and approached 4Supplychain Consulting. Olivier Berghuis and Valerio Guastella took up this international challenge.