Abstract
Today's leading organizations understand that reducing inventory, while meeting demand, requires a competent and cost-effective S&OP process. The S&OP function enables organizations to focus on forecasting accurately in order to reduce inventory levels, optimize manufacturing and supply capabilities, to increase the bottom-line and gain a significant competitive advantage. Efficient and effective S&OP processes embrace the suppliers and attempt to link together Purchasing, Manufacturing and Sales. When operating at peak efficiency, S&OP becomes a structured process that brings together the key Executives of the business to review the progress of their plans on a scheduled basis. The questions that arise in this context are: How may a company identify the areas where its S&OP process is weak? What functions within an organization, can hinder the accuracy and viability of its S&OP functions? In this paper, the problem will be built as a parallel to the case of Borealis, a leading provider of innovative and value creating technology for plastics solutions. Before going into the details of our problem, we will provide an overview of the company.
