Eric Wilson, ACPF

How to Drive Consensus in S&OP Decision Making

Eric Wilson, ACPFJuly 22, 2024

In the ever-changing world of Sales and Operations Planning (S&OP), getting everyone to agree on a decision is important but hard to do. It means putting together different, and sometimes conflicting, goals and points of view into a single pl... Read More...

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Stop Self-Inflicted Uncertainty! Quick Wins for Inventory Management

Eric Wilson, ACPFAugust 2, 2023

Inventory - can't live with with it, can't live without it. Let's talk about how to balance the competing trade-offs of high service levels, the need to control costs, and freeing up cash - and how to make managing your inventory a whole lot easi... Read More...

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5 Major Benefits of S&OP For Your Company

Eric Wilson, ACPFJune 2, 2023

One of the most crucial elements of supply chain planning is Sales and Operations Planning (S&OP). It provides the channels of communication necessary for top management to coordinate the many planning initiatives within a company. The ma... Read More...

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Making the Leap From Good S&OP to Great S&OP

Eric Wilson, ACPFMay 15, 2023

One of my favorite books is Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap...and Others Don’t. Published in 2001 by business management professor Jim Collins, it outlines the fundamental ideas that set successful businesses apart from ordinary o... Read More...

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Bringing Back CPFR, The Key To Next Level Planning

Eric Wilson, ACPFMarch 27, 2023

Collaborative planning, forecasting and replenishment (CPFR) emerged from a relationship between Walmart and a major supplier, P&G, to better plan their Listerine mouthwash product. The steps were 1) information sharing, 2) joint demand forec... Read More...

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Case Study: Relaunching Demand Planning for an Aggressive Growth Strategy

Eric Wilson, ACPFMarch 3, 2023

Some years ago I took up a new role as Director of Demand Planning at a global sporting goods company. I was charged with overhauling its planning function. This is challenging at the best of times, but this was complicated by the company’s uniqu... Read More...

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Supply Planner Vs Demand Planner, What’s The Difference?

Eric Wilson, ACPFFebruary 21, 2023

Supply chain is complex, encompassing a broad range of functions, including supply planning and demand planning roles. It can be challenging to distinguish between these functions, leading to confusion among companies and hiring managers. I re... Read More...

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What Is Business Forecasting & Demand Planning?

Eric Wilson, ACPFJanuary 6, 2023

What is Business Forecasting? Business forecasting is the process of using analytics and experience to make predictions about future customer/consumer demand. The goal is to go beyond knowing what has happened to arrive at the best assessment of... Read More...

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The Advancements In Disease Forecasting That Can Revolutionize Business Forecasting

Eric Wilson, ACPFNovember 28, 2022

On the IBF On Demand podcast, I recently spoke to a real innovator doing great things in the forecasting space. He comes from a disease forecasting background and many of his predictive analytics techniques are directly applicable to bu... Read More...

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4 Tips For Driving Success In Remote S&OP

Eric Wilson, ACPFOctober 19, 2022

Last week I presented two opposing views on whether S&OP/IBP can be done remotely (see that article here). Personally, I don’t think remote working is optimal for a highly collaborative process like S&OP. But the world has changed and ... Read More...

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