Supply Chain Organization

Client:

A global supply chain organization faced significant operational challenges due to misaligned communication between its sales forecasting and supply planning teams. This inefficiency resulted in inaccurate manufacturing outputs, affecting their ability to meet customer demand.

They required a comprehensive solution to streamline handoffs between these departments, especially for new product launches, insourcing opportunities, and products at the end of their life cycle, where demand was highly volatile.

The Problem

The sales forecasting team provided data to supply planning, but the information was often

incomplete and delivered too late, forcing the supply planning team to create makeshift demand

projections. This reactive approach led to inefficient production planning, creating the risk of

overproduction or stock shortages. Additionally, the company struggled with poor visibility and

alignment across teams during new product launches, business development deals, and product

phase-outs.

Key areas of concern:

1. New Product Launches: Teams lacked clarity on what actions were required at various

stages of the product launch process.

2. Business Development Integration: When acquiring new assets, integrating these

products into the supply chain was slow and inconsistent.

3. Volatile Demand for End-of-Life Products: Unclear communication exacerbated

challenges in managing the unpredictable demand for products nearing the end of their

life cycle.

My Approach

As the fractional Chief of Staff, I spearheaded a collaborative project to resolve these process

breakdowns and improve coordination between the teams. Here’s a breakdown of the approach:

1. Cross-functional Stakeholder Engagement:

I brought together key stakeholders from sales forecasting, supply planning, business development, marketing, insights and analytics, plant operations, finance, and product development. This ensured a holistic view of the processes and pain points across departments.

2. Mapping the Current State:

In a series of workshops, I facilitated discussions where each team mapped their current processes on whiteboards. We documented the information each team received and passed along, highlighting gaps and inefficiencies. By visually representing the entire workflow, the teams identified clear pain points and process breakdowns.

3. Pain Point Identification and Future State Design:

I encouraged each team to list the challenges they faced at different handoff points. These pain points were grouped and addressed collectively. Together, we designed an ideal “future state” process, free of current resourcing constraints. This exercise enabled teams to reimagine a more efficient, streamlined process that could scale with the business’s future needs.

4. Facilitating Collaboration:

Ground rules were set to ensure productive collaboration. We used a “parking lot” method to defer out-of-scope discussions, ensuring focus on the workshop objectives. Executive sponsors kicked off each session to emphasize leadership support, motivating full participation. I continually redirected discussions to keep the focus on improving processes, ensuring that no one felt personally attacked by highlighting inefficiencies.

Results and Next Steps

The project showed significant improvements in process efficiency and cross-functional collaboration

Over 60 actionable items: Each with clear ownership and timelines for implementation.

Improved transparency: Across teams, enabling better collaboration and communication, reducing time wasted in unnecessary meetings.

$1 million ERP upgrade: Approved to automate key processes, reducing human error and manual work.

Launch playbook: Provided a clear framework for managing new product launches and business development integrations, ensuring all teams knew their responsibilities at every stage.

Enhanced leadership visibility: Into the level of preparedness for product launches, empowering them to make better-informed decisions about asset acquisitions and new products.

Transforming Sales Forecasting and Supply Planning for a Global Supply Chain Organization

Client:

The Problem

My Approach

1. Cross-functional Stakeholder Engagement:

2. Mapping the Current State:

3. Pain Point Identification and Future State Design:

4. Facilitating Collaboration:

Results and Next Steps

The project showed significant improvements in process efficiency and cross-functional collaboration

Impact

Transforming Sales Forecasting and Supply Planning for a Global Supply Chain Organization

Client:

The Problem

My Approach

1. Cross-functional Stakeholder Engagement:

2. Mapping the Current State:

3. Pain Point Identification and Future State Design:

4. Facilitating Collaboration:

Results and Next Steps

The project showed significant improvements in process efficiency and cross-functional collaboration

Impact

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