Supply-chain operations

Planning, inventory and fulfilment that hold up when demand does not behave.

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What is it?

Working on how supply chain is planned and run: demand and supply planning, inventory policy, and the fulfilment process. Usually alongside a forecasting model, because a better forecast only helps if the planning process can act on it.

For a technical reader

Inventory policy should be derived, not inherited. Safety stock follows from demand variability, lead time variability and a target service level, which means the portfolio has to be segmented first — a single service level across fast and slow movers simultaneously over-stocks and under-stocks. S&OP is the process that makes the numbers actionable: a monthly cycle with named decision owners, where the output is a committed plan rather than a forecast nobody has agreed to execute against.

Our services

Planning process designDemand and supply planning with an S&OP cycle, owners and decision rights.
Inventory policySegmentation and calculated safety stock against defined service targets.
Network and fulfilment designWhere stock is held, how it is allocated, and how orders are promised.
Supplier collaborationShared forecasts, confirmations and performance measurement.

What’s covered

Demand planning and S&OP
Statistical baseline plus a consensus process with named decision owners
Inventory policy
Segmentation by volume and variability, with safety stock derived from service targets
Network design
Where stock is held and how distribution is structured
Fulfilment and promising
Allocation rules, order promising and exception handling
Supplier collaboration
Shared forecasts and confirmations so suppliers are not guessing

Business problems we solve

High stock and stockouts at onceThe signature of an undifferentiated inventory policy. Segmentation addresses both ends.
The forecast is never rightForecasts are always wrong; the question is whether the process is designed to absorb that. Safety stock and review cadence are how.
Planning and execution are disconnectedA plan nobody can execute is a forecast. We wire planning output into purchasing and production.
Expediting is routineConstant expediting indicates lead times and buffers that do not reflect reality.

Our delivery approach

  1. 01
    Segment the portfolioDifferent products need different policies. A single service level across everything over-stocks the slow lines and under-stocks the fast ones.
  2. 02
    Set inventory policy deliberatelySafety stock derived from service targets and demand variability rather than inherited from a previous system.
  3. 03
    Connect planning to executionA plan nobody can execute against is a forecast. Planning output is wired into purchasing and production.
  4. 04
    Review on a cadenceA regular planning cycle with named owners and decisions recorded, so the process survives staff changes.

Solutions & project types

Examples of the work we take on in this area. These describe project shapes, not named client engagements.

S&OP implementationA monthly planning cycle with defined inputs, owners and recorded decisions.
Inventory optimisationSegmentation and recalculated safety stock across the portfolio.
Fulfilment redesignAllocation rules and order promising aligned to actual availability.
Supplier forecast sharingGiving suppliers visibility so they are not guessing at your demand.

Technologies & platforms

Planning

  • Oracle Supply Planning
  • Oracle Demand Management
  • Kinaxis
  • o9
  • Blue Yonder

Execution

  • Oracle Order Management
  • Oracle Inventory
  • WMS platforms

Analytics

  • Oracle Analytics Cloud
  • Power BI
  • Python forecasting models

Collaboration

  • Supplier Portal
  • EDI
  • Forecast sharing

Methods

  • ABC/XYZ segmentation
  • Safety stock modelling
  • S&OP cadence design
Learn this field

Where to start with supply-chain operations.

Secondary to the work itself, but genuinely useful if you are building the skill. Every link goes to official documentation or an official channel.

Beginner

  • Lead time, safety stock, reorder point, MOQ
  • Service level and fill rate definitions
  • Bullwhip effect and why it happens
  • Read a demand history and spot seasonality

Intermediate

  • ABC/XYZ segmentation
  • Safety stock formulas and their assumptions
  • S&OP cycle design and participants
  • Forecast accuracy measures: MAPE, bias, WMAPE

Advanced

  • Multi-echelon inventory optimisation
  • Constrained and capacity-aware planning
  • Network design and cost-to-serve
  • Integrated business planning across functions

Certifications

  • ASCM Certified Supply Chain Professional (CSCP)
  • ASCM Certified in Planning and Inventory Management (CPIM)
  • Oracle Supply Planning Cloud: Implementation Professional

Practice projects

  • Segment a product portfolio by volume and variability
  • Calculate safety stock from a real demand history and compare to current
  • Measure forecast accuracy and separate bias from error
  • Design an S&OP agenda with inputs, owners and decisions
  • Model the cost of a one-week lead time reduction
FAQs

Questions we get asked.

Do we need a planning system?

Not necessarily first. Many organisations get more from fixing segmentation, safety stock and the planning cadence inside their existing ERP before buying a planning platform.

How much inventory could we remove?

Unknown until the current policy is analysed, and any number quoted beforehand is marketing. The method is to segment, recalculate, and compare.

Will better forecasting fix this?

Partly. A better forecast only helps if the planning process can act on it, which is why we work on both rather than the model alone.

Can you work with our existing planners?

Yes, and the outcome is better when we do. They hold knowledge about exceptions and constraints that no system captures.

Enterprise Transformation

Related services.

Finance transformationReshaping how finance operates, not just which system it operates in.Procurement & sourcingBringing spend under management with a process people will actually follow.Process automationRemoving manual steps where it pays, and saying so where it does not.Operating-model designHow work, decisions and accountability are arranged once the technology changes.
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