Case study REF#50
THE CHALLENGE
Addressing the S&OP Gap
A global specialty and intermediate chemical manufacturer with $2B in annual revenue recognized critical weaknesses in its North American supply chain. ArMur Consulting was engaged to design and implement a fit-for-purpose, data-driven Sales & Operations Planning (S&OP) process that aligned Sales & Marketing, Manufacturing, Supply Chain, Purchasing, and Finance. The objective was to create a unified approach to optimize customer demand, network capacity, capital, and inventory—while improving customer experience and cross-functional decision-making.
OUR FINDINGS
Identified eight items for improvement
- Siloed communication between Commercial, Manufacturing, Supply Chain, and Finance led to poor coordination and asset underutilization
- No clear roles or accountability within the S&OP process
- Forecasting was overly manual and based on unreliable customer data
- Demand and supply balancing lacked analytical tools and rigor
- Inventory levels were rising while on-time shipments declined
- Master data was outdated and not actively maintained
- Production scheduling was ad hoc and reactive
- No consistent meeting cadence or scoreboards for performance monitoring
IMPLEMENTATION
We focused on 3 areas of impact to strengthen forecasting & execution
Implemented a comprehensive S&OP system built around four control modules: (1) Supply, (2) Demand, (3) Financial Integration, and (4) Executive Signoff
Established a weekly production scheduling process with clearly defined business rules
Built a schedule break incident database for root cause tracking and prevention
Rebalanced network demands to optimize capital deployment and reduce shop-floor disruption
Coached Supply Chain and Operations teams to translate the consensus forecast into a 3–12 month rolling Supply Plan
Clarified roles, responsibilities, and accountability across all functions involved in S&OP
Improved internal communication and accountability through performance scoreboards and ongoing coaching
Standardized a cross-functional cadence of meetings and visual dashboards to drive alignment
Increased statistical rigor in demand planning using forecast bias, MAPE, and consensus forecasting
Improved end-to-end integration of Demand & Supply with Finance for profitability optimization and risk visibility
Developed an S&OP “no surprises” culture, reducing cross-functional conflict and reactive decision-making
Updated master data for high-volume SKUs to reflect actual production rates and improve service predictability
Reduced variability in forecasting and inventory practices through standardization
RESULTS
All delivered with a 3:1 Return on Investment
The S&OP workstream has driven greatly improved supply chain collaboration and results.
Planning Manager
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