For a company which has multiple DCs, can the S&OP process be conducted (lead by) one of the DCs? Or should be conducted by the plant?
Typically an S&OP process is focusing top-down, on families of products which are sold across multiple geographic regions and possibly stocked in multiple warehouses or distribution centers. Further each product could be manufactured in a single location or across multiple locations in very large, high-volume businesses. What’s critical is that the process looks at all regional demands, all geographic inventories, and all supply sources, so it should encompass the participation of people from each of these areas. Different individuals may lead different parts of the S&OP process such as demand planning, supply planning and partnership meetings. In very large, complex organizations, it’s possible that there may be regional portions of the process that could be led by people from a specific DC or plant. And indeed any of these people could lead the entire global process, as long as their viewpoint and scope of responsibility encompassed all sources of demand and supply. We most often see
