Sales and Operations Planning

Sales and Operations Planning (S&OP) is the company-wide demand and supply plan that provides the next level of detail in fulfilling business plan objectives by describing family-level sales, production and inventory targets and incorporates the planned effects of new product or promotion introductions. It usually undergoes a monthly joint review by all departments that analyzes current status against the previous plan to provide corrective action. The proposed S&OP is used by rough cut capacity planning (RCCP) to provide the initial view of aggregate capacity requirements, and sets target production and inventory levels for the master production schedule. It is through sales and operations planning that many companies are able to achieve sustainable growth without significant investment in new plant and equipment.