Hiring an S&OP Consultant

Hiring an S&OP Consultant is a lot like getting married. Before committing your company to any individual consultant or their organization, it is best to get to know them, see if they are compatible and can meet your needs. The author proposes seven attributes that you should look for when selecting an S&OP consultant. PATRICK BOWER | Mr. Bower is Senior Director of Corporate Planning & Customer Service at Combe Incorporated, manufacturer of high quality personal care products. Prior to that, he was a Practice Manager for Supply Chain Planning at a boutique supply chain consulting firm. His 25-year career includes functional, managerial, and executive experience in manufacturing systems, supply chain optimization, S&OP, and demand planning. He has worked for firms such as Unisys, Mobil, Kraft Foods, Snapple, and Cadbury as well as served as a vice president of R&D and as managing director of advanced product research for Atrion International. He also worked as a consulting manager for Numetrix. His areas of expertise include S&OP, Demand Planning, Inventory, Network Optimization, and Production Scheduling. D D uring an in-house S&OP training session several years ago, I listened ...