Sales and Operations Planning - Best Practices: Lessons Learned from Worldwide Companies

John has, since 1977, provided direction for manufacturers and distributors seeking to improve their management controls and productivity levels. John instructs private, company-focused education sessions on many topics, including: logistics, value/supply chain management, lean manufacturing, ERP and manufacturing resource planning (MRPII) for senior, functional and project management; sales and operations planning (S&OP); sales planning, forecasting and demand management; distribution resource planning (DRP); master production scheduling (MPS); supplier management; plant scheduling; and inventory record accuracy.

John has guided companies to successful improvements in their logistics, lean manufacturing, resource management and planning and control processes and systems through a process management approach, utilizing state-of-the-art software tools, including ERP systems. Many of them have reached the coveted "Class A" or "World Class" level of achievement. His experience spans the electronics, consumer goods, food, medical products, capital goods, construction equipment, pharmaceutical and chemical industries.

Areas of expertise and emphasis include:

Logistics, lean manufacturing, value/supply chain, ERP and MRPII implementation projects
Cross-functional business plan reconciliation and management through sales and operations planning (S&OP)
Sales planning, forecasting and demand management
Master production scheduling (MPS) policies and approaches
Distribution resource planning (DRP)
Supplier management
Plant scheduling
Inventory record accuracy in all environments
Issues specific to flow/process and repetitive industries
Techniques for planning and scheduling, inventory control and analysis, and purchasing
System effectiveness audits leading to "remedial" and "fine-tuning" approaches to maximize system benefits

John was co-founder of Partners for Excellence, and has been a senior partner for fourteen years. For nine years he was a Principal of The Oliver Wight Associates. For five years he provided and managed consulting for two major software vendors. Prior to that, the positions he held included: MRPII Project Manager, Materials Manager, Production and Inventory Control Manager and Corporate Planner/Master Scheduler.

John holds an MBA (Summa Cum Laude) from the Rochester (NY) Institute of Technology and a BS in Business Management from the University of Dayton (OH).

John is certified at the fellow level (CFPIM) by the American Production and Inventory Control Society (APICS). He is a frequent speaker at international, regional and chapter meetings of many professional and industrial groups and has published numerous papers and articles concerning Management Improvement and Control. John is the co-author, with Chris Gray, of the book "Sales and Operations Planning - Best Practices". He was co-editor of the Sixth Edition of the APICS Dictionary, and a six-year member of the Master Planning Committee of the APICS Curricula and Certification Council.

Christopher Gray:

Chris Gray has been at the forefront of applying proven manufacturing management methods and concepts for three decades. Since 1979, he has helped more manufacturing and distribution companies resolve resource planning software issues than anyone else in the field. He has been involved in the design and development of both resource planning and lean manufacturing software. His ideas about resource planning software (MRPII and ERP) have influenced the design of nearly every major supplier in the field, and his concepts of how lean manufacturing can be supported by software have been used by the leading supplier of enterprise software to the automotive sector to develop a comprehensive lean manufacturing system.

He has authored four books, over thirty in-depth software evaluations, and thirty published articles on ERP, enterprise software, and computers in manufacturing. He is also designed the "e-Sales and Operations Planner", a comprehensive stand-alone sales and operations planning system that has been downloaded from his internet site by hundreds of companies. Besides being a recognized authority on the software available for manufacturing and distribution applications, he provides seminars and workshops as well as consulting to teams implementing resource planning and Lean execution methods. His international consulting practice includes a number of Class A companies.

In 1987, he authored his first book: The Right Choice, A Complete Guide to Evaluating, Selecting, and Installing MRPII Software, the definitive work on evaluating and selecting MRPII software. His books, The MRPII Standard System, A Handbook for Manufacturing Software Survival and The MRPII Standard System Workbook, co-authored with Darryl Landvater were published in 1989 and are generally accepted as defining the standards for MRPII software. His most recent book, Sales and Operations Planning - Best Practices, co-authored with John Dougherty was published in 2006.

Chris is President of Gray Research and one of the founders of Partners For Excellence. Gray Research offers consulting and education on the concepts and methods of world class performance. Partners For Excellence offers counseling and public and private seminars and workshops for executives and managers trying to make the changes needed for improved performance.

Chris was president of Oliver Wight Software Research, Inc. and one of the Oliver Wight Education Associates. He also developed and taught the "MRPII Software Survival Course", a class covering software evaluation and selection, software trends, and the role of systems people in implementing effective systems. Earlier, he held consulting and teaching positions with Software International Corporation, working with companies implementing MRPII. Prior to that, he was Manufacturing Systems Analyst at Ohaus Scale Corporation, a Class A company. During his consulting career, he has been associated with both R.D. Garwood, Inc. and The Oliver Wight Companies.

Chris has a BA in mathematics from Washington and Jefferson College and a MS in mathematics from Carnegie Mellon University. He is a past president of the North Shore chapter of APICS and is certified by APICS as a Fellow. He has spoken at numerous international conferences on manufacturing systems and methods. He is listed in six different volumes of Who's Who: Who's Who in America, Who's Who in the East, Who's Who in America's Emerging Leaders, Who's Who in Finance and Industry, Who's Who in Science and Engineering, and Who's Who in the World.