Making S&OP Work, Part 3: Defining Product Families

When implementing S&OP, many people struggle when setting up their product families. The biggest barrier seems to always be people deciding whether to make them constraint based, or market based. Doug states that you should be able to find a middle ground - S&OP families should be constraint based, but with the ability to segment demand by demand streams.

When working with different parts of an organization who all view the business differently, getting a unified view of product families is a crucial structural starting point for S&OP. By accomplishing this, all different parts of your business can understand the story behind your S&OP families and contribute where it counts. Furthermore, this establishes responsibilities and accountabilities between the constrained, and unconstrained view which will further help you balance between the two.

Once this common language is established, each team will be able to properly identify any issues or concerns in the monthly cycle, and on the 5-Section Sheet. Be sure to tune in for our last video of the series to learn how to use the 5-Section Sheet and accomplish a fully working S&OP process.

Watch all the videos in the "Making S&OP Work" series:    • What Is S&OP, and How to Make It Work...  
Part 1: An Intro to Implementing S&OP -    • Making S&OP Work, Part 1: An Intro to...  
Part 2: The Monthly Cycle -    • Making S&OP Work, Part 2: The Monthly...  
Part 3: Defining Product Families -    • Making S&OP Work, Part 3: Defining Pr...  
Part 4: The Right Data -    • Making S&OP Work, Part 4: The Right Data  

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Take the FREE S&OP Assessment – Receive real feedback on your current S&OP process: https://www.dbmsys.com/sop-assessment

Read our article about defining product families here: https://www.dbmsys.com/post/family-ties

For more information about DBM Systems, visit our website: https://www.dbmsys.com