Driving Growth Through Sales and Operations Planning, Inventory Management, and Supply Chain Expansion

Abstract

Exponential sales growth creates unique challenges for manufacturing companies. An increasing backlog directly increases lead times unless production capacity can be scaled at the same rate. Lead times greater than the industry average threaten future growth as customers begin choosing substitutes that can arrive sooner.

This research explores the hypothesis that production throughput can be increased through improved business processes. The investigation uses ShopSabre CNC as a case study to explore techniques for developing new processes, such as sales and operations planning (S&OP), inventory modeling, and supply chain capacity, flexibility, and resilience analyses. The research effectiveness is measured by the observed changes in throughput and financial metrics.

The research illustrates that all the investigated techniques contributed materially to either increasing production throughput or improving financial outcomes. The primary source of the observed impacts was improving stakeholder alignment that was limiting growth. The recommendations focus on improving quality and integrating disciplined validation into an established culture valuing urgent adaptation. Inventory model assumptions and backlog dynamics were identified as exciting potential follow-on research opportunities.