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Tweaking the planning frequency can result in a substantial improvement in Supply Chain performance.
Most companies practice a monthly frequency for their supply chain planning, starting with S&OP or IBP and culminating in Demand plan, Distribution plan, Master Production Schedule and Procurement plan. The monthly frequency makes the plan out of sync with market realities quite quickly. Rejigging a part of this plan like distribution on a more frequent basis doesn’t help as other functions continue to operate basis their earlier plan.
If we want to synchronise supplies with demand on an ongoing basis, we must tweak the entire planning frequency. Many companies have moved to weekly planning. For best results, I would recommend moving the entire planning to daily frequency, where we sense and predict short term demand daily and use it as the primary trigger to refresh the distribution plan, production schedule as well as the procurement plan.