Reduced inventory and optimized logistics are just a few of the benefits to be realized in implementing Integrated Tactical Planning, says David Goddard, principal at Oliver Wight.

Given the supply chain challenges that companies have faced in recent years, some have come up with an integrated planning processes on their own, Goddard acknowledges. A better approach, he says, is “a robust left-foot, right-foot implementation methodology to not only help them identify challenges in supply chain, but also identify challenges where they have surprises with their customers or some difficulty introducing new products. Integrated Tactical Planning talks about the execution side of those three disciplines.”

Goddard says the aim of ITP is to help identify when forecasts are not developing as envisioned. Typical questions that the process aids in answering include: “What can we do on the supply side? What are we trying to do on the commercial side before we go canceling supply?” 

He says, “We've been big fans of sales and operations planning, integrated business planning, executive processes, but ITP is more detailed. It has very specific discussions around part numbers, quantities, due dates and how we can satisfy customers. Customers are finding that they're getting savings on inventory. They're reducing obsolescence.”

Goddard says logistics has benefited quite a bit as well. “We've found some great opportunities in logistics, either interplant or inbound or outbound logistics, where folks have been blindsided for years. ‘Oh, I didn't know you were making that now.’ ‘And I wish I could have taken advantage of rail, but now that you have made a smaller quantity, I had to go LTL.’”

Information is actionable. “But it's a weekly process,” Goddard says. “We’re taking a pause based on the development since the last week, but it would be real-time for sure.”