SIOP: Deeper understanding, better prepared

The goal of SIOP (sales, inventory, operations, and planning) is to enable good decision making for Cook—because the focus of SIOP is on the last part of the acronym: planning.

SIOP is not a new concept. It was born in the 1950s and evolved significantly in the 80s. So, you might be thinking, “This has been around longer than Cook has, how can we think about it as being inventive or innovative?”

The answer is that now, with ever-improving advanced planning process and technology platforms, SIOP is more inventive or innovative than ever, though, the principles and purpose of SIOP have largely remained the same.

And to implement it, build the processes, acquire the technology and expertise, as well as the discipline and rigor to see it thorough is a very inventive endeavor, particularly for Cook. SIOP allows Cook to connect our demand plans with our ability to supply product, our capacity, and our financial and operational plans.

To implement and execute it in a company the size and scope of Cook Medical requires us to think and act in much more innovative ways than the past. SIOP is an opportunity for Cook to continue breaking down silos by ensuring the appropriate stakeholders and roles are not only included in the process but are responsible for part of it. This helps all of us be more accountable and adds value to the process. We had to deepen our understanding of our demand, our constraints, and even our suppliers’ constraints.

Another inventive aspect of SIOP is our commitment to fully implementing Oracle Cloud ERP (enterprise resource planning) which fills a huge technology void at Cook when it comes to overall supply chain planning.

We are very fortunate to be live in Oracle Cloud for Demand Planning Globally as well as Rough Cut Capacity Planning at Cook Ireland and William Cook Europe. Achieving this milestone is only the beginning. Navigating through detailed global design, testing, training, and implementation was no small feat. Over 80 people were involved, over 155 working days for us to go live with those systems in April of this year.

Benefits of having these improved systems include:

1. Since the launch of this world-class forecasting engine in April of this year, it has proven to be very accurate, which has kept us in very close alignment with our financial plans.

2. All manufacturing entities have access to the Global Demand plan via Qlik and can use that data to plan much further out and with more confidence.

3. Our Procurement team has access to the Demand Plan via Qlik and can use the data to work more deeply with our suppliers and even their suppliers to communicate what we need with confidence.

When all is said and done the SIOP process, combined with tools and technology needed to execute it effectively, strengthens our connections within our business and helps us make better decisions. I often say SIOP is not designed to solve our problems, but it will help us expose them and make sure we confront them with as much information as possible. It really forces us to act.

By leveraging the proven SIOP principles and our new technology, we will be better prepared to serve our customers in a way that has not been achieved by Cook in our history. And, we will achieve this in a financially responsible way.

Next time you think about how Cook is being relentlessly inventive and deeply connected, I hope you can see how SIOP plays a role in that journey.