The potential benefits of advanced planning and scheduling systems in sales and operations planning

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore what potential benefits may be achieved by usingadvanced planning and scheduling (APS) systems in the sales and operations planning (S&OP) process.Design/methodology/approach – The paper investigates benefits at the S&OP process level byinterviewing APS experts and APS users. Several methods have been used; literature review, Delphistudy, and a case study at a company in the chemical industry which uses APS system support in theS&OP process.Findings – Three types of potential benefits were found to be achieved when using APS systems in theS&OP process; benefits concerning decision support, planning efficiency and learning effects. The mostcommon type was decision support benefits according to APS users and APS experts. The results fromthe case company showed that the benefits perceived in the different S&OP activities differed. In theactivities concerning the preparation and generation of delivery plans, the perceived benefits mainlyconcerned learning effects. In the activities concerning the generation of a production plan, the benefitswere foremost found in planning efficiency. In the S&OP meeting decision support benefits were highestvalued. The reason for the different results can be explained by the aim of the activity, how APS wasused in the activity, the user characteristics and the design of the model and access and quality ofplanning data.Research limitations/implications – The focus of this paper is on potential benefits of APSsystems in the S&OP process only, not the costs. It has established a typology of potential benefits. Novalidation in form of statistical analysis has been done. The empirical analysis is mainly based onfindings from a single case study.Practical implications – The findings about the types of APS potential will assist companies inunderstanding the benefits they can expect from its use in the S&OP process. The case study analysisgives further insight into how APS can be employed and what benefits different APS user categories canexpect when it is used in an appropriate way.Originality/value – The knowledge about which benefits that can be achieved when using APS inthe S&OP process is quite unexplored. This paper fills some of these gaps