- Conscious Supply Chain
- Posts
- S&OP Series (3/3): To Rebalance or to Expedite: Issue 04
S&OP Series (3/3): To Rebalance or to Expedite: Issue 04
How Supply Review and Executive Review closes the S&OP loop.

“Garbage in - garbage out” A quote I hear from a lot of supply chain professionals.
In this episode we close the chapter on how to fully identify garbage and improve it from demand to supply.

The S&OP Cycle - we are at the last two phases
Today, we close the loop: Supply Review and Executive Review.
Because no matter how good your forecast is - reality will change.
What happens after Consensus?
You’ve locked in your final forecast.
But then:
A supplier misses an ETA
Demand spikes from a promo
A 3PL delay hits inbound shipments
Now what?
That’s where the Supply Review comes in.
Supply Review: How to respond when things go sideways
Even with the best planning, supply chain execution will always have surprises.
The goal of Supply Review is to manage them smartly:
Spot gaps early
Prioritize responses
Minimize margin impact
You’ve got levers:
Expedite shipments
Rebalance inventory across DCs
Adjust production
Manage allocations
But not every lever is equal.
Sometimes paying for air freight makes sense. Other times it’s cheaper to shift stock between warehouses or simply accept a short-term stockout for less critical channels.
Example: Prioritizing the right lever
Imagine this situation:
One DC → about to stock out
The other DC → overstocked
Options:
Air freight → fast, but expensive
Truck transfer → slower, cheaper
Accept partial stockout → zero cost, but revenue risk
A well-run Supply Review helps the team choose the optimal trade-off and avoid rushed decisions that hurt margins.

What should we do here? Move from green? Or ask blue to ship earlier?
How to run a smart Supply Review
4 simple rules:
Quantify options → Compare cost, speed, and revenue impact:
Expedite = high cost, fast, hurts margin
Rebalance = moderate cost, preserves margin
Tolerate stockout = no cost, risks revenue
Prioritize by margin impact → Don’t chase units. Protect the most valuable products/customers.
→ And don’t forget customer rules and potential fines (Walmart, Costco 👀)
Set clear decision rules → Agree upfront when expedite is justified (e.g. no for low-margin).
Learn in Executive Review → Always check if last cycle’s decisions drove the right outcomes.
Supply Review in practice: Key questions
How often should you run Supply Review? → Weekly is common for fast-moving omni-channel brands. Some run it bi-weekly, but weekly helps stay ahead of risk.
Who should be in the room? → Planning, Ops, Finance, and Sales – cross-functional.
How do you align Finance & Sales? → Set clear financial guardrails before the meeting (e.g., expedite budget).
How do you measure improvement? → Track:
Expedite cost
% stockouts
Inventory- & Overstock value
Stockout risks mitigated
(inventory below safety stock that was recovered)
→ Sounds like a lot of meetings and trade-off calculations? It might be. But the right software can cut meeting time, manual work, and decision-making from days to minutes 😉
Executive Review: Turning gaps into learning
Finally, the Executive Review closes the loop.
The goal here isn’t just another dashboard. It’s a structured look-back that helps you learn and improve:
What did we have (Opening Stock)?
What did we think would happen (Forecast)?
What did we buy (Supply)?
What did it cost (COGS)?
Where did we land (Closing Stock)?
These five numbers tell you everything:
Did we forecast well?
Did we supply to match?
Did we over- or under-buy?
Did we manage costs effectively?
Without this review, teams miss early signals and repeat mistakes.
With it, S&OP becomes a true continuous improvement loop.
The full S&OP cycle in one picture
By now, you’ve seen how the full cycle connects and how each phase builds on the next to drive margin and resilience.
What we learned today
Supply Review helps you manage gaps between plan and reality cost-effectively
→ The smartest response isn’t always the fastest. It’s the one that protects margin
Executive Review closes the loop and drives continuous learning
→ Without these phases, even great forecasts won’t translate into better margin or lower risk
Recap: The full S&OP cycle
Assortment: What products are we launching? What are we discontinuing?
Baseline Forecast: What is our starting forecast based on clean historical data?
Consensus: Align the business on one actionable number
Supply Review: How do we respond when reality changes?
Executive Review: How well did we plan and execute? How do we improve?
When done right, this loop unlocks:
✅ Less safety stock
✅ Higher service levels
✅ Lower working capital
✅ Higher margin
✅ Less headache and manual workload for everybody
In a nutshell, a more resilient supply chain ⚓️
In the next issue, we’ll dive deeper into forecast engines and when to use Statistical methods, Machine Learning or Moving Averages based on your demand profile.
See you next time!
-Leon