A standardised approach in a multi-national automotive and aerospace tier one supplier

Most large organisations operate a complex annual business planning process, are managed largely by financial information, and serve ever more competitive market places. Most of their business plans suffer the same fate as most strategic plans. As soon as they are signed off by the hierarchy, they go into a drawer until the time comes round to start the next planning cycle. This paper describes an approach adopted to break out of this negative approach to planning, by involving more people in the planning process and helping them focus on real operational issues. The company of this case history has over eighty sites around the world. At the time it was split into five product groups, four addressing the automotive market and one the aerospace industry