November, 2013

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EDI: Workhorse of the Extended Supply Chain

Supply Chain Shaman

'work·horse. noun ?w?rk-?ho?rs. : a dependable person who does a lot of work. : a dependable machine or vehicle that is used to do a lot of work. EDI is the workhorse of B2B connectivity. It is not new. It is not sexy. Four decades after its creation, supply chain executives see it as slow and expensive. They are frustrated. They question the value.

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Tweet chat: Improving supply chain for 2014

DELMIA Quintiq

'Supply chain complexity is increasing and it’s time we rethink our strategies. What are your plans for managing supply chain complexity in 2014? Is it time to invest in new tools? How do you plan on addressing forecasting and demand sensing next year? What upcoming trends will you be leveraging? Discuss your answers to these questions at our upcoming Twitter chat happening on November 28, 2013 at 12pm CET.

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5 Greatest Books for Supply Chain Executives

Supply Chain Opz

'Previously I''ve covered about the classic and new supply chain management books that SCM professionals should check out. In this article, I will show you top 5 books that every supply chain executive should have on their bookshelf. Data Collection Since most top executives need to manage their time effectively, the format of the book is very important.

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Santa Claus: Master of Supply Chain Management

Supply Chains Rock

'You may be facing stiff competition in your industry, but on your most stressful days take a moment to feel grateful that you aren’t competing against the ultimate all-time master of supply chain management. No question, the Santa Claus operation would easily crush the efforts of any small or large company — with nary more than twinkling wink and a cheerful swipe with a white-gloved fist.

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2024 Annual T&L M&A Report

Tenney Group, an industry specialized M&A Advisory firm in the T&L space, produced the 2024 Annual M&A Report. The report contains an in depth overview of 2023 notable deals and the market, while also providing the outlook for 2024 M&A.

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SCM Best Paper Award Winners 2013 (2/2)

SCM Research

'Three more leading journals of our field have announced the winners of their best paper awards. First, the Decision Sciences Journal has selected the article Managing Differentiation-Integration Duality in Supply Chain Integration by Terjesen, Patel and Sanders for its Best Paper Award for 2012. Second, the article The Competitive Determinants of a Firm’s Environmental Management Activities: Evidence from US Manufacturing Industries by Hofer, Cantor and Dai has won the Journal of Operatio

SCM 165

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Straight Talk: OpenText to Acquire GXS

Supply Chain Shaman

'gob·ble·dy·gook. ?gäb?ld??go?ok,-?go?ok/. noun: gobbledygook – language that is meaningless or is made unintelligible by excessive use of abstruse technical terms; nonsense. Gobbledygook. As I listened to the investor relations call on OpenText’s intent to buy GXS , I heard gobbledygook. At least, this was my take. The OpenText script focused on how ECM+EIM=EIM Cloud-based Services.

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How good is your production scheduling?

DELMIA Quintiq

'It’s one of those questions that seem simple enough – but aren’t. When I ask supply chain managers how good their production scheduling is, I’m often met with incomprehension. “Well we have good planners who know the business well. What exactly are you talking about?”. Those managers are right to throw my question back at me. ‘Good’ is a vague term.

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Straight Talk. Lots of It.

Supply Chain Insights

'February marks two years. Supply Chain Insights, as a company, is maturing. In 2013 we have almost doubled revenue and tripled reach. Today we will publish our 17 th newsletter to over 7000 supply chain professionals. We love content. This year we have published 25 reports, completed more than 55 podcasts, archived more than 20 webcasts, conducted our fifth public training session and hosted our first, and what will become, our annual event.

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Expert Tips to Develop Your Logistics Strategy

The Logistics of Logistics

'Developing a Better Logistics Strategy. As featured in Inbound Logistics , this article shares some experts’ tips about developing a winning logistics strategy. Here’s a preview of some of the valuable advice they share. Tips From Logistics Experts. Rick D. Blasgen, the president and CEO of the Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals in Illinois, USA, shares that his top tip is to acquire an experienced individual in the logistics industry, someone who has well-developed in

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The Big Payoff of Application Analytics

Outdated or absent analytics won’t cut it in today’s data-driven applications – not for your end users, your development team, or your business. That’s what drove the five companies in this e-book to change their approach to analytics. Download this e-book to learn about the unique problems each company faced and how they achieved huge returns beyond expectation by embedding analytics into applications.

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Logistics and Supply Chain Management in Africa

SCM Research

'As you might know, I had the great opportunity to travel to East Africa several times, where I gave logistics and supply chain management lectures ( see my previous post ). In spite of a lot of desperation, I was somewhat heartened by many developments I observed. Indeed, although Africa – a continent with more than one billion people – certainly faces huge challenges, the situation is changing rapidly.

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The Perfect Answer to “What’s the ROI of Social Networking?”

Talking Logistics

'Whenever I’m asked “What’s the ROI of social networking?” I reply with a question: What’s the ROI of email? You never hear supply chain executives ask that question, yet they use the ROI question as a way to delay or block the deployment of social networking technologies at their companies. Email, as you probably know from your own experience, is arguably the number one productivity killer in the workplace (I actually have my email app closed as I write this so I won’t get distracted).

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Things Have Changed: What Do We Do NOW?

Supply Chain Shaman

'This week I interviewed Robert Byrne, Founder of Terra Technology , on the results of their fourth benchmarking study on forecasting excellence. For those that do not follow this work, let me give a preamble. The work done by Terra Technology, in my opinion, is one of two accurate sources of benchmark data on forecasting in the industry. The other is Chainalytics demand benchmarking.

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Standardizing scheduling systems: How far do you go?

DELMIA Quintiq

'It’s a tough question. Just the other day, I was chatting with a customer who was preparing to roll out a new scheduling system across plants in several countries. Their IT department was all for implementing a standard system. Their plant managers weren’t so sure. What, he asked, was my view? There’s always been a certain tension between standardizing scheduling systems and supporting the unique business processes of individual plants or facilities.

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Rethinking Direct Materials Sourcing: The Tools You Need To Manage Costs, Risks and Sustainability

Direct materials sourcing is evolving, with procurement now tasked not only with cost efficiency but managing sustainability and risk management. The environment is marked by heightened demand and expectations, compounded by challenges such as rising input prices, supply chain disruptions and geopolitical tensions. While some embrace cutting-edge tools like AI and blockchain for global trade functions, others lag in technology adoption.

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Finding the Supply Chain Sweet Spot

Supply Chains Rock

'Figure 1 - Finding the Sweet Spot In any supply chain, manufacturing operation, or field deployment of equipment, ‘time is money’ when it comes to detecting quality problems. Even small delays in detecting these issues can result in large costs, such as rework, scrap, product recall, product defect and associated brand damage, legal liability, and the list goes on.

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The Two Best Supply Chain Metrics - The 21st Century Supply Chain

Kinaxis

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Angora Wool

SCM Research

'Last week, a shocking video, created by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), was published. The images cast a dark shadow over global garment supply chains. In response, brands like H&M and C&A halted manufacturing of items containing Angora wool. This case, again, demonstrates the importance of ethical aspects in supply chain management.

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A New Perspective on Dedicated Transportation

Talking Logistics

'Dedicated transportation is getting a lot of attention these days from both shippers and 3PLs. Historically, companies have used dedicated fleets in very specific lanes, where shipment volumes are very predictable and consistent, and where service is very important. And companies have traditionally viewed dedicated as “an exception” or a “special case” – that is, separate from the rest of their transportation operations.

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Supply Chain Orchestration: A New Era in Supply Chain Management

When the only certainty is uncertainty, what does that mean for today’s supply chain management approaches? This eBook delves into how supply chain orchestration can help businesses unlock agility, transparency, intelligence, and trust across their end-to-end supply chain.

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Breaking Up Is Hard to Do….

Supply Chain Shaman

'I feel it in my heart. The decision is divorce. I came to this relationship three years ago. It started casually. It was off and on. I tried to give it a go and make it stick. I thought that we could make this work, but I was wrong. The What? Airline experiences, in my blog, give me many “ teaching moments” for supply chain leaders. Customer service and the delivery of the brand promise is job number one for a supply chain leader.

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The impact of 3D printing on supply chain planning

DELMIA Quintiq

'By: Creative Tools. No, that’s not a Star Trek Replicator. It’s a 3D printer. But sadly, no, you can’t synthesize your own cup of hot Earl Grey Tea just yet. The technology of creating objects by layering material in precise ways has been around for a couple of decades. What has changed now is the availability of sturdier material to create higher quality objects and the reduced cost in hardware.

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Change Supply Chain KPI’s to Drive Competitive Advantage

Logility

Big Data, Sales and Operations Planning, and Supply Chain Maturity are topics I see trade publications writing about often. This led me down a path and to a question: how does this impact what you measure? Every company I walk into has a white board hanging prominently on the wall with the current departmental Key Performance Indicators. Usually these are department-specific and encompass the traditional time series measures of fill rate or capacity utilization versus their goal.

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Shaking Things Up in Supply Chain Management

Demand Solutions

Are you tired of seeing “business as usual” in supply chain management? Have you ever felt as if implementing your changes was like trying to steer an air craft carrier — in the Arctic? I know the feeling. And my message is this: Don’t give up. The industry needs your decisive leadership. Early in my career, I was head of inventory control for a large retail operation that ran as a co-op.

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How Intent Data Helps Marketers Convert A-List Accounts

One of the biggest challenges for any B2B marketer is understanding your prospects’ next move — who is most likely to buy and when. Without these insights, marketing campaigns can feel more like guesswork, with high investment and little return. We’re here to tell you there’s a better way. By tracking buyers’ digital footprints and online activity, such as website visits, product reviews, and spikes in content consumption, you can engage prospects with a message that really resonates.

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Introducing the Journal of Operations Management (Guest Post by the Editors-in-Chief)

SCM Research

'In today’s guest post, Thomas Y. Choi and Daniel Guide, Editors-in-Chief of the Journal of Operations Management , provide an introduction to their journal, which is a leading journal of our field. The Journal of Operations Management (JOM) is an empirical journal whose mission is to advance the theories of operations management (OM) and supply chain management (SCM).

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Why Excel Remains the Champ of Supply Chain Apps

Talking Logistics

'Forget cloud, social, and mobile. Forget WMS and TMS. Forget BI and analytics. As was confirmed for Adrian yet again last week at a conference, the most utilized supply chain and logistics application, the reigning champ of them all, is the Excel spreadsheet. The question is, Why? In this episode, Adrian provides his perspective, and what it means for supply chain professionals and software vendors.

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Mind Map for Global Trade Management

Supply Chain Movement

'Global trade and the supply chains associated with it are subject to evertighter international regulations and legislation. Global trade management reduces the risk of liability, fines and delays at international borders, and conducting a sourcing and distribution analysis presents possibilities for companies to minimise import duties, taxes and surcharges.

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Passenger Service Product of the Year 2013

DELMIA Quintiq

'Overcoming complexity in passenger rail planning is not easy. Leading passenger rail companies recognize that yesterday’s scheduling methods no longer meet the demands of a rapidly changing industry. That’s why Nuovo Trasporto Viaggiatori (NTV) selected Quintiq software to create optimal plans, taking into account constraints, business rules and employee preferences.

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Exploring the Advantages and Hurdles of Direct Store Deliveries

Direct Store Delivery, or DSD, is a common practice among global suppliers and retailers – like PepsiCo, Frito Lay, CVS, and Dollar General – and its popularity is growing, with the global DSD market expected to reach $1.19 trillion by 2027. Download this eBook for exclusive insights into direct store deliveries, challenges, benefits, and future trends.

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Changing the Production Performance Metric

Logility

Inside-out to outside-in is starting to turn. Anyone who has worked with asset intensive process manufacturers knows how hard it is to change the thinking about machine capacity utilization. For years asset utilization has been the de facto measurement where running smaller lot sizes was not an option. My have things changed. I see many companies shifting to a more balanced approach as companies strive to become more demand driven.

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S&OP: Should the Budgeting Process Ever End?

Demand Solutions

A personal survey of 200 randomly-selected companies confirmed that 161 of those companies operate on fiscal calendars that begin in January. It’s a safe assumption then that the majority of U.S. businesses can finally hear "Auld Lang Syne" playing faintly in the background as the seemingly endless process of constructing the annual budget nears its end.

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Supplier Collaboration at Kinexions - The 21st Century Supply Chain

Kinaxis

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