The focus is on channel data: price; inventory positions; and policies. It is about much, much more than Vendor Managed Inventory (VMI ) or Collaborative Forecasting and Replenishment. Channel sensing enables the use of channel consumption, and the modeling of inventory across channels, to understand global and regional trends to maximize opportunity and mitigate risk. Choices on when to push, and when to pull, with translation into inventory policy and decoupling points. MORE

Top 10 Supply Chain Innovations of 2014 : hybrid DCs, 3-D prototypes, location-based inventory system, and more. Content Summary: Personal Mover Transports Employees around BMW Plant. To eliminate some of this traveling BMW’s R&D group developed a Personal Mover solution—a one-person means of transport for covering short distances within an operating site. We salute the year’s top advancements in supply chain technology and processes. MORE

It pains me to see nine out of ten companies are stuck at the critical intersection of cost and inventory turns. In a similar vein, their forecasts for the automotive market would have been on new automotive sales and dealer inventory. Use GPS, maps and weather signals to better predict arrival and route transportation assets. Economic Vision of Supply Chain 2030. Join us for a critical view of supply chain 2030 through the insights of leading economists. MORE

The combination of technology along with the advancements in transportation made it possible. The winners drive improvement while posting financial results in the Supply Chain Metrics That Matter ahead of the peer group. Inventory Turns. Better performance in inventory turns than the peer group average for the period of 2006-2015. In the other years, P&G improves inventory turns but regresses on operating margin performance.) Supply Chain 2030. MORE

I find most companies are good at pockets of planning–demand planning, supply planning, transportation planning, material planning or plant scheduling, but the flows are not connected. Each are good at localized planning within a focused area of demand, supply, network design, transportation planning, material sourcing or finite scheduling. Few implementations of planning connect to procurement and transportation. Economic Vision of Supply Chain 2030. MORE

The rankings are based on a composite score based on the opinions of Gartner’s analysts; a group of peer voters (mostly supply chain practitioners, professionals and experts; in the interests of full disclosure, I myself am part of the peer panel); some metrics, including return on assets, inventory growth and revenue growth; and a corporate social responsibility (CSR) component score. So the CSR score too is more of a popularity contest than a consistent metric. MORE

A new study by the SupplyChainDigest analyzing the main components of working capital: Days Sales Outstanding (DSO), Days Inventory Outstanding (DIO), and Days Payables Outstanding (DPO) revealed an uptick in DIO. Sustainable Freight Action Plan for California is estimated to Improve Freight Efficiency by 25% in 2030. Targets for 2030 Include: Improve freight system efficiency 25 percent by 2030. New Study Shows a Rise in US Company Inventories. MORE

NetSuite has launched a supply chain snapshot feature that’s a central part of any control tower that shows all of your inventory and related transactions with the ability to filter by subsidiary, location, etc. Maintain and expand your inventory management strategies. “Maintaining inventory accuracy is important for both your customer-facing systems and your internal ones. Think about how your warehouse might look in 2030. MORE