Supply Chain Shaman

JUNE 21, 2023

Many of the case studies being presented at today’s conferences were born during the pandemic and the post-pandemic turbulence. One of my insights from doing the industry analysis for the Supply Chains to Admire each year is that smaller and less well-known companies outperform larger and better-known manufacturers.

Gartner 424

Gartner Supply Chain Planning Software Supply Chain Design Software Supply Chain Planning 424

Supply Chain Shaman

JUNE 3, 2013

It was funded by 50 large consumer products manufacturing companies (CPG). In the dawn of e-commerce, conservative manufacturers, anteed up $240 million in four months. While there is work within SAP to rethink SNC and use the assets purchased with Ariba to build multi-tier capabilities, the progress is not encouraging.

Supply Chain Design Software 321

Supply Chain Design Software Supply Chain Planning Software Procurement Analytics Manufacturing Procurement 321

The Logistics of Logistics

SEPTEMBER 24, 2024

There, he navigated the complexities of the fuel desk, advising drivers nationwide on Comdata issues, optimizing purchase orders, and leveraging tax advantages. Excelling as an inside sales manager, account manager, and mentor, he led a broker team to achieve a monumental revenue goal of $40 million.

Supply Chain Network Software 246

Supply Chain Network Software Network Optimization St. Louis Logistics Network Optimization Software 246

Supply Chain Shaman

OCTOBER 10, 2017

AGCO was honored to receive the AME 2017 Excellence Award. While many employers would have penalized the employees for tablet breakage , Peggy explored the world of wearables to enable her digital manufacturing transformation. To solve these problems, AGCO partnered with Proceedix to develop an application for manufacturing.

Supply Chain Design Software 170

Supply Chain Design Software Manufacturing Material Savings Supply Chain Software 170

Supply Chain Shaman

JUNE 29, 2014

This week, I spoke at the Llamasoft Summercon Conference. The conference was low-key. We laughed, and felt a bit silly, leaving the conference room holding our new furry tchotchkes. Most companies are still struggling with “what good looks like” and “what defines supply chain excellence.”

Supply Chain Design Software 268

Supply Chain Design Software Supply Chain Design Network Design Software Supply Chain Planning Software 268

GlobalTranz

JANUARY 7, 2016

Editor's Note: This is a two part series featuring Chuck Intrieri, who along with providing excellent insights over at his industry leading The Lean Supply Chain blog, is also a consultant who works with companies for Cost Reduction, Supply Chain Optimization, Logistics, Manufacturing, and 3PL Selection. What is Manufacturing?

Manufacturing Procurement 120

Manufacturing Procurement Manufacturing Eliminating Excel in Purchasing Purchasing Skills 120

Supply Chain Shaman

OCTOBER 11, 2012

” CFO of a major manufacturer. Procter & Gamble and Kimberly Clark); but for most companies that I have worked with, I see that they have purchased and implemented inventory technologies, but there has not been an impact on future years results in either Days of Inventory or Days of Working Capital. I am a skeptic.

Inventory Reduction 247

Inventory Reduction Vendor Strategies Resource Reduction Cost Reduction Strategies 247

Supply Chain Shaman

JUNE 16, 2014

The older tools from CAPS Logistics, SNO from Oracle, and Manugistics Network Planning are giving way to new technologies like the Logictools product (purchased from IBM), the Solvoyo product for concurrent planning, the Quintiq technology for concurrent optimization, and the Llamasoft technology platform for optimization and simulation.

Supply Chain Design Software 319

Supply Chain Design Software Network Design Software Supply Chain Planning Software Supply Chain Network Software 319

Supply Chain Shaman

SEPTEMBER 13, 2023

The issues are largely rooted in politics and the lack of clarity on supply chain excellence. Or planned orders to purchase orders?) In one of the case studies, a manufacturer reported that they had 1700 employees with the term “data” in their title, but they lacked insights. And how do we measure it? (Is

Supply and Demand 431

Supply and Demand Supply Chain Planning Software Modeling Demand Planning 431

Supply Chain Shaman

JUNE 29, 2022

Concurrent macro forces–material shortages, war, shifts in consumer buying patterns, logistics constraints, inflation/recession, and climate change– are reshaping today’s reality necessitating the need for a supply chain reset button. We have heard that there is a focus on near-shoring, reshoring, and local manufacturing.

Supply Chain Design Software 259

Supply Chain Design Software Supply Chain Planning Software Supply Chain Design Pricing Training 259

Supply Chain Shaman

JANUARY 8, 2014

I need it for my conference on September 10th-11th, 2014. He is responsible for manufacturing, procurement, supply chain planning, logistics, quality, social responsibility and final product engineering. Which metrics do you think matter to supply chain excellence? I am behind. The heat is on. No backing out.

Procurement Analytics 279

Procurement Analytics Manufacturing Procurement Metrics Procurement Solutions 279

Supply Chain Shaman

JUNE 3, 2024

As an old gal attending multiple conferences (more than I would like at times), I have listened to speakers waft eloquently about the value of concepts like networks, big data, industry 4.0, similarly, over 95% of manufacturers invested and implemented supply chain planning, but their primary tool today is Excel.

Supply Chain Planning Software 369

Supply Chain Planning Software Supply Chain Design Software Modeling Software Forecasting Software 369

Supply Chain Shaman

SEPTEMBER 24, 2018

<Bear with me… > Here I share a nine-step process in an attempt to help companies unravel the process for buying supply chain planning software. They center on how to make a good decision in the purchase of supply chain planning solutions. Most have purchased software, but are dependent on Excel spreadsheets.

Supply Chain Planning Software 252

Supply Chain Planning Software Supply Chain Design Software Supply Chain Planning Supply Chain Software 252

Supply Chain Shaman

JUNE 7, 2021

Gartner purchased the firm in 2010.) Driving Improvements in Supply Chain Excellence. He felt strongly that supply chain leaders knew how to drive supply chain excellence and needed a forum– or maybe two or three depending on the business model– to help them network and refine their approaches. I disagreed.

Gartner 221

Gartner Supply Chain Design Software Supply Chain Planning Software Eliminating Excel in Purchasing 221

QAD

JANUARY 23, 2025

In 2024, artificial intelligence (AI) was everywhere in countless headlines, on every conference agenda and on the minds of leaders in virtually every industry. This is the year that AI stops being just a buzzword and begins to evolve into an operational imperative for manufacturers, retail and supply chain companies.

Manufacturing Procurement 52

Manufacturing Procurement Predictive Analytics Software Optimization Software Optimal Sourcing 52

Kinaxis

OCTOBER 3, 2016

by Bill DuBois I recently attended the LogiPharma conference in Princeton, NJ to hear a number of speakers give their thoughts on the state of the pharmaceutical supply chain. Of particular interest was a session on Contract Manufacturing Operations (CMO) relationships with Michael Daly, Director of Supply Chain for Valeant Pharmaceuticals.

Pharmaceutical 195

Pharmaceutical Supply Chain Planning Software Supply Chain Planning Supply Chain Software 195

Supply Chain Shaman

NOVEMBER 9, 2014

This team is not buying the message. So much so, that three years ago, I founded a research company to focus on understanding supply chain excellence. Proudly, I had led my division to have the lowest manufacturing costs with the highest Return on Assets. For a couple of hours I looked around the room and saw glazed eyes.

Manufacturing Procurement 318

Manufacturing Procurement Optimal Sourcing Benchmarking Supply Chain Design Software 318

Supply Chain Insights

JANUARY 18, 2018

I writhe in my seat at most conferences and count the number of times the word “digital” is used in presentations. Here are my predictions for 2018: Supply Chain Excellence as We Know It Is Redefined. Supply chain excellence definitions evolve as companies explore the Art of the Possible. I am not sure why.

Prescriptive Analytics Software 197

Prescriptive Analytics Software Supply Chain Planning Software Supply Chain Design Software Predictive Analytics Software 197

Supply Chain Shaman

OCTOBER 8, 2019

The focus is on the role of supply chain finance in driving supply chain excellence. Next year’s conference will be on September 8th-11th in Franklin, TN, south of Nashville, TN. The design of the conference includes tours of several modern warehouses and centers of excellence. Background. 4 Maximize Buffers.

Supply Chain Design Software 207

Supply Chain Design Software Inventory Reduction Supply Chain Planning Software Forecasting 207

Supply Chain Shaman

AUGUST 14, 2016

As we discussed this drawing the dialogue flowed in the conference room. The network senses, translates, and orchestrates market changes (buy- and sell-side markets) bidirectionally with near real-time data to align sell, deliver, make and sourcing organizations outside-in. .” I drew the picture shown in Figure 1.

Material Savings 246

Material Savings Inventory Reduction Price Reduction Vendor Strategies 246

Oracle SCM

SEPTEMBER 25, 2017

The past few weeks have seen several different conferences in Supply Chain but the stand out last week was certainly the Gartner Supply Chain Executive Conference (GSCES) in London. And so there was no shortage of cloud vendors at the conference this year.

Gartner 84

Gartner Supply Chain Execution Conference Supply Chain Software 84

Supply Chain Shaman

MAY 2, 2016

During the spring, I get to spend a lot of time in airplane(s) attending and speaking at technology confer ences. We also see that manufacturing companies with a strong dependency on BPO are less agile and rate themselves lower on innovation. Avoid buying software from a consulting company. I have done this for a decade.

Supply Chain Planning Software 150

Supply Chain Planning Software Modeling Software Analytics Software Supply Chain Software 150

Supply Chain Shaman

SEPTEMBER 20, 2015

During the year, I go to a lot of conferences. How do they buy from you? How do they buy from you?” When I hear them at a conference, I squirm uncontrollably in my seat. SanDisk Corporation designs, develops and manufactures flash memory storage devices and software. Source: Dictionary.com.

Inventory Reduction 150

Inventory Reduction Cost Reduction Strategies Sourcing Strategies Supply Chain Strategy 150

Supply Chain Shaman

JULY 3, 2017

However, the stories of success are largely project improvements or improvements in vertical supply chain efficiency in manufacturing or transportation. In each case, note that the greatest improvement is happening in industries like contract manufacturing where innovation is a necessity due low margins. As shown in Figure 1.

Inventory Reduction 199

Inventory Reduction Supply Chain Planning Software Supply Chain Design Software Cost Reduction Strategies 199

Supply Chain Shaman

FEBRUARY 14, 2022

When my flight canceled, I was en route to the annual AMR conference in Phoenix. Notice how the water turns from blue to brown in Figure 3 with the lack of demand translation capabilities within the enterprise for manufacturing and logistics. Demand latency is two-eight weeks delayed from consumption purchase to translate to an order.

S&OP 195

S&OP Supply and Demand Procurement Analytics Manufacturing Procurement 195

Supply Chain Shaman

MARCH 3, 2018

My goal in this blog post is to answer a series of questions I got from the audience when I spoke at a couple of conferences this week. Through digital marketing, small brands are cropping up all over, and it is sentiment analysis and digital content driving purchases. A strong center of excellence tied to network design is essential.

Supply Chain Design Software 170

Supply Chain Design Software Manufacturing Procurement Network Design Software Supply Chain Planning Software 170

Supply Chain Shaman

OCTOBER 29, 2020

If the word collaboration was listed on a card as a drinking game at supply chain conferences, we would be drunk at many. While touted as a digital procurement provider, it took the Company nine days to onboard me as a vendor, and two weeks to process a Purchase Order. Here I share perspective on cash-to-cash abuse. My takeaway?

Optimal Sourcing 299

Optimal Sourcing Supply Chain Design Software Waste Reduction Inventory Reduction 299

Supply Chain Shaman

SEPTEMBER 3, 2015

Cycle stock is the management of stock required to cycle through production runs and procurement buys effectively. There are two buffers in the supply chain: inventory and manufacturing capacity. As assets become more and more utilized manufacturing loses the ability to buffer volatility through manufacturing capacity optimization.

Waste Reduction 150

Waste Reduction Inventory Reduction Inventory Optimal Sourcing 150

Unleashed

AUGUST 11, 2020

Effective inventory management is crucial to reducing costs in any manufacturing business. This is particularly true in the food manufacturing industry, which characteristically has a high volume of products stored, and an urgent need to fill existing client orders to match ongoing consumer demand.

Manufacturing Procurement 89

Manufacturing Procurement Inventory Management Software Supply Chain Planning Software Forecasting Software 89

Supply Chain Shaman

NOVEMBER 6, 2016

If a planning project short-circuits the conference room pilot stages, it will be difficult to ever maximize the value from the investment. The third issue is the lack of understanding that global processes–to maximize the economies of scale in transportation and material buying–need strong governance.

Supply Chain Planning Software 150

Supply Chain Planning Software Supply Chain Design Software Supply Chain Planning Scenario Planning 150

Supply Chain Shaman

MAY 3, 2015

Executive, after executive, lament, “They have purchased many technologies and sponsored many projects to reduce inventories, but they are not seeing results.” As a result, companies should buy inventory management technologies based on process requirements, IT standardization and cultural fit. Seven Misconceptions.

Inventory Reduction 150

Inventory Reduction Supply Chain Design Software Supply Chain Planning Software Inventory Management Software 150

Kinaxis

SEPTEMBER 8, 2014

They have piloted the process in Excel and know that they need an enterprise level solution for a global roll-out of S&OP. The best planning systems are implemented carefully based on conference room pilots and focus on modeling the business. However, excellence in corporate planning matters.

Supply Chain Planning Software 261

Supply Chain Planning Software Supply Chain Design Software Supply Chain Planning Modeling Software 261

The Logistics & Supply Chain Management Society

APRIL 26, 2022

According to the Conference Board, despite lockdowns and COVID-19 related restrictions, consumer confidence in Asia rose in the last quarter of 2021 to 128 points from 126 points. Brand loyalty is no longer the driver for consumer purchasing decisions. As a result, consumer behaviour is likely to become more and more unpredictable.

Supply Chain Planning Software 246

Supply Chain Planning Software Supply Chain Design Software Agile and Lean Supply Chain Supply Chain Software 246

Supply Chain Shaman

JANUARY 15, 2022

In the 1990s, I transitioned from managing an emerging supply chain organization at a mid-sized manufacturing company to working for a supply chain planning company. As we walked, I reflected and kept asking Scott, “How can we optimize outcomes if companies are not clear on what defines excellence?” A Walk That I Often Remember.

Supply Chain Design Software 195

Supply Chain Design Software Supply Chain Planning Software Modeling Software Modeling 195

Supply Chain Shaman

JANUARY 15, 2022

In the 1990s, I transitioned from managing an emerging supply chain organization at a mid-sized manufacturing company to working for a supply chain planning company. As we walked, I reflected and kept asking Scott, “How can we optimize outcomes if companies are not clear on what defines excellence?” A Walk That I Often Remember.

Supply Chain Design Software 195

Supply Chain Design Software Supply Chain Planning Software Modeling Software Modeling 195

Supply Chain Opz

SEPTEMBER 28, 2013

Since a modern business is shifting from manufacturing to service, this article will provide a review of literature and a case study of the company at a forefront of the service supply chain frontier. In order to excel in this operations, they try to find the people with positive attitude.

Logistics Network Optimization Software 154

Logistics Network Optimization Software Supply Chain Planning Software Supply Chain Planning Buyer Training 154

Supply Chain Movement

DECEMBER 17, 2014

So mark your calendar with the relevant supply chain conferences. Supply Chain Management & Optimization Conference. eWorld Purchasing & Supply. 13th annual supply chain standard Logistics & Supply Chain Conference. 9th Turkey Trade & Export Finance Conference. Supplier Management Excellence.

Gartner 107

Gartner Supply Chain Strategy Supply Chain Planning Supply Chain Optimization 107