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I laugh when business leaders tell me that they are going to replace their current supply chain planning technologies with “AI.” Each supply chain planning technology at the end of 2024, went through disruption–change in CEO, business model shift, layoffs, re-platforming and acquisitions. You are right.
Machine learning (ML)a specialized field within artificial intelligence (AI)is revolutionizing demand planning and supply chain management. According to McKinsey , organizations implementing AI-driven demand forecasting solutions can reduce forecast errors by 30% to 50%.
Probabilistic forecasting is revolutionizing demand forecasting, supply planning, and inventory optimization by significantly improving forecast accuracy and decision-making across distribution networks. However, this approach ignores real purchasing behavior, such as customers buying complete sets of four tires.
In follow-up qualitative interviews, one of the largest issues with organizational alignment was metric definition and a clear definition of supply chain excellence. To manage continuous improvement, companies need a clear definition of excellence and organizational alignment to that goal. What Drives Value?
Building a software company is hard work. Most of the business networks were hollowed out by venture capitalists or purchased by opportunists. Try to gain an understanding of how technological advancements can improve work. Yawn and walk on if the answer is i mproving demand error or reducing inventory levels.
Logility, a conservative company supply chain planning technology, historically had no debt and cash reserves of more than 80M, is undervalued in this deal. Aptean is orchestrating the Blue Yonder/E2open/Infor playbook of buying undervalued assets and milking the maintenance and Software-as-a-Service contracts with existing customers.
Analytics and business intelligence (BI) are no longer optionaltheyre essential. Thats why modern BI systems are quickly becoming the go-to solution for data-driven enterprises. They integrate, align, and activate data across the business to drive better, faster decisions unlike legacy reportingtools that can’t.
She wrote, “I have been working in the supply chain for 35 years, and we are still trying to solve the “demand” issue. Given your expertise, I’d love to hear what alternatives you recommend for better demand forecasting and real-time visibility beyond what’s commonly adopted today.” The reason?
Nick Lynch is the Global Excellence Manager at Shell Lubricants, a division of Shell Global. Located in the United Kingdom (UK), he has more than twelve years of experience in progressive roles driving demand-drive projects for their global supply chain. Components of a Demand-Driven Journey. Incrementalism Is Not Enough.
” Followed by “How are you organized, and what defines functional excellence? And, how do you tie functional excellence to corporate value?” Companies became less clear on the definition of supply chain excellence and how to implement decision support technologies. This gap grew over the last decade.
Supply chain excellence is easier to say than to explain. The supply chain is a complex non-linear system. At each company, there is a relationship between the metrics of growth, margin, inventory, customer service, and asset strategy. Understanding this relationship requires modeling. The reason? Was this by design?
Today, supply chain excellence matters more than ever. While the supply chain technology market lost its allure at the start of the last decade, it is now cool again. Leaders are starting to experiment with new technology approaches giving rise to new spending and interest by Venture Capitalists. Talent Demand.
The Failure of Existing Demand Planning Solutions. During the pandemic, supply chain leaders turned off their demand planning solutions. The systems–based on shipment and order data–were out of step with the market. Next Steps: Start to modeldemand based on market data to align the organization on baseline demand.
Technology for All In a retail era dominated by e-commerce giants, customer expectations have shifted towards instant product delivery at no cost. To meet these demands and ensure superior delivery experiences, retailers and carriers must leverage last-mile delivery technology.
Technology can change or even improve work. In May 2025, one in seven home-purchase agreements fell through resulting in the cancellation of 56,000 purchase contracts. We still plan like it is 1999–when we were bracing for Y2k–versus using new forms of technology to improve planning. What’s missing?
I asked companies to “Navigate through the hype focusing on the feasibility of scope and technology.” In the height of the e-commerce craze, the marketplace offerings started with a focus on e-procurement. At the time, the popular belief was that Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) technologies would build multi-tier capabilities.
We need planning platforms to keep up with all the changes. This means we need more agile, flexible, and scalable planning platforms to process and consolidate new data sources, drive insights using advanced analytics such as AI/ML to drive autonomous decisions, and expand collaboration within and outside our organizations.
Reason #4 Making key decisions by modelling the supply chain in Excel. Reason #9 Relentless pursuit of one supply chain metric at the expense of other metrics. Imagine that your child brings home their report card and it’s a mix of good and fair grades. Why do companies focus on reducing a specific metric?
Millions of shoppers, like my Dad, are not going back to their old habits because there are now faster and more convenient ways for buying daily household needs. It excels on a union of E-Commerce mobile apps and last-mile delivery innovations. It also provides an excellent part-time employment opportunity with flexible shifts.
Supply chain efficiency is the cornerstone of success and involves the effective management of processes, resources, and technologies from procurement to production, transportation to warehousing. In the automotive sector, manufacturers are simultaneously reducing inventory costs and delivery times.
Consumers are ever more conscious of value, sensitive to health and environmental issues – especially after the COVID pandemic, each demanding more options for their money. End-to-end supply chain visibility, planning, and execution support software are critical in agile supply chain performance.
During the summer months, in one sector the demand for sun cream explodes while in another, it’s the demand for mineral water. Everyone is familiar with such seasonal demands. When a photo of an important influencer wearing a specific outfit, glasses or jewelry goes online, demand for the item may spike.
The group needed a clear market signal on consumption patterns and the translation of demand with minimal latency to optimize price, mix, and schedule the factory to manage margin. Consumers constantly change the mix preferences in purchases. Somedays, the focus is on steaks or ribs and the next on the purchase of ground or cubed meat.
The consulting team pitches a theme–vision of supply chain best practices, big data analytics, or demand-driven value networks– to the executive team, and a new project is initiated. The first evolution of technologies were built by best-of-breed solution vendors. The first step in the journey is a kick-off meeting.
It should not be confused with the term Integrated Business Planning (IBP) which is the process and technology integration of business and supply planning in S&OP.) At Supply Chain Insights , we conduct twenty quantitative studies a year to understand the impact of technology and process decisions on business results.
The concept of digital twins has emerged as a powerful foundational tool to drive improvements in warehouse productivity and efficiency. To define what exactly it is, a digital twin is a virtual replica of a physical asset, process, or system.
When making discretionary purchases, I could look at my projection to make sure that if I made that purchase, I would have enough money in the bank, not only now, but at the end of the month when my mortgage and car loan came out. Then could I buy it? Planning systems, however, are not designed to allow you to ask ‘what if?’
This is why I host training twice a year to challenge existing technology paradigms. I see a preponderance of reports and white papers that have lots of pages but say little. He feels that based on his years of experience with a software provider, he has a whizzbang technology. The average purchased order changes 3.5
Experts from North Carolina State University and GEP conducted a survey on supply chain, procurement and IT leaders to determine their challenges and priorities, focusing on examining gaps in the supply chain. The study found that these leaders considered the largest gap to be between supply chain and procurement, citing it as a major issue.
As a developer working on the braking software of an automatic car for the past eight years, he constantly tells me that it is not easy, and all of the estimates are too waaaay too positive. I thought back to the press releases I wrote at prior technology companies, which only had a glimmer of truth. Supply Chain Reporting Structures.
With international commerce increasingly digitalized and customer requirements continuing to grow, the demands on supply chain professionals to create frictionless, responsive, and cost-effective operations have never been higher.
Decoding the Procurement Department: A Comprehensive Guide to Roles and Responsibilities This supply chain article provides a comprehensive overview of the procurement department within an organization. Read In Detail About Procurement Department Here 2.
In the work, I listen to existing processes to provide feedback, ideate with the team on potential improvement, share advice on the fit of technologies, and network leaders to leaders to gain additional insights. How aligned do you believe your organization is to drive these metrics? Instead, as an analyst, I work in an advisor role.
More Resources Home Is AI Hype or a Truly Revolutionary Technology Set to Transform Logistics? (AI Like all innovations, however, developing technology as complex as the human brain requires time and significant investment.Here, too, the journey of AI began as far back as 1956 at a workshop on Dartmouth College’s campus in the U.S
Top 3 ProcurementTechnologies to Embrace in 2025 Staying ahead of key procurementtechnology and advancements is essential for CPOs who want to improve spend cost reduction, drive strategic value, and navigate the increasingly complex procurement landscape.
The award, based on beating the industry peer group on rate of improvement on the key metrics of growth, operating margin, inventory turns, and Return on Invested Capital (ROIC) while outperforming their peer group, is tough to achieve. The orbit chart below illustrates L’Oréal’s performance at the intersection of two metrics.
Despite two decades of advancement in supply chain technologies, companies are struggling to gain balance at the intersection of operating margin, inventory turns and case fulfillment. I believed that the first generation of supply chain systems would improve operations to a greater degree than actually happened. I am an old gal.
For businesses, DPPs are becoming essential to comply with best practice guidance as well as coming statutory regulations that demand transparency in supply chains. Therefore, businesses need reliable and robust systems to capture and maintain this data. Errors or missing information can weaken the effectiveness of the passport.
Yesterday, @DamarqueViews asked me a question on twitter: “What do you think are the greatest barriers in the adoption of social technology in the supply chain?” I find the evolution of social technologies, and the promise of social, exciting for the supply chain. They excel in the four Ps of marketing.
When you look behind the scenes of a global business operation, procurement strategy and supply chain management are usually top priorities, though theyre not always working in sync. Theyre often seen as separate worlds, each with its own goals, systems, and ways of working. It doesnt have to be that way.
. <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. Polluted with well-intended marketing messages by over-zealous technology providers and consultants creates confusion. Research models are always different.
Demand forecasting plays a crucial role in business success, as it helps predict customer demand and plan inventory effectively. Fortunately, with the advent of artificial intelligence (AI), demand forecasting software has undergone a significant transformation.
As businesses become increasingly global, professionals in the supply chain field must keep up with new technologies, trends, and best practices. Summary Table edX Supply Chain Courses vs. SCMDOJO Aspect SCMDOJO edX Focus & Specialization A dedicated platform focused entirely on supply chain management.
My Perspective and Point of View Traditional supply chain technologies depend on relational database structures. Primed for transactional efficiency, these legacy architectures based on relational databases drive order-to-cash and procure-to-pay efficiencies. Or a unified data model across source, make, and deliver for planning?
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