Supply Chain Shaman
JUNE 26, 2016
Today, I unpacked my bags. In the last six months, in my travels, I have presented to supply chain teams in China, Belgium, France, Germany, Peru, Mexico, Netherlands, South Africa, Singapore, and the United Kingdom. To streamline my efforts, I just kept a packed bag in the closet. I strongly feel that if I am going to cover the global supply chain that I need to experience it.
ToolsGroup
JUNE 28, 2016
This week’s posting is actually a video rather than a written blog. The National Health Service (NHS), the world’s largest health care organization, has implemented a new supply chain planning system for managing the United Kingdom’s blood supply. Working with the Chartered Institute of Logistics Transport, we created a 4 minute video showing the UK blood supply chain and the new system, which I think you will find interesting.
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Logistics Viewpoints
JUNE 20, 2016
Building unbreachable supply chain applications is virtually impossible. So it was with great interest that I listened to how blockchain technology could be used to create robust tendering and visibility that can be wholly trusted.
Kinaxis
JUNE 20, 2016
by John Westerveld Lightbulbs that change colors from a command on your phone and turn on when you enter the room, thermostats that can figure out when you are in the house and adjust accordingly, refrigerators that e-mail you when you are out of milk, garage doors that let you know when they are open, doors that can be unlocked from your phone even when you are across the country, cars that drive themselves, tags you can put on your keys so you will never lose them again.
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The $53 trillion manufacturing economy in the US is undergoing a major automation paradigm shift due to Artificial Intelligence (AI). Thanks to new practical frameworks, automation projects that were once impossible or inefficient to implement are now being fast-tracked, and robotics automation is becoming increasingly relevant to a growing number of users and scenarios.
Talking Logistics
JUNE 21, 2016
Having been in the game of supply chain analytics for so long, we’ve noticed that data is the single biggest challenge our customers and consultants encounter. Supply chain data is distributed in myriad enterprise and external databases, access to the data is limited, it’s in many different formats and structures, it’s missing important pieces and it’s in huge volumes.
Supply Chain Brief brings together the best content for supply chain and logistic professionals from the widest variety of industry thought leaders.
Supply Chain Shaman
JUNE 21, 2016
Functional silos define today’s supply chain organization. The silos compete. They lack alignment. This lack of alignment is an impediment to improving balance sheet results. I am a product of traditional, silo-based thinking. My first job was in manufacturing in the 1980’s. I did not understand warehousing and transportation until reassignment to a logistics role in 1985.
ToolsGroup
JUNE 21, 2016
Inventory planning is especially important to small-to-midsize businesses (SMBs). Nobody wants to tie up more working capital than necessary in inventory, but SMBs typically have leaner resources, and a higher cost of capital means it’s more expensive to fund excess stock. And if a company is growing rapidly, capital is not only costly but may even require selling valuable equity.
Logistics Viewpoints
JUNE 22, 2016
Last week I read the Logistics Viewpoints guest post by Chainalytics discussing the pitfalls of decision-marking biases. Although the Chainalytics article focuses on supply chain decision making, these biases can apply to business forecasting as well. Reading this article made me interested in my own potential decision-making biases. I chose to take time on Friday to review some of the research I have conducted during my ten years as an analyst at ARC Advisory Group. […].
Kinaxis
JUNE 22, 2016
by Melissa Clow This guest post comes to us from Argentus Supply Chain Recruiting , a boutique recruitment firm specializing in Supply Chain Management. We’re always trying to stay on top of Supply Chain developments at Argentus. And this sometimes takes us into looking at the emerging technologies that are poised to have a significant impact on the function.
Learn how centralizing slow-moving SKUs can help reduce fulfillment costs by $300M+ while boosting fulfillment efficiency.
SCM Research
JUNE 25, 2016
Few days ago, Thomson Reuters published the 2015 impact factors of well-known management journals as part of their Journal Citation Reports. Two SCM-related journals have an impact factor of 4 or larger: Journal of Supply Chain Management and Journal of Operations Management. Two other journals have an impact factor between 2.5 and 3: Supply Chain Management: An International Journal and Journal of Purchasing & Supply Management.
Talking Logistics
JUNE 30, 2016
It was back in January 2015, after reading an article in the Wall Street Journal about bitcoin, that my eyes were opened to the potential for blockchain technology to transform supply chain management. As I wrote at the time in Bitcoin: A New Supply Chain Operating System? : Imagine a bitcoin being a unit of inventory and a digital wallet (“bitcoin address”) being an inventory-keeping location, such as a store, distribution center, or truck trailer.
Supply Chain Shaman
JUNE 29, 2016
Market-driven Value Networks: An adaptive network focused on a value-based outcomes. The network senses, translates, and orchestrates market changes (buy and sell-side markets) bi-directionally with near-real time data to align sell, deliver, make and sourcing organizations outside-in. Today’s supply chain processes are inside-out with a focus on orders and shipments.
ToolsGroup
JUNE 14, 2016
Taking a bimodal approach to supply chains was the pervasive theme at this year’s Gartner North American Supply Chain Executive Conference. Simply stated, bimodal means simultaneously keeping a dual focus. Or as in F. Scott Fitzgerald once said, “First-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in your mind at the same time and still retain the ability to function.”.
Advertiser: GEP
“What should we do about the tariffs?” There’s no straightforward answer — every leader has a different expectation. CFOs want numbers. COOs want action. CEOs want strategy. And supply chain and procurement leaders need to be ready with the right response — fast. That’s why GEP has created a simple three-part framework that will help CPOs and CSCOs brief the board and C-suite with clarity and confidence.
AIMMS
JUNE 29, 2016
Last week, part of our EMEA team (Christophe, Marcel and Kim) attended the Supply Chain & Logistics Summit as a sponsor for the fifth consecutive time. The conference took place in Barcelona. The overall theme of the Summit was the Value Chain and How to Build the Competitive Supply Chain of the Future. This main topic was covered throughout the whole program.
Logistics Viewpoints
JUNE 8, 2016
A few weeks ago I attended the ToolsGroup Supply Chain Transformation conference in Boston. One of the more interesting sessions I attended was “Predictive Commerce and Machine Learning” featuring ToolsGroup CEO Yossi Shamir. While Yossi obviously touted the benefits of the ToolsGroup product suite, the session focused more on the big concept of why supply chain needs automation now.
SCM Research
JUNE 25, 2016
Few days ago, Thomson Reuters published the 2015 impact factors of well-known management journals as part of their Journal Citation Reports. Two SCM-related journals have an impact factor of 4 or larger: Journal of Supply Chain Management and Journal of Operations Management. Two other journals have an impact factor between 2.5 and 3: Supply Chain Management: An International Journal and Journal of Purchasing & Supply Management.
Kinaxis
JUNE 13, 2016
by Jonathan Matthews Playing hockey the other night, there was a particularly boisterous individual on my bench. One of my teammates made the comment that essentially boiled down to, “they should be seen and not heard,” which started me thinking, strangely enough, about supply chain. When a supply chain is working at its best, the general population doesn’t see it and often has no concept of the complexities behind it.
Speaker: Andrew Skoog, Founder of MachinistX & President of Hexis Representatives
Manufacturing is evolving, and the right technology can empower—not replace—your workforce. Smart automation and AI-driven software are revolutionizing decision-making, optimizing processes, and improving efficiency. But how do you implement these tools with confidence and ensure they complement human expertise rather than override it? Join industry expert Andrew Skoog as he explores how manufacturers can leverage automation to enhance operations, streamline workflows, and make smarter, data-dri
Supply Chain Shaman
JUNE 9, 2016
Today Thoma Bravo, a private equity investment firm, announced a definitive agreement to purchase Elemica, a provider of Supply Chain Operating Networks for the chemical industry. In 2014 Thoma Bravo acquired GHX, a Supply Chain Operating Network for healthcare. The Elemica announcement contained the obligatory positive quotes and promises to customers.
ToolsGroup
JUNE 7, 2016
Source: Algorithmic Supply Chain Planning: The Future of SCP , Amber Salley, May 2016. Gartner has taken a look at the future and sees lots of algorithms. The analyst firm says algorithms “are now feasting on the wealth of data becoming available, leveraging the huge computing resources in the cloud and becoming a pivotal source of competitive differentiation.
AIMMS
JUNE 29, 2016
Last week, part of our EMEA team (Christophe, Marcel and Kim) attended the Supply Chain & Logistics Summit as a sponsor for the fifth consecutive time. The conference took place in Barcelona. The overall theme of the Summit was the Value Chain and How to Build the Competitive Supply Chain of the Future. This main topic was covered throughout the whole program.
GlobalTranz
JUNE 29, 2016
The modern supply chain continues to seek more cost savings and greater transparency and efficiency in all processes. While large, centralized systems have been created to manage the flow of goods and data, a single problem remains. This data can be changed from its original form, causing some to feel the supply chain is not being fully transparent with supplier, manufacturing and logistics processes.
Speaker: Jason Cottrell and Gireesh Sahukar
Retailers know the clock is ticking–legacy SAP Commerce support ends in 2026. Legacy platforms are becoming a liability burdened by complexity, rigidity, and mounting operational costs. But modernization isn’t just about swapping out systems, it’s about preparing for a future shaped by real-time interactions, AI powered buying assistants, and flexible commerce architecture.
Logistics Viewpoints
JUNE 15, 2016
The young companies that are poised to transform the supply chain management profession fall into a relatively few categories. The most interesting start-ups we are seeing have business models based on the sharing economy, the Internet of Things (IoT), predictive analytics, and robotics. The Sharing Economy: Five companies are very interesting: Flexe, Deliv, Doorman, Transfix, and Shyp.
Kinaxis
JUNE 6, 2016
by Iman Niroomand Today, I’d like to discuss distribution networks shapes. A distribution network is a channel that a company uses to get its products from the manufacturer to the end customer. The shape of this distribution network could vary from a small and simple size network to very complicated networks such as power grid network. The factors that are involved in defining the shape of the distribution network are end customer product demands, product variety, product availability, response
Talking Logistics
JUNE 28, 2016
With Brexit and the U.S. presidential race dominating the headlines, you might have missed a recent archeological discovery made in Boston. Construction workers in the Seaport District found what experts believe is the world’s oldest supply chain analyst report. It is written in cuneiform on a clay tablet, which archaeologists estimate dates back to around 3200 BCE.
PINC
JUNE 27, 2016
The 3PL Summit and Chief Supply Chain Officer forum brought together supply chain executives and industry experts to discuss the latest trends in the industry. The event happened in Chicago between June 20th and June 22nd.
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AIMMS
JUNE 23, 2016
Apps have come to define the way we work and live in many ways. We have cars with A pps , watches running A pps , TVs that operate with A pps …as the phrase goes “There’s an App for That.” There are Apps out there for just about anything, it’s hard to imagine a world without them. Why do we love Apps so much? We get the information we need upfront, they can be used anytime, anywhere, they help us connect, and they serve a specific purpose.
GlobalTranz
JUNE 28, 2016
The benefits of outsourcing logistics processes to a third-party logistics provider (3PL) are well documented. As the world’s economy has become increasingly complex, it has become impossible for a single entity to control all of the warehousing, transportation and administrative tasks that come with shipping and managing inventory. For this reason, more companies are turning to 3PLs to help with cost reductions and overall management of supply chain processes.
Enchange Supply Chain Consultancy
JUNE 29, 2016
Some time ago I looked at the often dreadful customer service offered by FMCG and Telecoms companies in CEE. Of course, this avoidable malaise is not restricted to that part of the world. After being in UK for a few weeks I have experienced really poor service from organisations you would think had top notch, high performing supply chains.
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