November, 2016

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Five Things I Have Learned About Global Supply Chain Planning

Supply Chain Shaman

Another plane, another client; and yet another discussion. They are sounding a bit the same. I am trying to not sound like a broken record. Regional supply chain companies are attempting to define global requirements. They are well versed in requirements for regional supply chain planning, but they are attempting to redefine their processes and be more global.

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Supply Chain Risk Management: Could You Face a Category 4 Supply Chain Disaster?

Kinaxis

by Joe Cannata With Hurricane Matthew, the most powerful storm to threaten the Atlantic Coast in over 10 years that has already brought severe damage to Haiti, the Bahamas and several Southeastern U.S. states, obvious disruptions to supply chains and supply chain risk management were a given. Many of the states affected contained key ports and supply destinations, as well as transportation and logistics hubs.

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10 Greatest Supply Chain Management Books of All Time

Supply Chain Opz

Supply chain management books that are praised by supply chain executives, consultants and supply chain management professionals at all levels. Background In dynamic supply chain management environment, people have to make the quick and decisive actions against various issues. This can only be achieved by the knowledge and skills of the team. Then companies try to motivate staffs to continue developing their skills on regular basis.

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9 eCommerce Warehousing Best Practices to Follow

GlobalTranz

There is nothing quite like the ease of ordering things online. The holidays are around the corner, and millions of Americans will turn to their phones, computers and tablets to get the gifts they need. Unfortunately, millions more will still go to brick-and-mortar stores to find those special items, and the push toward online and omnichannel ordering will continue grow, which is why it is increasingly important to invest in eCommerce Warehousing.

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Speeding Robotics Automation with AI

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.

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Internet of Things (IOT), Cost-to-Serve, Segmentation and Supply Chain CoEs are unable to deliver promised business value without Prescriptive Analytics

AIMMS

Gartner’s Hype Cycle for CSCOs is a valuable read for current and potential Supply Chain leaders. It brings together a long list of trends, enabling technologies, business frameworks and competencies that should be in your consideration set. The big theme of course, is the digitization of the supply chain and the implications it will have on business performance.

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What’s Your Forecast Accuracy Target for 2017?

ToolsGroup

Editor's Note: Due to the Thanksgiving holiday, there will be no blog post next week. In 2016, it seemed as if everyone in supply chain was looking to improve their forecasting performance. Companies sought to implement (or re-implement) planning technology solutions, tune and optimize methodologies towards tighter variances, and integrate more accurate information into their planning processes.

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Carter’s: A Story of Supply Chain Leadership

Supply Chain Shaman

To drive global scale, companies need to design the supply chain to buy globally and execute locally. Not many companies have cracked this code. The design of the supply chain is fundamental to making this happen. Managing complexity is key. In our interview of the Supply Chains to Admire Winners, we found a unique approach at Carter’s. Here we share the story.

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Crossdocking a Way to Marry Your Supplier with Your Customer

Kinaxis

by Iman Niroomand The major concern of big organizations in implementing an efficient supply chain network is improving the flow of material throughout a complex network. One way to improve the flow is with crossdocking and to expedite the process of materials throughout the supply chain channel. In this post, I would like to review the transformation of distribution center operations by using IT solutions to expedite the flow of products and minimize the cost of inventories.

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The Industrial Internet of Things, Manufacturing, Supply Chain & Logistics: Where Are We & Where Are We Going?

GlobalTranz

The era of paper-based systems and physically monitoring the supply chain is ending. In place of long paper trails and maintenance schedules, machines with the capacity to communicate their needs and issues via the industrial Internet of Things (IoT) are becoming an essential component of effective processes. You have probably heard about the IoT in the famous GE commercials, such as the “Talking Train and Car,” as depicted on Engineering.com, but you might not have thought about how your organi

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Tail Inventory: The Silent Cost Driver You Shouldn't Ignore

Learn how centralizing slow-moving SKUs can help reduce fulfillment costs by $300M+ while boosting fulfillment efficiency.

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What Kindergarten Lesson Applies Best to Supply Chain Technology?

Talking Logistics

It was 30 years ago that Robert Fulghum first published his collection of essays “All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten.” In the title essay, he provided a list of how to live, what to do, and how to be. First and foremost on his list was “share everything.” Software infrastructure was almost undoubtedly not what Robert had on his mind as he wrote his credo many years ago, but the adage applies so well when discussing the benefits of multi-tenant technology.

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Use Prescriptive Analytics to see value from Internet of Things and other digital initiatives

AIMMS

Gartner’s Hype Cycle for CSCOs is a valuable read for current and potential Supply Chain leaders. It brings together a long list of trends, enabling technologies, business frameworks and competencies that should be in your consideration set. The big theme of course, is the digitization of the supply chain and the implications it will have on business performance.

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Why You Should Embrace Uncertainty in Demand Forecasting – Part 2

ToolsGroup

Last week we said that in reality most companies are already partly down the path towards a probabilistic supply chain model. The evolution is happening naturally as the global business landscape becomes more interconnected and complex, along with the effects of multichannel marketing, demand shaping and the internet. You’ve likely already recognized the limits of deterministic planning if your company has recently launched (or relaunched) an S&OP initiative, or you’ve started to migrate fro

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Five Trends That Excite Me!

Supply Chain Shaman

Holiday travel. Packed airports and the children screaming in unison. Today as I sit scrunched into a coach seat in 26C, working on this blog post and hoping to not spill my coffee on my neighbor, I dutifully type to complete my weekly post. Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays. I give thanks for our clients and the ability to do what we do. Here I share insights on the work we are doing on the Network of Networks, and Five Trends that Excite Me.

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Tariffs on the Table: How to Brief the Board and C‑Suite With Confidence

“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.

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3 Challenges to Supply Chain Collaboration

Kinaxis

by Bill DuBois Today’s supply chains are more complex than ever before. Businesses are facing greater volatility, more uncertainty and unprecedented and unexpected risks. The time it takes to make critical decisions is lengthening, dramatically cutting into companies’ bottom lines. Why? In large part due to the negative impacts of poor collaboration.

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How Can Supply Chain Leaders Use Big Data as a Tool to Continuously Improve?

GlobalTranz

Supply chain leaders are enthralled with the idea of using big data, but they tend to fail to understand how to disseminate big data in their organization properly. True, they may know how to roll out big data in a single warehouse, or they may have heard their competitors used branded systems for implementing this new technology. However, the fundamental problem remains.

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Happy Employees are Good Employees (Plus Other Insights on Multi-Resource Scheduling)

Talking Logistics

There are many resources behind every supply chain — including people, production equipment, transportation assets, and more — and they’re often linked and dependent on each other. The more resources involved, the more complexity there is to efficiently plan and schedule those resources in a smart and synchronized manner. “Suppose you have just 5 tasks that you want to assign to 5 different people,” explained Dr.

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Science of Supply Chain: Researchers Affirm Benefits of Eliminating Information Delays

The Network Effect

The “Science of Theoretical Minimums” (STM) might sound dry and academic, but lurking within is a proven path to dramatic. The post Science of Supply Chain: Researchers Affirm Benefits of Eliminating Information Delays appeared first on The Network Effect.

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How to Modernize Manufacturing Without Losing Control

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

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Why You Should Embrace Uncertainty in Demand Forecasting

ToolsGroup

It's human nature to look for certainty. We believe that if we can predict the future with perfect certainty, then we will react and prepare accordingly. As such, we tend to put all our planning effort into making better predictions. The problem is that after we invest considerable effort predicting one aspect of a future event, lots of uncertainty remains.

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VTech: A Story of a Supply Chain Leader

Supply Chain Shaman

Slowly, more and more companies are waking up to the cold, and hard facts. Financial balance sheet improvements cannot be driven by traditional supply chain processes. In the words of a supply chain leader yesterday, “Lora, please give me stories of success. I have personally experienced the failure. Lift my soul by sharing some success stories.” This is my new mission.

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Building a Supply Chain Masterpiece with Concurrent Planning

Kinaxis

by Alexa Cheater There’s something to be said about the resiliency of a really good supply chain. One that’s able to quickly respond to those unexpected problems, easily adapt to changing industry conditions and make waves with its innovative, yet still efficient, processes. It’s like a piece of moving artwork – all those intricacies and people working behind the scenes to deliver exactly what the masses of the world want, when and where they want it.

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What’s Big Data in Supply Chain & Logistics? Why Should I Be Looking at This Tech Trend?

GlobalTranz

Data reflect all the small, seemingly insignificant details of the modern world. From a review of your personal bank account spending habits to larger, more advanced processing capabilities, data evolve and expand with each passing day. If you were to look at how closely people interact with their digital selves, you would not be mistaken for comparing humanity to a combination of digital and organic matter.

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A Roadmap For Modernization: How To Break Free From Your Monolith Before July 31, 2026

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.

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Research in Focus: Cloud Computing in Logistics

Talking Logistics

Editor’s Note: Today’s post is the first in a new series we’re launching where we highlight research conducted by select partners and provide our perspective on some of the most interesting findings and results. Back in 2012, Axit (a Siemens company and a Talking Logistics sponsor) together with the Institute for Cloud Computing (IFCC) surveyed over 130 supply chain and logistics professionals across various industries in Europe to determine the state of cloud computing in logistics and how it m

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Supply Chain Analytics: Is your data providing information & actions?

Enchange Supply Chain Consultancy

Who coined the term “Big Data”? How did we get there without tiny data, ordinary data, slightly larger data, chubby data and bordering on big data? People working in or associated with Supply Chains seem obsessed by data yet data itself tells you absolutely nothing. Really, not a lot apart from the fact that something is being measured or calculated.

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Omni-channel Supply Chains and Retail’s Future

Enterra Insights

“The growth of internet-enabled commerce, mobile devices and social networks has led companies to be more digitally driven since the turn … Continued. The post Omni-channel Supply Chains and Retail’s Future appeared first on Enterra Solutions.

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Why S&OP and Integrated Business Planning Start with the Cloud

Demand Solutions

As we noted in our last article , Gartner has found that the public cloud market is doubling every four years. And because IT spending is only increasing by 2.2 percent per year, we know that companies in all industries are actually diverting their IT budgets from traditional IT to the cloud. Still, I can understand why manufacturers and distributors—typically conservative businesses—might be hesitant to move their business processes to the cloud.

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Revolutionizing Hiring: Remote-Insourcing That Slashes Turnover & Training Costs!

What is Remote-Insourcing? Sounds like an oxymoron, right? Not anymore. Remote-Insourcing isn’t outsourcing—it’s a revolutionary staffing model that lets our clients fill key entry-level positions with top-tier, loyal, long-term talent, integrated seamlessly into their businesses—just like local employees but without the turnover or W2 HR hassles. With under 4% unwanted attrition, you train once and keep the same team for years.

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The Sensing + Intelligent + Social Supply Chain: Why do you need it?

Kinaxis

by Trevor Miles For Global Supply Chain Visibility and Faster Decision Making. My earlier blog talked about what the Sensing + Intelligent + Social Supply Chain is. So why do you need one? If you’re experiencing supply chain pain points around lack of visibility, slow decision making, or poor collaboration, these may be the symptoms that will help answer that question.

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Warehouse & Distribution Center Management: 5 Tips for Success

GlobalTranz

Editor's Note: Today's blog is by Carl Turner. Carl is a freelance business writer who loves to share his knowledge of the entrepreneurial world. Today, Carl writes about his 5 tips for success Warehouse and Distribution center management. Every day, new warehousing and wholesale supplier businesses are opening their doors, and plenty more are on their way out because they can’t keep up in a competitive economy.

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The Big Bear in the Room (Insights from Kenco Customer Summit 2016)

Talking Logistics

We’ve all heard about the big elephant in the room. But how about the big bear? During his presentation at Kenco’s Customer Summit a few weeks ago, Fab Brasca from JDA Software referenced the giant 7 ft. 9 in. stuffed teddy bear that Costo sells , and although it was just a passing comment, the bear came to symbolize for me so much about supply chain management today: its large scale and scope, its growing complexity, and how sometimes it leaves you confused, in awe, or in disbelief.