Sat.Dec 01, 2018 - Fri.Dec 07, 2018

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Supply Chain Planning for Direct-To-Consumer

ToolsGroup

Direct-to-Consumer (DTC) presents special supply chain planning challenges for both smaller microbrands (e.g., eyeglass brand Warby Parker or mattress seller Casper) and much larger consumer goods incumbents, but the planning challenges are different depending on which type of company you are. Direct-to-Consumer represents a small slice of the consumer goods pie, but it is growing rapidly.

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What’s shaping the steel industry today?

DELMIA Quintiq

In recent years, the steel industry has seen creative solutions to long-standing challenges, emerging technologies, and niche market explorations – all of which are changing this traditionally conservative industry. We spoke with Henri Isojärvi, Product Manager at Quintiq with over 10 years of experience working with steel producers. Here, he talked about key trends and challenges that are shaping the industry today.

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From “Rules of Thumb” to Non-Linear Algorithmic Optimization

Logility

Back in the mid 1990’s when I first entered the Supply Chain field as a freshly minted MBA from the Eli Broad Graduate School of Management at Michigan State University, I was full of “state of the art” knowledge from visionary teachers like Don Bowersox, David Closs, Steven Melnyk and others. I was excited to start my career and apply my knowledge to improve supply chain operations.

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A Playbook for Supply Chain Strategy

Logistics Viewpoints

When we think of strategists, we tend to think of men (C-level folks are still mostly men) with giant foreheads seeing things the rest of us cannot. But strategy is often more prosaic. For example, when it comes to supply chain strategy, there is a playbook that can be followed. The post A Playbook for Supply Chain Strategy appeared first on Logistics Viewpoints.

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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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LTL to Intermodal Shipping: How to Find and Eliminate Freight Spend Black Swans

GlobalTranz

Black swans in the supply chain refer to unexpected, unusual disruptions within the supply chain, reports Melanie Nuce of Inbound Logistics. For example, a black swan event may include both the physical damage and ongoing disruption caused by a hurricane and subsequent bottlenecks, so shippers that know how to isolate the causes of poor visibility and areas that are likely to contribute to worsening of black swan events can effectively reduce their chances of coming to fruition.

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Better Visibility Drives Supply Chain Value and Innovation

Talking Logistics

As consumers continue to purchase goods at greater frequency and trade regulations become more complex, supply chain professionals are striving to establish end-to-end control of their business operations. The modern-day supply chain begs for visibility throughout the entire chain, from point of order, to packaging, shipping, and delivery. Supply chain and logistics decision-makers feel the weight of this shift, evidenced by the fact that control tower visibility ranks as one of the top investme

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Improving Supply Chain Resilience

Enterra Insights

Supply chain risk management (SCRM) is often discussed in terms of prevention, mitigation, and recovery. Prevention, of course, is the most cost effective course of action. The medical community is fond of repeating an adage attributed to the 16th century Dutch philosopher Desiderius Erasmus, “Prevention is better than cure.” Supply chain risk managers undoubtedly agree with that sentiment.

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Why Returning to Stores Is the Ultimate E-Commerce & Omnichannel Customer Experience Play

GlobalTranz

E-commerce is on track to break records for sales around the globe in the 2018 holiday shopping season. Following the 2017 holiday shopping season, retailers grew significantly, and today, e-commerce makes up 17 percent of all retail sales in the U.S. Unfortunately, e-commerce means a higher rate of returns , but giving customers the ability to return online purchases to brick-and-mortar locations through e-commerce in-store returns is the key to unlocking greater success in the omnichannel cu

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Rockwell Automation: A Case Study in Supply Chain Excellence

Supply Chain Shaman

For the past five years, the team at Supply Chain Insights identified Supply Chains to Admire Award Winners by analyzing performance by peer group on the key metrics of growth, operating margin, inventory turns and Return on Invested Capital (ROIC). In 2018, Rockwell Automation won the Supply Chains to Admire Award. To understand the journey, we interviewed Ernest Nicolas, head of the global supply chain at Rockwell to gain insights.

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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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The Secret of Getting Ahead (Takeaways from Command Alkon ELEVATE 2018 Conference)

Talking Logistics

What a difference a year makes. Last November, executives from all segments of the Heavy Building Materials (HBM) ecosystem got together at the inaugural Leadership Roundtable meeting organized by Command Alkon (a Talking Logistics sponsor) to discuss a couple of simple questions: Are there opportunities to elevate the performance of the HBM industry?

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Nucleus Research positions Kinaxis in Leaders’ quadrant of Control Tower Technology Value Matrix for 2018

Kinaxis

by Mike McAllister Kinaxis recognized for ability to connect planning with execution. Nucleus Research just released its Control Tower Technology Value Matrix for 2018, assessing the state of the control tower market and provides an overview of 13 vendors based on a combination of functionality and usability. Nucleus Research recognizes that real-time visibility remains the ultimate goal for the majority of companies and notes that the ability to connect planning with execution is one of the key

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Top 10 Supply Chain Innovations of 2018

Material Handling & Logistics

We salute the year’s top advancements in supply chain technology and processes. After a year full of more scandals, indictments, political contentiousness, workplace violence, school shootings and natural disasters, maybe it’s time we all took a collective breath and focused on some of the positives that came out of 2018. The low unemployment rate, for instance, has stimulated the economy to the point that the distinction between shippers and consumers has blurred significantly.

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Prepare to Master Supply Chain Challenges in 2019!

Supply Chain Network

With rising customer expectations, changing business models, cut-throat competition and the influx of technologies, it’s critical that you prepare your supply chain to address challenges such as the capacity crunch, last mile strategies, balancing of costs, digital freight market opportunities and navigating the ecommerce maze. Equip yourself with the tools to address your supply chain challenges by attending the essential event for supply chain executives that want to remain innovative and forw

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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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Transforming the Construction Materials Supply Chain

Talking Logistics

Steve Cox, VP of Business Development at Command Alkon , discusses the following questions and more in this timely and informative episode: How is the construction materials supply chain the same as other supply chains, and more importantly, how is it different? Why is digital transformation imperative for the Heavy Building Materials (HBM) industry?

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The perfect gift this holiday season? How about The Ultimate S&OP toolkit?

Kinaxis

by Teresa Chiykowski The biggest toy sellers (Target, Walmart, JCPenney and Amazon) have announced their picks for the hottest toys of the year. Coming in at number 1 are Pomsies – animatronic, interactive pets that kids can take anywhere. Let’s hope supply chains are doing their thing by producing enough of these cuddly critters to meet demand so the world doesn’t have to deal with another Cabbage Patch Kid-like debacle.

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Achieving the Impossible Dream: Perfect Order Performance

Material Handling & Logistics

In today’s instant-gratification world, consumers consider “almost right” completely wrong. When customers place an order, they expect perfection. Having grown accustomed to ordering online and waking up the next morning to the box on their porch, customers have high expectations that every order will be perfect. But manufacturers have long felt that perfect order performance is an admirable yet unattainable goal.

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Supply Chain Planning: An Essential Element of Success

Enterra Insights

War hero and former President, Dwight D. Eisenhower, once said, “In preparing for battle I have always found that plans are useless, but planning is indispensable.” That observation could just as easily have been made about supply chain operations. Like a battleground, the supply chain is complex and often shrouded in a situational awareness fog.

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Breaking The Commerce Bottleneck: Your SAP Exit Plan Starts Now

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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Digital Transformation: Why It’s Not an “Easy Button”

Talking Logistics

There is a lot of discussion today about digital transformation, including why it’s important and what the benefits can be. It would be nice if you could just press an “easy button” to be digitally transformed and have all of the supply chain visibility you need, but the reality is that there are many factors that go into making digital transformation a reality.

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Thieves in the Temple – Errors in the Planning-Execution System

Arkieva

Here’s a quick look at how to identify and fix errors in planning execution systems. Thieves in the Temple – Errors in the Planning-Execution System was first posted on December 4, 2018 at 8:23 am. ©2017 " Supply Chain Link Blog - Arkieva " Use of this feed is for personal non-commercial use only. If you are not reading this article in your feed reader, then the site is guilty of copyright infringement.

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The Dispatch Report + Pilot Updates | Decemeber 2018, Issue No. 9

Shipchain

Dear Community, As 2018 begins to wind down, we want to give you a sneak peek at some of the exciting things we’ve been working on—some fantastic updates that we have for you today—and the major milestones we can’t wait to share with you in January. Overview. The past few months have been a whirlwind! Our business development & leadership teams have been all over the world, attending major blockchain conferences and hosting a suite of events specific to shipping and logistics.

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5 Things to Know About NextGen Supply Chain Technology & Innovation

Supply Chain 24/7

In its 2018 Annual Industry Report, MHI advises companies to “think big, but start small” when implementing new technology tools and systems.

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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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Operating a Global Health Supply Chain in Low-Resource Settings

APICS

In addressing the challenges of operating a global health supply chain in low-resource settings, there’s plenty to learn from established commercial supply chains.

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6 Reasons Supply Chain Employees Look For New Jobs!

Supply Chain Game Changer

Subscribe Here! Email Address. Blog post originally published by Argentus at, and permission to publish here provided by, [link]. Argentus is a boutique recruitment firm focused on Supply Chain and Procurement. Check out the NEW Jobs Board on Supply Chain Game Changer! As a boutique recruitment agency, we at Argentus are on the front-lines of the churn in the job market.

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The Dispatch Report + Pilot Updates | December 2018, Issue No. 9

Shipchain

Dear Community, As 2018 begins to wind down, we want to give you a sneak peek at some of the exciting things we’ve been working on—some fantastic updates that we have for you today—and the major milestones we can’t wait to share with you in January. Overview. The past few months have been a whirlwind! Our business development & leadership teams have been all over the world, attending major blockchain conferences and hosting a suite of events specific to shipping and logistics.

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Supply Chain News on What Countries are Tops in Logistics 2018

Supply Chain Digest

BiAnnual World Bank Logistics Performance Index Puts Germany On Top Again.

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How Companies Are Navigating Tariff Chaos with GEP’s AI-Powered Procurement Platform

Tariffs are no longer just policy noise. They’re driving real, bottom-line impact. One policy shift and your sourcing strategy is upside down. This bulletin cuts straight to the point. How Market-Leading Companies Are Navigating Tariff Chaos with GEP’s AI-Powered Procurement Platform breaks down how procurement teams are staying ahead of the chaos with real-time insights, smarter sourcing moves and AI-powered agility.

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How to Move Beyond Spreadsheets

SupplyPike

In our last blog post , we covered the pitfalls of using spreadsheets. Excel can’t hold a flame next to the modern, cloud-based retail analytics platforms that are now available. Ready to dump spreadsheets once and for all? Let’s walk through some of the benefits of moving beyond Excel for your retail analytics needs. Make critical decisions faster.

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2018 MHI Annual Industry Report - Overcoming Barriers to NextGen Supply Chain Innovation

Supply Chain 24/7

This year’s report features in-depth profiles of the five NextGen innovations having the greatest impact on supply chains; Robotics and Automation, Predictive Analytics, Internet of Things Sensors, Artificial Intelligence, Driverless Vehicles, and Drones.

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What Are the Best Ways to Optimise Your Inventory?

Unleashed

Inventory optimisation is changing the way businesses are running their warehouses and managing their inventory stock. It’s allowing them to become more competitive in the market and see advantages on a global scale. Focusing on inventory optimisation allows companies to free up working capital without substantially changing the service levels. It aims to match supply to demand in the most efficient way possible.