2019

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Control Towers: If Only There Was A Clear Definition

Supply Chain Shaman

We finished dinner. I pressed my neatly folded napkin to my lips. As we waited for coffee, silence hung heavy in the air. My client writhed in her seat and hung her head as she asked, “I read your article on control towers, but I am confused. What is an easy definition? I am embarrassed to ask, but we were discussing the topic at our board meeting yesterday, and I must admit that we have more confusion than clarity.”.

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Quick Start Guide to Using Machine Learning for Demand Planning

ToolsGroup

Anyone who has done demand planning knows it is extremely complex, with forecasting challenges and rapidly shifting consumer demand, often exacerbated by seasonality, new product introductions, promotions, and myriad causal factors (e.g. weather, social media). The good news is that these characteristics make demand planning a perfect fit for artificial intelligence solutions.

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The Amazon Effect is the New Walmart Effect

GlobalTranz

In 1994, Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos read a statistic that the Internet had been growing at 2300 percent annually. He fashioned that changing tide into a business plan that has been breaking barriers across supply chain and e-commerce that has left an indelible mark. But, is Amazon worried about the new “Walmart effect?” Beginning with.read More.

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The Future of Food: 6 Ways IoT is Impacting Food Supply Chains

The Network Effect

The Internet of Things (IoT) is changing the way the world thinks about food. Consumers now have the option of. The post The Future of Food: 6 Ways IoT is Impacting Food Supply Chains appeared first on The Network Effect.

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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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The Most Important Skills for Supply Chain Young Professionals

Talking Logistics

What skills and attributes will be the most important for supply chain young professionals to succeed moving forward? We asked members of our Indago research community that question back in April. Our community was relatively small at the time (18 supply chain and logistics executives), but they are all high-level leaders (more than a third. The post The Most Important Skills for Supply Chain Young Professionals appeared first on Talking Logistics with Adrian Gonzalez.

More Trending

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5 Impacts of Autonomous Trucking on Supply Chains

GlobalTranz

The flying car of the future might still be out of reach, but autonomous trucking is moving quickly into view for many businesses. Trucks manned by technology, with no human drivers, are currently being tested around the globe. Companies have a vested interest in exploring how an autonomous fleet can help their business in the.read More. The post 5 Impacts of Autonomous Trucking on Supply Chains appeared first on Transportation Management Company | Cerasis.

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Intelligence…Sometimes Artificial

AIMMS

When it comes to intelligence in decision making, it’s our differences in experiences and attitudes that make our businesses evolve in a diverse manner. There are often many ways to solve a problem. The path we take can be an expression of our human creativity. This ingenuity is precisely why Artificial Intelligence alone is unlikely to help us break out and take supply chain decision making to the next level.

Modeling 301
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8 Risks to Avoid in Supply Chain Optimization

River Logic

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How Does a Digital Transformation Apply to Supply Chain Planning?

Logistics Viewpoints

What is Digital Transformation? A digital transformation requires that companies transform their decision-making processes with technology to enhance customer experience and employee productivity and ultimately improve business performance. Technologies such as artificial intelligence, machine learning, Internet of Things, and virtual reality can aid in this transformation.

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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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Supply Chain Wars: Episode V – The Corporation Strikes Back

Logility

The next episode in the Supply Chain Wars saga, Episode V – The Corporation Strikes Back is the second in a series of articles that follow a supply chain team’s efforts to improve their supply chain capabilities. The Star Wars movies have influenced generations of movie goers for the last 40 years, I being one of them. You could make the case that Supply Chain Management has grown up in the same 40 year period.

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Why Amazon Prime Day Is More Important than Ever for Small Businesses

Freightos

Over the past 15 years Amazon has paved the way for SMBs to grow , frequently at the expense of other Big Box retailers, like Toys R’ Us, Sears, and A&F, that saw a ten year peak in square footage closings in 2018. With the Amazon marketplace, over one million US SMBs gain on-demand access to a global market. In many cases, these sellers use Fulfilled By Amazon (FBA) for delivery, leveraging the modern world’s easier global sourcing, importing, and online sales to create thousands of global

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Digital transformation in the life sciences supply chain – show me the data

Kinaxis

by Bill DuBois The life sciences supply chain starts with a miracle. Is there a more challenging industry than life sciences? In a recent Forbes interview on why it’s so hard to bring tech into pharma, Vas Narasimhan, Chief Executive Officer of Novartis AG pointed out that only one in twenty drugs make it out of clinical trials. One in twenty. A rate that hasn’t increased in over a decade.

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Out-of-Stocks: Why do they Matter?

C3 Solutions

If you are in the business of selling physical products to customers, not being able to fulfill demand means your business is failing. It's a stark reality and one that is particularly frightening in today's omnichannel e-commerce environment. Part 1 and Part 2 of this series discussed the successful rise of omnichannel shopping in food and grocery - now see how it can affect the success of your brick and mortar.

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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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10 Things About Omni Channel Supply Chain You May Not Have Known

River Logic

The supply chains of omni channel retailers operating brick-and-mortar and online stores need to simultaneously fulfill multiple, sometimes conflicting, requirements. Here are nine things you may not have known about an omni channel supply chain.

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How to Make Supply Chain Complexity Work to Your Advantage

ToolsGroup

With supply chain complexity increasing at an unprecedented rate, perhaps the biggest challenge for businesses is figuring out how to navigate this uncertainty to deliver service profitably. Amazon sells more than 3 billion products through 11 different country marketplaces globally. In the U.S. alone, Amazon introduced 208 million new products in 2018 — most of which are slow movers, or ‘long-tail’ items.

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Not All Digital Twins are Created Equal

DELMIA Quintiq

The concept of a digital twin has been around since 2002, first introduced by Dr. Michael Grieves as part of his research agenda at the University of Michigan. He had a vision that a Digital Twin could be created as a virtual representation of a physical product. Today’s technology, including the Internet of Things, advanced simulation, and highly sophisticated laser scanners, can now create a digital representation of almost any physical object.

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Understanding Your Safety Stock Calculations

Demand Solutions

If you manufacture or distribute products, it's safe to assume that you have a specified safety stock level— or at least we certainly hope you do. If you're on the fence about whether or not to hold safety stock, we recommend reading up on why it's critical to overcoming variability in your supply chain. At this point, you may be saying to yourself, "but carrying excess inventory is expensive!

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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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Tackling Item Complexity

Supply Chain Shaman

Personalization. Market microsegmentation. New product launch. There are many good reasons to add items to product portfolios, but companies are better at adding than eliminating items. Discontinuing products is a struggle with tension between supply chain and marketing functions. Why is this an important topic? The lack of product rationalization results in the long tail of the supply chain with increasing complexity.

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Warehouse Safety: 5 Steps You Need To Take

GlobalTranz

Warehouse businesses thrive where there is orderliness. They also do well when employees are safe. Unfortunately, accidents can happen in a matter of seconds leading to injuries and even fatalities. The US Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that there is an average of 16 fatalities yearly in the warehousing and storage industry and an injury.read More.

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Modeling brewing capacity to drive cost savings at HEINEKEN

AIMMS

Heineken is one of the world’s best-known beers. But for HEINEKEN International, the famed lager is only one of its products. The company owns more than 165 breweries around the world. It operates in 70 countries with a workforce of 80,000, producing over 300 specialty beers and ciders at international, regional and local levels. Planning such a large operation efficiently is no doubt a challenge, but HEINEKEN’s quest for efficiency started in the company’s early years.

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What is a Supply Chain Control Tower?

Logistics Viewpoints

The term supply chain control tower is being used more frequently. Some think it is being overused. What is a supply chain control tower? From my perspective it must be a holistic supply chain solution. What does that mean? For me, it means the following ten things. The post What is a Supply Chain Control Tower? appeared first on Logistics Viewpoints.

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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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7 Reasons Panama is the Latin American Supply Chain Capital with Demo Perez

The Logistics of Logistics

[00:20] Opening / Introduction. [00:51] Tell us about yourself and what you do in Panama. I was born and raised in Panama and manage a 3PL. My main role is to promote the hub that Panama offers to the world. [02:19] What was your first job in logistics? A relative of mine had a parcel company that got a contract with a multinational. He learned that he needed to serve a different area than he was in, so he called all his friends and family to help him launch.

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Supply chain gender gap the topic of focus at MIT event

Kinaxis

by Leah McGuire Leah McGuire, Kerry Currier and Francini Ortiz at the 2019 MIT Center for Transportation and Logistics Women in Supply Chain Summit, where the gender gap in supply chain was the topic of focus. Joined by Kinaxis colleagues Kerry Currier and Francini Ortiz on a crisp, sunny morning at the end of March, we marveled at the cool light display of Converse shoes in the lobby of the Converse building in downtown Boston as we checked in as attendees and panelists to the inaugural MIT Ce

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Top E-Commerce Trends in 2019

Talking Logistics

For consumers e-commerce is increasingly the preferred method for shopping. Younger shoppers already embrace it and more frequently older shoppers are as well. As e-commerce continues to grow, companies need to adjust their approaches in order to win customer loyalty. According to Nasdaq, by 2040, 95% of purchases will be facilitated through e-commerce.

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How Logistics Is Proving that Amazon Needs to Be Regulated

Freightos

A version of this article originally appeared on JOC.com. . A few days ago, Amazon announced one day delivery plans. In itself, that’s a big deal, but its significance is compounded when you consider the trucking shipment volumes such a move will require; it’s essentially jet fuel for their new freight brokerage business. Take into account their FBA warehouse footprint, NVOCC license, and SEC reports flagging forwarders as competition, and you have a solid reminder that Amazon is coming for gl

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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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Five Things You Need to Know about Inventory Optimization in the Digital Age

ToolsGroup

With all the buzz around digital transformation, someone peering in from outside supply chain may assume most businesses have already digitized essential tasks like inventory planning. The reality is that this transformation takes time and a change of mindset. It’s about learning to transition from long-held inventory systems and processes, having new conversations across logistics and sales, and the shifting role of supply chain planners.

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The things we’ve seen, in 2019

DELMIA Quintiq

Here we are, just about to turn the calendar to 2020. As we end the year (and the decade!) we at Dassault Systèmes want to take some time to reflect on our 2019. Our corporate mission is to provide business and people with virtual universes to imagine sustainable innovations. As such, it shouldn’t be a surprise that you’ll see a clear theme about this topic in all we did in this year.

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As Baby Boomers Retire, Don’t Let Tribal Knowledge Retire with Them

Enterra Insights

The youngest members of the generation known as Baby Boomers are approaching retirement age. If companies allow Baby Boomers’ years of expertise to walk out the door without capturing it, they are losing a valuable asset. Rebecca Brinkley, Director of Marketing and Communications at the American Gear Manufacturers Association, writes, “As the last of the baby boomers round their way up to 60, companies are slowly realizing that their retiring leadership is leaving gaps in intelligenc