Supply Chain Shaman

DECEMBER 7, 2023

I am currently doing research on inventory management. In the research, I ask inventory planners to define resilience. Of the twenty companies interviewed, only one can answer the question, “Do you have a good inventory plan?” No technology in the market measures inventory health. Today, this is not the case.

Supply Chain Design Software 395

Supply Chain Design Software Supply Chain Planning Software Modeling Supply Chain Software 395

Supply Chain Shaman

JANUARY 30, 2025

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. This is despite the strengths of the recent purchase of Optimity. Is it any wonder that this press release published on Friday afternoon?

Supply Chain Planning Software 221

Supply Chain Planning Software Supply Chain Design Software Modeling Modeling Software 221

Supply Chain Shaman

SEPTEMBER 13, 2023

If S&OP efforts were that effective, don’t you think that we would have made more progress against inventory levels, margin, and growth? The issues are largely rooted in politics and the lack of clarity on supply chain excellence. Or planned orders to purchase orders?) And how do we measure it? (Is I don’t know.

Supply and Demand 431

Supply and Demand Supply Chain Planning Software Modeling Demand Planning 431

Supply Chain Shaman

OCTOBER 29, 2014

Groupthink is a psychological phenomenon that occurs within a group of people in which there is a desire for harmony within the group, but the result is an irrational or dysfunctional outcome. I feel that the industry is engaged in ‘Group Think’ No one in this meetings is going to ask tough questions.

Supply Chain Planning Software 379

Supply Chain Planning Software Modeling Demand Planning Software Optimization Software 379

Logistics Viewpoints

DECEMBER 2, 2021

import volumes still climbing (see Figure 1), limited processing capacity at key West Coast ports and the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) contract expiring next summer, importers will be scrambling to maintain the inventory they need to support the demand increase. The post Is it too Early For 2022 Predictions?

Predictive Analytics Software 354

Predictive Analytics Software Predictive Analytics Waste Reduction Cost Reduction Strategies 354

Logistics Viewpoints

MARCH 9, 2023

The classical approach involves functional silos, sequential decisions, and Excel and people to render a plan executable. CPG companies that utilize an autonomous supply chain technology see a reduction in their inventory and cost and an increase in revenue. each with discrete plans generated typically in sequential batch runs.

Supply Chain Planning Software 288

Supply Chain Planning Software Modeling Forecasting Software Optimization Software 288

Supply Chain Shaman

DECEMBER 17, 2018

Nick Lynch is the Global Excellence Manager at Shell Lubricants, a division of Shell Global. The Company implemented SAP Advanced Planner and Optimizer (APO) including the standard functionality of Demand Planning (DP), Supply Network Planning (SNP), and Production Planning and Detailed Scheduling (PPDS), yet many planners also used Excel.

Demand Planning Software 322

Demand Planning Software Supply and Demand Supply Chain Planning Software Supply Chain Design Software 322

Synovos

NOVEMBER 10, 2023

The platinum medal puts RS Group in the top 1% of the 100,000-plus rated companies assessed by EcoVadis with each company rated on the material sustainability risks and issues for size, location, and industry. ESG Report: FY24 www.rsgroup.com/media/bsocsl4m/rs-group-esg-h1-highlights-pack_-november-23.pdf million customers.

Eliminating Excel in Purchasing 105

Eliminating Excel in Purchasing Groups Optimal Sourcing Manufacturing Procurement 105

Supply Chain Shaman

JANUARY 25, 2024

With slim margins and ever-increasing inventories, companies invested less in capital assets. Today, this network operates with less capacity and ballooning inventories. Many of these outsourced products have demand latency of weeks and months (shelf purchase through the replenishment cycle for a manufacturer to receive an order).

Supply Chain Network Software 359

Supply Chain Network Software Manufacturing Procurement Inventory Reduction Purchasing Skills 359

Supply Chain Shaman

JANUARY 14, 2013

It was a story where people believed that functional excellence leads to supply chain superiority. I strongly feel that a blind focus on functional excellence will cause the supply chain to become out of balance. The peer groups are growing more and more complex. One that is going to eat you up! Both are more volatile.

Supply Chain Planning Software 260

Supply Chain Planning Software Supply Chain Design Software Optimal Sourcing Modeling 260

Supply Chain Shaman

JULY 6, 2020

Tom, the colorful warehouse manager, constantly heckled Frank for the increasing inventory levels while Ed, the quiet material/logistics manager, constantly questioned if there was a better way. He felt that inventory was no problem, he would just cut it at the end of each quarter to make the balance sheet goals.

Agile and Lean Supply Chain 362

Agile and Lean Supply Chain Supply Chain Design Software Supply Chain Planning Software Supply Chain Strategy 362

Supply Chain Shaman

DECEMBER 4, 2018

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). Note the balanced results of Rockwell Automation against their peer group.

Supply Chain Software 30

Supply Chain Software Case Study Supply Chain Planning Software Supply Chain Design Software 30

Supply Chain Shaman

JUNE 7, 2021

Gartner purchased the firm in 2010.) Driving Improvements in Supply Chain Excellence. He felt strongly that supply chain leaders knew how to drive supply chain excellence and needed a forum– or maybe two or three depending on the business model– to help them network and refine their approaches. I disagreed.

Gartner 221

Gartner Supply Chain Design Software Supply Chain Planning Software Eliminating Excel in Purchasing 221

Supply Chain Shaman

JUNE 7, 2018

Or agreement on the definition of supply chain excellence. As a result, functional excellence anchors action. The focus is on digitization—automating today’s processes—versus rethinking process excellence based on the art of the possible. In this case, the metrics are operating margin and inventory turns.

Supply Chain Planning Software 287

Supply Chain Planning Software Supply Chain Design Software Optimization Software Forecasting Software 287

Supply Chain Shaman

MAY 3, 2015

When it comes to the management of inventory in value chains, frustration abounds. Executive, after executive, lament, “They have purchased many technologies and sponsored many projects to reduce inventories, but they are not seeing results.” Inventory is the culmination of many business decisions.

Inventory Reduction 150

Inventory Reduction Supply Chain Design Software Supply Chain Planning Software Inventory Management Software 150

Supply Chain Shaman

FEBRUARY 11, 2019

Companies that outperform their peer groups have supply chain executives with a better understanding of supply chain management. Last week, the Wall Street Journal reached out to discuss the rising inventories near the Port of Los Angeles. In my share groups, large manufacturing clients have a Q1 freeze on travel. The second?

Supply Chain Planning Software 207

Supply Chain Planning Software Modeling Software Demand Planning Software Supply and Demand 207

Supply Chain Shaman

JUNE 21, 2023

While companies that supply chain leaders believe are top performers– J&J, P&G, and Unilever– do not outperform their peer group. I list sixteen in Table 2, but of the 29 companies listed in the Gartner Top 25, 27 underperform their peer group sector. Is this success? Is this success? I don’t think so.

Gartner 424

Gartner Supply Chain Planning Software Supply Chain Design Software Supply Chain Planning 424

Supply Chain Shaman

SEPTEMBER 20, 2015

How do they buy from you? How do they buy from you?” Spinnaker Management Group asked me to co-present on a demand-driven webinar with SanDisk. Instead, in the SanDisk journey , they adjusted the speed of response to their customer segments, and actively designing inventory postponement strategies. It is systemic.

Inventory Reduction 150

Inventory Reduction Cost Reduction Strategies Sourcing Strategies Supply Chain Strategy 150

Supply Chain Shaman

FEBRUARY 18, 2013

Pharmaceutical companies are struggling with falling margins and rising inventories. Over the last decade, neither the pharmaceutical nor medical device manufacturer has been able to drive the revenue/employee productivity gains of their comparative peer groups. It is rising inventory levels. The level of growth is a surprise.

Pharmaceutical 170

Pharmaceutical Supply Chain Network Software Eliminating Excel in Purchasing Procurement Analytics 170

Logistics Viewpoints

AUGUST 12, 2024

Mr. Tamma is the chief digital officer at Pirelli and oversees the digital department at Pirelli at the group level. Pirelli needed to move from using an army of representatives visiting dealer sites, showing them massive catalogs, and saying to the dealer, “You could buy this or this or this.” Supply chain projects depend upon data.

Modeling 312

Modeling Supply Chain Planning Software Supply Chain Design Software Modeling Software 312

Supply Chain Shaman

SEPTEMBER 27, 2021

My thought was to combine my experience working on visibility solutions with Descartes Systems Group and Manugistics with recent research data. The secondary problem is the lack of definition of process requirements and a buying team that cannot see past simple MRP/MRP II/DDMRP requirements. I thought it would be easy.

Supply Chain Planning Software 390

Supply Chain Planning Software Sourcing Strategies Manufacturing Procurement Supply Chain Design Software 390

Kinaxis

DECEMBER 3, 2014

Reason #4 Making key decisions by modelling the supply chain in Excel. Reason #6 Not effectively managing inventory. One example that I’ve seen several times is around inventory targets. The result is a lower inventory level, but much higher expedited costs and reduced customer service. There can be multiple reasons.

Expense Reduction 250

Expense Reduction Procurement Analytics Cost Reduction Strategies Metrics 250

Supply Chain Shaman

JUNE 14, 2018

Bonuses and incentives align with functions and are often counter productive to driving supply chain excellence. Today, over 90% of companies have deployed ERP and APS, but as shown in Table 1, inventory levels have grown not decreased in over 80% of industries studied. Days of Inventory by Industry Across Years.

Optimal Sourcing 191

Optimal Sourcing Manufacturing Procurement Supply Chain Planning Software Agile and Lean Supply Chain 191

Supply Chain Shaman

AUGUST 18, 2022

At the end of a long day of a strategy session on supply chain excellence with a client, I needed to fill up some time in an agenda. The strategy day owner was a global process center of excellence leader. The group felt that the discussion was academic: and not that important. The result? Background.

Supply and Demand 259

Supply and Demand Demand Planning Software Supply Chain Planning Software Optimal Sourcing 259

Logistics Viewpoints

APRIL 25, 2024

So, the parking spots are getting more and more occupied with drop trailers, meaning lot capacity shrinks while finding the trailer with the highest-priority inventory becomes even harder. Create a facilities “Center of Excellence.” Problem number three: appointment scheduling is a mess.

Expense Reduction 316

Expense Reduction Cost Reduction Strategies Supply Chain Design Software Inventory Reduction 316

Supply Chain Shaman

SEPTEMBER 24, 2018

<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. They center on how to make a good decision in the purchase of supply chain planning solutions. Most have purchased software, but are dependent on Excel spreadsheets.

Supply Chain Planning Software 252

Supply Chain Planning Software Supply Chain Design Software Supply Chain Planning Supply Chain Software 252

Supply Chain Shaman

NOVEMBER 9, 2014

It was my first time working with this group. This team is not buying the message. The group laughed. So much so, that three years ago, I founded a research company to focus on understanding supply chain excellence. I also believed that this company would have the best inventory and customer service. I was wrong.

Manufacturing Procurement 318

Manufacturing Procurement Optimal Sourcing Benchmarking Supply Chain Design Software 318

Supply Chain Shaman

JUNE 29, 2014

With the purchase of i2 by JDA, and Logictools by IBM, manufacturing companies serious about network design started looking for a company, with a well-established community, that was more serious about network design. It could no longer be just about inventory levels. Instead, the design needed to be more encompassing.

Supply Chain Design Software 268

Supply Chain Design Software Supply Chain Design Network Design Software Supply Chain Planning Software 268

Logistics Viewpoints

NOVEMBER 4, 2021

High e-commerce shopping rates combined with construction delays are causing a strain in the supply of new warehouse space, especially as companies shift their inventory management strategies from just- in-time (JIT) inventory management to larger safety stocks for better responsiveness.

Warehousing 264

Warehousing Inventory Reduction Supply Chain Network Software Inventory Management Software 264

Supply Chain Shaman

AUGUST 14, 2016

Most of the concepts were new to the team; and while the group had discussed many of the ideas at a high level, they had not been able to take the conceptual ideas into implementation. I asked the group to think of demand-driven concepts as the enabler of customer-centric strategies. As a result, there were arguments. Channel Sensing.

Material Savings 246

Material Savings Inventory Reduction Price Reduction Cost Reduction Strategies 246

Supply Chain Shaman

SEPTEMBER 28, 2012

Most companies have made their own organizations more efficient (ROA), but they have not reduced inventories and they have pushed costs back in the supply chain on suppliers that are less able to bear them. We have let buy- and sell-side transactional relationships erode value. And, these are the best of their peer group.)

Pricing Training 262

Pricing Training Supply Chain Design Software Waste Reduction Purchasing Training 262

Supply Chain Shaman

NOVEMBER 28, 2016

To drive global scale, companies need to design the supply chain to buy globally and execute locally. The company leverages globally sourcing strategies to buy products at a lower cost and then deploys some unique process logic to drive mass customization for retailers. Not many companies have cracked this code. Improvement.

Supply Chain Design Software 195

Supply Chain Design Software Supply Chain Planning Software Agile and Lean Supply Chain Supply Chain Software 195

Supply Chain Shaman

FEBRUARY 16, 2024

Or mine supplier shifts to build alternate buying plans. Instead of relying on focus groups, we could learn through clicks/streams/ratings and reviews and apply the learnings continuously to markets. All are possible… However, to make the shift, we need to redefine work. Test and Learn.

Supply Chain Planning Software 417

Supply Chain Planning Software Supply Chain Design Software Modeling Supply and Demand 417

Supply Chain Shaman

FEBRUARY 14, 2022

Nine times out of ten, the finance group is portrayed as a dam, a barrier or a ferris wheel in the drawings. Companies tightly coupling the budget to S&OP have significantly higher inventories and lower growth than their peer group. Demand latency is two-eight weeks delayed from consumption purchase to translate to an order.

S&OP 195

S&OP Supply and Demand Procurement Analytics Manufacturing Procurement 195

Supply Chain Shaman

JUNE 14, 2014

In Figure 1, I share a composite orbit chart of progress of Cisco Systems, Intel, Samsung and Flextronics on the Effective Frontier at the intersection of inventory turns and operating margin for 2006-2012. This is a group of leaders. Our current processes and dependencies on Excel spreadsheets cannot get us to our goal.

Manufacturing Procurement 345

Manufacturing Procurement Optimal Sourcing Procurement Analytics Modeling 345

ToolsGroup

FEBRUARY 5, 2019

Gartner analyst Paul Lord has developed a framework to better understand inventory trade-offs by categorizing those decisions according to the objectives they are meant to achieve: structural, operational and situational. Many companies struggle with decisions such as “How many days of sales or inventory turns per year should we target?

Supply Chain Design Software 120

Supply Chain Design Software Optimal Sourcing Supply Chain Design Inventory Reduction 120

Supply Chain Insights

JULY 27, 2017

In groups of 5, each team member is given a different role: Finance, Sales, Marketing, Production, and Procurement. Examples of the notifications include leadership mandates for inventory reduction and pending union strikes. For the high cost materials, we were more careful with our inventory levels. Screenshot of SCI IMPACT!

Inventory Reduction 77

Inventory Reduction Material Savings Cost Reduction Strategies Resource Reduction 77