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If you’re managing inventory with spreadsheets , you’re not alone—but you might be falling behind. While Excel has long been a go-to for planners, the landscape has changed. In this dynamic environment, inventory management powered by spreadsheets is no longer a viable strategy. The result?
” Traditional planning models optimize functional processes to improve cost and customer service. In today’s architectures and functional metrics, value optimization does not exist. The goal is to use functional optimization to improve reliability while aligning all process and performance outcomes to a balanced scorecard.
When you talk to companies that have implemented enterprise or supply chain applications, executives will usually admit that they have under-invested in training and preparing users to use the new technology. Molexs story is interesting because they excelled at overcoming these cultural issues. People issues are always challenging.
Probabilistic forecasting is revolutionizing demand forecasting, supply planning, and inventoryoptimization by significantly improving forecast accuracy and decision-making across distribution networks. Enhancing Inventory with Probabilistic Forecasting A supply chain is a complex ecosystem influenced by dynamic variables.
We purchase data from Y charts. (A Studying Performance of the Gartner Top 25 Award Winners Plotting corporate patterns against peer group performance through orbit charts enables a quick understanding of supply chain excellence. As an aside, I do not think that Lenovo is an example of a supply chain excellence. but declining.
At the session, we discussed why companies have not made more progress on inventory management. In the case of Apparel and Automotive industries there are slight improvements, but they have shifted inventories to suppliers. Days of Inventory Pre and Post-Recession. IT View of the Current State of Inventory. Five Reasons.
If so, optimizing your inventory management strategy can be a game-changer. This method offers a solution to various inventory and shipping challenges for businesses just like yours. Below, we outline three ways blind shipping can help optimize your logistics, keep inventories healthy and save you money!
But between rising costs, complex logistics, and the constant struggle to optimize space and labor, staying ahead can feel like an uphill battle. That’s where warehouse optimization comes in. Here’s what you can expect: A clear definition of warehouse optimization and its core components. Ready to get started?
From raw material procurement to final product sales, these supply chains’ ability to minimize inventory through product life cycle controls and facilitate prompt product supply is every bit as important as product differentiation strategies. The establishment of efficient global supply chains has become critical to competitiveness.
The award, based on beating the industry peer group on rate of improvement on the key metrics of growth, operating margin, inventory turns, and Return on Invested Capital (ROIC) while outperforming their peer group, is tough to achieve. Orbit Chart for L’Oréal at the Intersection of Inventory Turns and Operating Margin.
Most of the business networks were hollowed out by venture capitalists or purchased by opportunists. Yawn and walk on if the answer is i mproving demand error or reducing inventory levels. Agents: Robotic agents, agent-based optimization, and chatbots formulate suggested actions from query, market shifts, or exceptions.
Richard Lebovitz and Joe Lynch discuss leading inventory attack teams. Richard is the CEO of LeanDNA , a purpose-built analytics platform for factory inventoryoptimization. About Richard Lebovitz Richard Lebovitz is the CEO of LeanDNA , a purpose-built analytics platform for factory inventoryoptimization.
Even more impressive, lost sales due to stockouts can decrease by up to 65%, while inventory reductions of 20% to 50% are possible. Enhanced Promotions and Events Analysis Promotions, advertising campaigns, and trade events are vital components of marketing strategy, but accurately measuring their impact on demand remains challenging.
Training ensued, and the expectation of changing work was shared. We explore the concept of holistic inventorystrategies focused on the form and function of inventory. The shift from Inside-out to Outside-in is impossible using a crawl, walk, and run strategy. Only 15% of inventories are safety stock.
You’re juggling production schedules, managing inventory, keeping an eye on finances, and making sure everything runs smoothly on the shop floor. Think of it as the central nervous system of your operation, connecting everything from production planning and inventory control to supply chain management and financial reporting.
Inventory is the lifeblood of any manufacturing business. By leveraging analytics and key performance indicators (KPIs), manufacturers can optimizeinventory, reduce waste, and boost profitability. Tracking inventory flow and performance across your supply chain is a must. But what exactly should you measure?
Leveling up your inventory life cycle can be crucial, but keeping all the fundamental factors jumping is essential to let the life cycle evolve. However, if the life cycle stock is healthy, inventory management is smooth. Inventory management revolves around the pivotal concept of the product life cycle. Click here!
How Do You Define Excellence? In retrospect, I find that technology is an enabler, but only if we are clear on what defines supply chain excellence. Many believe that an ex-supply chain exec knows the definition of supply chain excellence. An average margin of 21% with inventory turns of 1.58 I admit it. Lora was as well.
Supply chain excellence is easier to say than to explain. At each company, there is a relationship between the metrics of growth, margin, inventory, customer service, and asset strategy. Keith was an undisputed leader in building talent to drive manufacturing excellence. The reason? Discontinued in 2011.
When I hear companies discussing the implementation of a customer segmentation strategy, I ask a series of questions: Who is your customer? How do they buy from you? What are you trying to accomplish through the execution of a customer segmentation strategy? How do they buy from you?” Why does it matter to you?
The client leaned across the table and asked, “Is a customer-centric supply chain strategy the same as a demand-driven supply chain strategy?” Drawing from the Whiteboard: Building Customer-Centric Supply Chain Strategies. The focus is on channel data: price; inventory positions; and policies.
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.
Observations on What It Takes In the Mea Culpa post, I wrote that I used to believe that excellence in S&OP was a ratio of 60/30/10. (60% P&G did not appreciate the work Gilette accomplished on form and function of inventory and using market signals. Clearly Define an Operating Strategy.
In the warehouse context, a digital twin can be created to represent the physical layout, inventory, equipment, and workflows of a warehouse. Digital twins can also be used to optimize the placement of equipment and machinery, such as conveyors and pallet jacks.
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?
In a recent research project, we found that 2/3 of companies had a digital supply chain transformation strategy; however, those that were evolving their strategy performed better during the early months of the pandemic than those that were “clear” on the project plan for a digital transformation. I know, a head-scratcher.
When you look behind the scenes of a global business operation, procurement strategy and supply chain management are usually top priorities, though theyre not always working in sync. This blog explores procurement vs supply chain strategy and looks at how aligning the two leads to operational excellence. The problem?
In May 2025, one in seven home-purchase agreements fell through resulting in the cancellation of 56,000 purchase contracts. The concept was that managing trade-offs and optimizing the whole to drive business outcomes would improve value. A negative FVA increases cost, inventory, and risk. The ripple effects are pervasive.
As companies across industries have discovered, a well-optimized supply chain can drive significant improvements throughout their operations. In the automotive sector, manufacturers are simultaneously reducing inventory costs and delivery times. Technology integration: Leveraging digital tools to enhance visibility and decision-making.
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.
Clear operating strategy and definition of supply chain excellence across plan, source, make and deliver. Most companies buy decision support technology, but do not redefine work to improve decisions. I like the use of growth, margin, inventory turns, Return on Invested Capital, customer service and ESG metrics.
This is why I host training twice a year to challenge existing technology paradigms. Optimization engines to improve functional metric performance resulted in an exploding number of planners. Rolling up a perpetual inventory signal takes eleven hours. days to get a perpetual inventory signal and 2.2 When did you know it?
From harvest to hands, the food & beverage (F&B) industry leaves no room for guesswork, especially without supply chain optimization software. This reality is compelling F&B companies to rethink their strategies and approach to supply chain optimization and demand planning.
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.
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.
We were discussing the results of the planning benchmarking work that we have just finished, and I was sharing some insights on inventory management when one of the panelists emphatically stated, “Inventory is a waste to manage. We feel so strongly about this that we do not have an inventory planning role.”
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.
The promise was the delivery of a decision support system that would allow the organization to optimize the relationships between cash, cost and customer service against the strategy. To drive maximize the value of planning, organizations need to be aligned against an operating strategy. This leads to a sub-optimal response.
For the past month, I have been working alongside companies implementing digital strategies. Or agreement on the definition of supply chain excellence. As a result, functional excellence anchors action. The problem is that each form of decision support solution optimizes the outcome within a function. Movement by degrees.
In follow-up qualitative interviews, one of the largest issues with organizational alignment was metric definition and a clear definition of supply chain excellence. To manage continuous improvement, companies need a clear definition of excellence and organizational alignment to that goal. They do not excel in planning or forecasting.
Millions of shoppers, like my Dad, are not going back to their old habits because there are now faster and more convenient ways for buying daily household needs. It excels on a union of E-Commerce mobile apps and last-mile delivery innovations. InventoryOptimization. Supply Chain Digitalization & Autonomous Planning.
So should the purchasing process. . RFIs tend to work well for certain industries (like government) or for purchasing equipment and industrial assets, bu t t hey often fall short in helping supply chain teams select a new software vendor. There is valuable time and effort put in by both the supplier and the purchasing party.
Despite two decades of advancement in supply chain technologies, companies are struggling to gain balance at the intersection of operating margin, inventory turns and case fulfillment. They also enable the evaluation of networks for both sales and procurement relationships to optimize the flows upstream and downstream.
Consumers want to shop anywhere, and buy in the way that they want to buy. Current State of Perpetual Inventory. Replenishment is fueled by an effective perpetual inventory signal. It anchors optimization engines for replenishment. Collaborative relationships need a good signal for inventory.
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