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She wrote, “I have been working in the supply chain for 35 years, and we are still trying to solve the “demand” issue. Solving from a supply side seems to work for many companies I work with. Over the last two years, I actively engaged technologists and business leaders to redefine demandplanning.
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. Molex implemented a multi-enterprise supply chain network platform from SAP called SAP Business Network.
While Excel has long been a go-to for planners, the landscape has changed. Disruptions are constant, demand is volatile, and complexity is increasing. Companies that embrace inventory optimization through modern tools are moving toward a high maturity supply chain model —and reaping the rewards.
I laugh when business leaders tell me that they are going to replace their current supply chain planning technologies with “AI.” Each supply chain planning technology at the end of 2024, went through disruption–change in CEO, business model shift, layoffs, re-platforming and acquisitions. You are right.
In the fast-paced world of modern supply chains, traditional forecasting methods fall short. Probabilistic forecasting is revolutionizing demand forecasting, supplyplanning, and inventory optimization by significantly improving forecast accuracy and decision-making across distribution networks.
My head is wobbling with announcements, late-night Friday press releases, company name changes, and executive turnover in the supply chain planning market. Logility, a conservative company supply chain planning technology, historically had no debt and cash reserves of more than 80M, is undervalued in this deal.
Today, in supply chain planning, this could not be further from reality. In May 2025, one in seven home-purchase agreements fell through resulting in the cancellation of 56,000 purchase contracts. Each is attempting to slather AI on today’s offering: this fueling a hype cycle for agentic AI. The reason?
The Covid-19 pandemic tested the global supply chain. Like riding a bumpy road, the supply chain leader is riding the ups and downs of changing market conditions facing greater variability day-to-day. Here, based on interviews with supply chain leaders, I share lessons learned. The Failure of Existing DemandPlanning Solutions.
At the Supply Chain Global Summit 2018 , Francois discussed the impact of digitalization, Industry 4.0, and L’Oréal’s approach to business that has allowed the company to continuously rank as a Supply Chains to Admire winner for four consecutive years. Read more to understand the details on the Supply Chain Index ,).
Running a manufacturing business isn’t easy. It’s a lot to handle. That’s where a manufacturing ERP comes in. Manufacturing ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) software integrates all your core business processes into one powerful platform. Let’s get started.
Today, I speak at the North American Manufacturing Association, Manufacturing Leadership Conference, in Nashville on the use of data to improve supply chain resilience. Background The Council of Supply Chain Resilience met for the first time this month. Let’s start the beginning. Think this is possible?
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 genesis of the River of Demand learning activity. Over the last decade, I find fewer and fewer companies understand supply chain planning. The result? Background.
When reviewing strategy decks for supply chain teams, I often see statements like “move from a functional-silo’d focus to a drive a more holistic response.” ” Followed by “How are you organized, and what defines functional excellence? And, how do you tie functional excellence to corporate value?”
New technologies revolutionizing transportation are creating tremendous opportunities but also unprecedented challenges for tire manufacturers. The establishment of efficient global supply chains has become critical to competitiveness.
Integrated Planning: Tight Coupling of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) to Supply Chain Planning (SCP). When companies tell me that they need to exchange their current Supply Chain Planning (SCP) from a best-of-breed provider to get a leg-up, I ask, “Why?” It makes no sense to me. Or accidental?
During the 1980s, I was on a management team for a large manufacturer. The Company was attempting to gain economies of scale by grouping manufacturing technologies within a common infrastructure to reap the benefits of a co-generation facility, a centralized warehouse, and a talented administrative team.
Supply chain excellence is easier to say than to explain. Executive teams strive to drive improvement in supply chain results; yet, sadly, only four percent of public companies succeed. The supply chain is a complex non-linear system. Let’s take P&G as an example. The reason? A Case Study.
”) So, I sat across from a stranger on a cold winter night, the only thing that we had in common was our experience in supply chain planning. . And won’t the supply chain follow suit?” The perspective of a manufacturing leader is quite different than that of a business leader in logistics.
The basic frame of supply chain planning–functional taxonomies for optimization on a relational database–must be redesigned before supply chain leaders can reap the benefit of deep learning, neural networks, and evolving forms of Artificial Intelligence (AI). Let’s start with a basic definition.
(Most of the business networks were hollowed out by venture capitalists or purchased by opportunists. The supply chain planner role is the most dissatisfied of any employee in the supply chain, but most focus on improving engines using AI into conventional work processes. The opportunity is to rethink planning.
As a supply chain leader, he is struggling how to dance in the ring of fire. The ring of fire is corporate politics at the executive level on supply chain performance. Each executive has a different perspective on the definition of supply chain excellence, but they are never discussed and aligned. Let me explain.
In 2004, I worked with a Midwest North American meatpacker to help define its supply chain strategy. The group needed a clear market signal on consumption patterns and the translation of demand with minimal latency to optimize price, mix, and schedule the factory to manage margin. What do I mean? To illustrate, let me share a story.
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. To help, I wrote a few definitions on the board: Demand-Driven Processes.
Many of the case studies being presented at today’s conferences were born during the pandemic and the post-pandemic turbulence. While companies talk digital, the projects follow traditional supply-centric paths. The analysis is biased toward large process-based manufacturers in the Gartner network. As I listen, I struggle.
Today, we published The Supply Chains to Admire for 2023. Nvidia, Northrup Grumman, PACCAR Inc, PCA (Packaging Corporation of America), ResMed, Rockwell Automation, Ross Stores, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing (TSMC) Company, Tempur-Pedic, TJX, Toro, Toyota, West Pharma, United Tractors, and Urban Outfitters. I admit it.
In 2022, I frequently ask companies to draw their river of demand. The activity is designed to challenge new thinking–to rethink demand as a flow, to identify rocks (barriers), and define process latency (the time to make a decision). Drawings from Two Very Different Businesses Portraying the River of Demand. Mistake #3.
Great to conceptualize potential use cases, but not today’s reality. We have this today in most supply chain planning solutions. I don’t think that the answer is faster planning or better engines. The problem with supply chain planning is that it is, by definition, not repetitive work.
Commerce is global and regional at the same time, the world is getting smaller and more interconnected, and Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG) manufacturers operate in this build-anywhere and sell-anywhere market. End-to-end supply chain visibility, planning, and execution support software are critical in agile supply chain performance.
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. Supply Chain 4.0.
Today, supply chain excellence matters more than ever. During the pandemic, the supply chain discussions take new importance. While the supply chain technology market lost its allure at the start of the last decade, it is now cool again. The supply chain career is new. Reflection. Evolution is messy.
Supply management. Supply chain management. Supply chain planning. I believe demand is a flow based on the combination of products/services/customers and channels, as shown in Table 1. This exceeds the 55% previously reported in the Supply Chain Insights surveys. Let’s not quibble on the percentages.
Building Supplies. Supply chain shortages abound. Today, more than 1% of the world’s container ships are stuck off major ports. The supply chain impact is unprecedented. I volunteered to write a report on supply visibility. Projects Being Implemented as Part of a Digital Supply Chain Transformation Project.
The supply network–shipments and production of trading partners–represents over 70% of the environmental impact of supply chain decisions. Networks take three forms–demand, design, and supply. Here I share insights on the sharing of supply data. Here I share insights on the sharing of supply data.
Waves of hype pass through supply chain narratives. and digital supply chains. and digital supply chains. I could write a blog about each story, but let’s save that for coffee.) (I could write a blog about each story, but let’s save that for coffee.) Thought leaders push concepts.
While consultants know the answers (or believe they do), I believe my goal as a research analyst is to unearth new questions that should be asked (and answered together openly in the supply chain community) to improve value. Like a car’s tire in a snowbank going nowhere… My goal is to free their thinking.
Companies implementing supply chain planning (SCP) have traditionally been very big companies or companies with complex supply chains. Supply chain planning is not just for the big boys. This manufacturer produces plastic reusable material handling containers and plastic fuel tanks.
Customer Portal Partner Portal Contact John Galt Solutions Atlas AI-driven SaaS platform that connects and orchestrates your entire supply chain. More than a cautionary tale for emergency preparedness, this story mirrors what’s happening across supply chains worldwide. Supply chains are heading down a strikingly similar path.
Pirelli’s Business Model and Supply Chain Pirelli (PIRC.MI) is a consumer tire company headquartered in Milan, Italy. This is a complex supply chain. The tires put on the new cars generate subsequent pull-through demand. Demand forecasting is done in collaboration with OEM customers. Pirelli had revenues of about €6.65
. <Bear with me… > Here I share a nine-step process in an attempt to help companies unravel the process for buyingsupply chain planning software. Let’s face a hard fact: the supply chain planning market is a mess. Most have purchased software, but are dependent on Excel spreadsheets.
Likewise, simplistic sensing of disruptions, to improve resilience is not a network. My definition of a network is the bi-directional information exchange of manufacturing, procurement, quality, and transportation signals across multiple tiers of trading partners in a many-to-many trading partner information exchange with minimal latency.
The consulting team pitches a theme–vision of supply chain best practices, big data analytics, or demand-driven value networks– to the executive team, and a new project is initiated. Question 1: What drives a Successful Implementation of Supply Chain Planning? Supply chain planning is now on its third decade.
The most unloved employees in the back office are supply chain planners. As supply chain leaders, I would encourage you to send each of them some love for Valentine’s Day. Each year, when we complete our annual talent survey, we note greater and greater dissatisfaction within the role of supply chain planners.
This is a story for the Eds, Franks, and Toms working together in supply chains across the globe. It is also a story for a young supply chain manager attempting to make a difference, but feeling stymied. Frank, the line manager for manufacturing, dominated the meetings. Efficient supply chains may not be the most effective.
The evolution of planning moves from a focus on the enterprise to an adaptive platform that senses and responds based on market data. An outside-in model requires a redefinition making today’ssupply chain planning technologies legacy investments. What Is An Inside-Out Planning Process?
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