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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.
Venture capitalists are high on Artificial Intelligence (AI), and over-exuberant professors with shiny new models are jockeying into position to get rich. Building a software company is hard work. Most of the business networks were hollowed out by venture capitalists or purchased by opportunists.
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. What Drives Value?
Thats why modern BI systems are quickly becoming the go-to solution for data-driven enterprises. They integrate, align, and activate data across the business to drive better, faster decisions unlike legacy reporting tools that can’t. But lets be clear: not all BI platforms are created equal. Why does that matter?
Reason #4 Making key decisions by modelling the supply chain in Excel. Reason #9 Relentless pursuit of one supply chain metric at the expense of other metrics. Reason #9 Relentless pursuit of one supply chain metric at the expense of other metrics. Why do companies focus on reducing a specific metric?
Supply chain excellence is easier to say than to explain. The supply chain is a complex non-linear system. At each company, there is a relationship between the metrics of growth, margin, inventory, customer service, and asset strategy. Understanding this relationship requires modeling. (A The reason? Discontinued in 2011.
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. Engineers could sign up for hour-long blocks to use the new systems. Why Jump Now?
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. It is now possible for Q-commerce companies or retailers to use this model.
The systems–based on shipment and order data–were out of step with the market. With fixed models and hard-wired data feeds, teams could not adjust the planning systems to use consumption data or market indicators. Next Steps: Start to model demand based on market data to align the organization on baseline demand.
” Followed by “How are you organized, and what defines functional excellence? And, how do you tie functional excellence to corporate value?” Companies became less clear on the definition of supply chain excellence and how to implement decision support technologies. This gap grew over the last decade.
End-to-end supply chain visibility, planning, and execution support software are critical in agile supply chain performance. The classical approach involves functional silos, sequential decisions, and Excel and people to render a plan executable. each with discrete plans generated typically in sequential batch runs.
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. The orbit chart below illustrates L’Oréal’s performance at the intersection of two metrics.
I asked companies to “Navigate through the hype focusing on the feasibility of scope and technology.” At the time, the popular belief was that Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) technologies would build multi-tier capabilities. It went public last year in one of the few successful IPOs in the supply chain software space.
When making discretionary purchases, I could look at my projection to make sure that if I made that purchase, I would have enough money in the bank, not only now, but at the end of the month when my mortgage and car loan came out. Then could I buy it? Planning systems, however, are not designed to allow you to ask ‘what if?’
by Trevor Miles I have been in the advanced planning and scheduling (APS) space since 1995 when I joined i2 Technologies in Europe. My enhancements were to add the underlying technology and company information at the bottom which gives some context. . Let me start with the confusion between planning and execution. Their words.
Supply chain efficiency is the cornerstone of success and involves the effective management of processes, resources, and technologies from procurement to production, transportation to warehousing. Technology integration: Leveraging digital tools to enhance visibility and decision-making.
The second step is usually a large implementation of a technology project–Enterprise Resource Planning, Customer Relationship Planning or Analytics. The first evolution of technologies were built by best-of-breed solution vendors. This new solution was favored by the Information Technology (IT) organization.
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. The group’s response is, “Are these supply chain metrics?”
The attendees were sitting on the edge of their seats to hear about the next release of Llamasoft software. The market for network design tools was growing at a moderate rate, and most of the market had invested in technologies from either i2 Technologies (then termed i2 Strategist) or Logictools. The theatre was packed.
As an analyst in the supply chain market for 15 years, I have written many articles on best-of-breed technology companies purchased by a larger company. Today I am writing my take on the acquisition of Terra Technology by E2open. History of Terra Technology. Terra Technology is 15-years old.
Front and center in this revolution are the marriage of customer relationship management (CRM) software and capable e-commerce platforms like Shopify. Enter companies like DigitalSuits, a high-tech Shopify development and e-commerce agency that leverages technology and innovation to build end-to-end solutions.
Introduction Gardner, (1954) and Huntzinger, (2007) define Purchase price variance (PPV) as a metric used to measure the effectiveness of cost-saving efforts by calculating the difference between the planned cost (standard pricing) allocated for purchasing activities and the actual cost incurred.
Driving an excellent supply chain depends on how people are recruited and managed, processes, and the technology used. In the annual report where they report on their key performance indicators (KPIs), they don’t just report on core financial metrics and the NPS, they also have people metrics. The company recorded 1.9
Strategic sourcing and innovative solutions are often viewed as two distinct procurement tools, but they should not be seen in isolation. Think of them as apples and gearseach essential and effective on its own, yet when combined; they create a formidable mechanism for achieving procurement excellence.
If you are going to be excellent at ecommerce fulfillment, you need to have great perpetual inventory capabilities. Select your technology partners based on reliability and flexibility for ecommerce capabilities and aggressively build a multi-tier available-to-promise (ATP) signal to enable drop shipments and merge in transit capabilities.
It was a story where people believed that functional excellence leads to supply chain superiority. Year after year, well intentioned people toiled against improving metrics that reduced, not improved, the effectiveness of the supply chain. These technologies are mature. I feel that many of these technologies are now legacy.
Streamline Your Route Planning Process Daily route planning can quickly become overwhelming, especially if you’re managing delivery routes using spreadsheets, manual methods, or basic mapping tools. Top 10 Route Planning Software Solutions: Overview Here’s a quick comparison of the top route planning software solutions in 2025.
Users are accustomed to building everything in Excel and manipulating the data as needed for their own particular use, typically using static reports or spreadsheets that are siloed in specific departmental needs. A key first step is to have buy-in at the highest level of the organization. Starting at the Top.
It’s a holistic approach that blends strategic planning, streamlined processes, and the right technology to transform your warehouse into a well-oiled, profit-generating machine. Eight proven optimization strategies, combining technology, best practices, and sustainable solutions.
Ultimately, what KPIs, as metrics and indicators derived from the set of plans are taken into account and prepared for each scenario. Technology for Effective Planning. Working with Excel spreadsheets does not contribute the efficiency, speed and agility necessary for planning teams to bring the best plans to the company.
Mr. Welty founded a company that sold warehouse management systems (WMS) called AllPoints Systems in 1987. The company buying his company, EXE Technologies, is now infamous among those who have followed the WMS market. EXE Technologies bought AllPoints with stock. Unfortunately, Kiva Systems was bought by Amazon.
This is why I host training twice a year to challenge existing technology paradigms. He feels that based on his years of experience with a software provider, he has a whizzbang technology. Optimization engines to improve functional metric performance resulted in an exploding number of planners. Back to John.
“The idea of the value chain is based on the process view of organizations, the idea of seeing a manufacturing (or service) organisation as a system, made up of subsystems each with inputs, transformation processes and outputs. Our current processes and dependencies on Excel spreadsheets cannot get us to our goal.
Whereas, the traditional license models with client-server architectures are not very extensible, the newer cloud-based solutions make this easier. Each year, we do a study–we term it the Voice of Supply Chain User – on user satisfaction with today’s systems. 3) Higher User Satisfaction. The company secured $22.5
With rising costs and declining margins, health systems must become more efficient and productive. Now, of course the systems of healthcare differ but overall the level and growth is certainly a concern. The Path to Supply Chain Excellence. We believe that a key pillar of this transformation is the supply chain.
Consultants and technology leaders are rebranding under a “digital umbrella” without clear definition. Confluence of Technologies. Here are my predictions for 2018: Supply Chain Excellence as We Know It Is Redefined. Supply chain excellence definitions evolve as companies explore the Art of the Possible.
As I wrote earlier this year in Is Your Business Model Safe? , I also shared with them my view that companies will ultimately find opportunities for supply chain innovation at the intersection of Software, B2B Connectivity, and Social Networking — a trend best illustrated by the rise of Supply Chain Operating Networks (SCONs).
Today, technology providers are selling analytics. It is about answering the questions that we do not know to ask and testing and learning from market data (in vitro) to understand effective frontiers in complex non-linear systems. The answer is not with one technology or approach. A dragon lives forever but not so little boys.
Common Platforms: The more that products are standardized and platforms are rationalized, the easier it is to design for agility. The network is designed to allow shipments from multiple origins with tight workflow integration between transportation, order management and warehouse systems. Streamline Horizontal Processes.
Brand loyalty is no longer the driver for consumer purchasing decisions. People simply want to purchase products from businesses which provide a more transparent and streamlined service, and who deliver on their customer promise, even if it means inflated prices to obtain it. AI WILL FACILITATE AGILE AND RESILIENT DECISION-MAKING.
The network senses, translates, and orchestrates market changes (buy and sell-side markets) bi-directionally with near-real time data to align sell, deliver, make and sourcing organizations outside-in. These concepts, radically different from the traditional planning systems in the market, fly in the face of tradition.
During the spring, I get to spend a lot of time in airplane(s) attending and speaking at technology confer ences. The technology market for new Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) is drying up. Software maintenance costs are rising for the CIO. New business models are evolving. Embrace New Business Models.
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). Value creation and a value-driven approach are the pillars of the Rockwell Automation model.
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