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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.
Many large organizations have multiple systems for order, warehouse, or transportation management that are barely integrated frequently not at all. Optimizing fulfillment requires a series of steps to get a shipment from its source to the end customer.
This complexity has introduced gaps in visibility and responsiveness that traditional systems werent designed to handle. It is not a technology on its own, but rather a process that combines planning, execution, and monitoring through integrated tools and workflows.
However, as carbon taxes and emissions reporting requirements continue increasing, supply chain professionals face mounting pressures from inside and outside their organizations to measure and improve performance against new, nebulous sustainability metrics. Freight transportation makes up over 10% of total global carbon emissions.
The modern supply chain is a complex network of suppliers, manufacturers, distributors, and customers, all interconnected and reliant on a shared ecosystem of trust and accountability. Balancing these priorities requires investment in robust auditing systems, supplier education, and long-term partnerships that emphasize shared values.
Sudden tariff increases can quickly make a cost-optimized procurement strategy untenable, leaving companies scrambling to adjust. When a critical Tier-2 supplier is affected by a tariff policy change or regional shutdown, the ripple effects often catch manufacturers by surprise. Metrics must reflect the new priorities.
Building a software company is hard work. Try to gain an understanding of how technological advancements can improve work. Agents: Robotic agents, agent-based optimization, and chatbots formulate suggested actions from query, market shifts, or exceptions. I am speaking to many that are ill equipped. Ask for use cases.
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?
Transportation, warehousing, and manufacturing collectively contribute significantly to carbon emissions, making these areas critical for meaningful change. Senior leaders must think beyond incremental improvements, embracing systemic innovation to achieve significant environmental impact.
The global supply chain landscape is undergoing significant transformations, influenced by rapid technological advancements, shifting consumer expectations, and the intricacies of international commerce. Preparing the next generation to excel in this dynamic field requires more than traditional education methods.
Our platform can be deployed alongside your current solutions, providing immediate value without disrupting established workflows. billion rate data points monthly to provide the most comprehensive view of the market, helping you identify savings opportunities and make data-driven decisions.
Small companies outperform large companies, and the marquee customers of major supply chain planning technology providers underperform. The issue is that when companies optimize functional metrics, they throw the supply chain out of balance and sub-optimize value. Supply chain leaders love bright and shiny objects.
If there’s a bright spot anywhere it’s the fact that, as logistics challenges have grown, so has the availability of advanced technologies to manage these challenges. For logistics teams, digital control towers add maximum value when they’re integrated with the transportation management system (TMS). Warehouse Task Automation.
When companies consider implementing enterprise software, standard operating procedure would be to look at a public company’s financials before deciding to implement the solution. If the software company is private, the prospective customer often asks for the right to view their financials. How can they be growing so fast? The problem?
By harnessing the power of data science and analytics, you can gain end-to-end visibility across your entire network, breaking down information silos and optimizing every stage of your operations. Connected technology transforms traditional supply chains into dynamic systems capable of real-time decisions and proactive problem-solving.
Knowledge Graphs are emerging as an important tool for building advanced AI capabilities. Ibrahim Al Syed, the director of digital manufacturing at Celanese, was surprisingly forthcoming about how Celanese developed these capabilities at ARC Advisory Groups 29th Annual ARC Industry Leadership Forum. Their plants are very expensive.
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?
Once upon a time, the world of manufacturing was a relatively stable place. So how does a manufacturer navigate this rollercoaster? The Challenge: Siloed Inventory Data and Lack of Visibility One of the primary obstacles in inventory management is the prevalence of siloed data across multiple execution systems.
If you’re evaluating procurement technology or exploring ways to drive more value from existing systems, chances are you’re looking beyond tactical fixes – you want a smarter, scalable strategy. But when spend is scattered across systems, business units, and suppliers, finding those insights is easier said than done.
Scaling manufacturing operations is crucial for business growth but presents unique challenges. Balancing increased demand with consistent quality and controlled costs is difficult but essential for manufacturers looking to expand. Successfully scaling manufacturing requires more than just adding resources.
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. As companies across industries have discovered, a well-optimized supply chain can drive significant improvements throughout their operations.
That’s the power of manufacturing data collection. Manufacturing data collection is your secret weapon for boosting efficiency, cutting waste, and staying ahead of the competition. Manufacturing data collection is your secret weapon for boosting efficiency, cutting waste, and staying ahead of the competition.
Rather than hoping everything runs as smoothly, shippers today need to apply technology to ensure high customer experience levels are achieved and all shipments are delivered on time and in full. Additional opportunities can be reached through transportation optimization whether using a 3PL or 4PL. Defining Transportation Optimization.
Supply chain optimization has also improved in significant ways that can address these trade-offs better than before. Operational innovations like the invention of containers led to the huge growth in global value chains, and today 95% of manufactured goods move on ships. The myth of the “perfect plan”.
As a result, a wide range of businesses, from restaurants, and retail chains, to manufacturers, have been redesigning their business services and operations and re-engineering their supply chains. We need planning platforms to keep up with all the changes. This is how composable systems work.
Keeping track of all your moving parts in manufacturing is a tall order. That’s where manufacturing inventory management software comes in. The right software can streamline your production, optimize stock levels, and even help you save money. Spreadsheets just don’t cut it anymore.
Driving decarbonization with technology In 2023, the SAP CPO Think Tank community has been closely examining how companies can accelerate supply chain decarbonization. Decarbonization – in other words, the effort to reduce CO 2 emissions by transitioning away from fossil fuels – is a crucial tool in combatting climate change.
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.
Much has been done to improve manufacturing efficiency. Supply chains have been optimized; warehouse inventory tracking has reached new levels of precision; production lines can operate with virtually no downtime. One of the themes I have observed with typical technology investments or systems upgrades has been a focus on ROI.
The first Gartner Magic Quadrant for Supply Chain Planning that I participated in as a technology vendor was in 1995. Not much has changed in the methodology, but a lot has changed in the market–consolidation, technology advancements, and the growth of the global multinational. The supply chain is a complex, non-linear system.
Our platform can be deployed alongside your current solutions, providing immediate value without disrupting established workflows. billion rate data points monthly to provide the most comprehensive view of the market, helping you identify savings opportunities and make data-driven decisions.
It’s like having a magic wand that optimizes inventory levels, prevents shortages, and sharpens your demand forecasting—all from your smartphone. Mobile inventory management is a digital solution that combines a mobile inventory app with cloud-based software to track, manage, and optimize inventory in real-time.
Do Invest in Distributor Capability Building : Provide training, digital tools, and performance incentives. Do Set Clear KPIs and Governance Structures : Establish transparent metrics for sales, coverage, and service levels. A well-equipped distributor is an extension of your brand and a key to market penetration.
For organizations layered in functional metrics and driving a cost agenda, this is a tough nut to crack. During the pandemic, companies struggled with planning systems turning off the optimizers, and using the technology as a system of record. Tougher than most understand. Build in-market sourcing. Interested?
Their focus on technology for the sake of digital–doing the same things faster or hands-free–stalled out because of the lack of investment in human work systems. “Why would we invest in making current systems faster without recognizing the fundamental disconnects??? . IT teams love to bolt in software.
In manufacturing, performance improvement, cost reduction and process optimization are crucial. Manufacturers have adopted innovative solutions and technologies to deal with these issues. There is no question that AI and ML will have important roles in shaping the future of manufacturing ERP. What is AI and ML?
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.
In the fast-paced world of smart manufacturing, making quick, accurate and informed decisions is essential. Real-time decision-making, powered by artificial intelligence (AI) , is revolutionizing smart manufacturing processes. That said, manufacturers need to take several steps to successfully enable these technologies.
There are three reasons why: Vertical excellence—having the best manufacturing, procurement or transportation function—has not worked. A big bang technology focus has not worked. Enlightened leadership that focuses on the management of the supply chain as a complex system. Aligned Metrics. Outside-in Processes.
In this final blog on agility and why you should consider becoming an agilist to survive the new completion (of the continuous mention) of the application of enterprise decision management systems (EDMS) from Taylor and Raden cited in the first blog, I turn to the metric of agility and a new ROI metric of decision yield.
From retail and food and beverage to manufacturing and life sciences, companies from a wide variety of industries are realizing the benefits of the technology, revolutionizing how they operate, collaborate, and generate value. The cloud has emerged as the cornerstone of modern business and supply chain innovation.
Definition As I follow the evolution of supply chain technology, I am struck by what I see as a stream of paradox and anomaly, and the tendency of supply chain leaders to cling to convention. technologies. My observation is that softwaretechnology leaders are attempting to make historic practices faster versus redefining capabilities.
That includes everything from raw materials and manufacturing to packaging and logistics. Manual systems also fail to provide the long-term insights needed for strategic action. For most CPG brands, indirect emissions — those that occur across the supply chain — represent the majority of their carbon footprint.
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