July, 2018

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Be Careful What You Ask For

Supply Chain Shaman

Companies asked for integrated supply chain planning. They got it. It does not work so well. Now what? Sharing A Story. Last week, I met a client for breakfast in Frankfurt. Let’s call her Sally. As a leader of a global supply chain organization, her goal was simple. She was trying to define and drive supply chain excellence. In the last year, she worked with three consulting companies.

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If you can measure it then you can manage it

Claritum

Claritum Article - Procurement Blog. Contents. 1. Introduction. 2. The Challenge of Tail Spend. 3. An approach to Tail Spend Analytics. 4. Benefits of better Analytics. 5. Conclusion. 6. Further reading. 1 Introduction. “If you can measure it then you can manage it” This statement is so true in the procurement field. Whether you are focused on controlled growth or cost efficiencies, the ability to measure what is occurring in real time is essential to making decisions.

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Making Manufacturing Fun for Future Generations of Workers

Enterra Insights

Most people have heard the term Industry 4.0 which refers to the next industrial revolution. The revolution is being triggered by technologies like artificial intelligence (AI), robotics, the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT), and additive manufacturing (aka 3D printing). Industry 4.0 is predicted to make manufacturing more efficient and effective and to eliminate many manufacturing jobs.

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Tour de Supply Chain

All Things Supply Chain

Cycling becomes even more popular during the summer months and the 105th edition of the Tour de France, which this year takes place from July 7 to July 29, adds…

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4 Ways To Drive Supply Chain Excellence in the Food Industry

The Supplier Relationship Management Playbook is your guide to building effective supplier partnerships that drive supply chain excellence. This playbook equips supply chain professionals with strategies for managing compliance, tracking performance, and fostering collaboration to reduce supply chain risks. Inside, you’ll find: Strategies for Compliance: Best practices to help meet regulatory standards.

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Blockchain Technology in Logistics: What Are the Implementation Challenges?

GlobalTranz

Blockchain explores more and more industries every day. Due to a popularity of Bitcoin , this technology has already demonstrated countless opportunities for the financial area. Entrepreneurs from many other industries are trying to use the blockchain technology in other areas, and the window of opportunities looks impressive. The main advantage of blockchain is its transparency and ability to optimize ecosystems of digital information.

More Trending

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Decoding the Language of Demand

ToolsGroup

If you’ve been in supply chain for any length time, you might be wondering what caused demand forecasting to develop so many different ‘personalities’ over the years. Demand forecasting, planning, sensing, shaping…what’s going on? It’s easy to ignore all these as buzzwords, but that would be overlooking the genuine progress that has taken place over the past several decades.

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The Data Behind Amazon’s Logistics and Fulfillment Play

Freightos

In his 2017 annual shareholder letter , Bezos lauded “divinely discontent” customers as innovation drivers. This is how he described their impact (emphasis added): “It may be because customers have such easy access to more information than ever before – in only a few seconds and with a couple taps on their phones, customers can read reviews, compare prices from multiple retailers, see whether something is in stock, find out how fast it will ship or be available for pick-up, and more.

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Advanced analytics meets social good: how Angel Flight West optimizes flight routes for families in need

AIMMS

There are many great examples where advanced analytics have contributed to social good. North Star Alliance , for instance, uses optimization to find optimal locations for its mobile HIV-AIDS clinics in Africa. The Dutch Delta Program Commissioner used analytics to prevent flooding and was recognized with the 2013 Edelman Award. Most recently, we encountered Angel Flight West , a non-profit organization that is using AIMMS-based optimization to plan flights for families in need.

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Robots for eCommerce Fulfillment

Logistics Viewpoints

For robots in eCommerce fulfillment, last year was the year of pilots. This year customers are willing to publicly speak about the benefits they got from eCommerce robots at eft’s 3PL & Supply Chain Summit in Atlanta. The post Robots for eCommerce Fulfillment appeared first on Logistics Viewpoints.

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15 Modern Use Cases for Enterprise Business Intelligence

Large enterprises face unique challenges in optimizing their Business Intelligence (BI) output due to the sheer scale and complexity of their operations. Unlike smaller organizations, where basic BI features and simple dashboards might suffice, enterprises must manage vast amounts of data from diverse sources. What are the top modern BI use cases for enterprise businesses to help you get a leg up on the competition?

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Why Blockchain in the Supply Chain Is an Absolute Game Changer

GlobalTranz

The application of blockchain in the supply chain is among the greatest innovations to take root in the shipping industry. Application of blockchain holds promises to increase visibility, renew viability, reduce inconsistency, increase payment processing accuracy, and eliminate compliance problems. Even though the technology is still new, its potential cannot be ignored, and supply chain executives need to know why.

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Celebrating and Encouraging Women in Supply Chain

Kinaxis

by Mike McAllister By APICS CEO Abe Eshkenazi, CSCP, CPA, CAE. This article was originally published on apics.org, and is repubished with permission. Since 2012, The Manufacturing Institute has celebrated women in manufacturing with its STEP (Science, Technology, Engineering and Production) Ahead Awards, which recognize women in manufacturing who exemplify leadership within their companies.

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Here come the Response Networks

ToolsGroup

As competition heats up to meet consumer fulfillment expectations, the analyst community has worked to define a supply chain model that can dynamically and rapidly respond to changing market needs, sometimes called "Response Networks". Gartner calls their version “ Respond Planning ”. Supply Chain Insights (Lora Cecere’s firm) calls it “Networks of Networks”.

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Process Chemicals — A Complex Supply Chain in Motion

Logility

On a recent road trip to retrieve my daughter from college I drove past a handful for chemical manufacturing plants of various types. Viewing a chemical manufacturing plant from a distance everything seems so peaceful and static. A chemical plant is a complex and expensive array of storage tanks, pipes, controls and special chemical or biological transformation and/or separation equipment to take raw materials and create new value-added materials.

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Freight Procurement Simplified: Bids from Hours to Minutes

Speaker: Eric Berdinis, Ran Sun, & Chris Chmielewski

Procuring freight can be cumbersome, time-consuming, and error-prone. If you’re frustrated with the complex and manual processes for obtaining bids for your contract and spot freight, you’re not alone. In today’s fast-moving supply chain environment, optimizing these processes is critical to staying competitive and cutting costs. Join this exclusive webinar with experts from Uber Freight to learn how the latest digital tools and automation can transform your freight procurement strategy by strea

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Takeaways from the IBM Watson Supply Chain Summit

Talking Logistics

I haven’t attended an industry conference over the past year, or participated in a client meeting, where blockchain — along with artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning — hasn’t been part of the conversation. In fact, at one conference this spring, after delivering a keynote presentation that had nothing to do with technology, the very first question I received from the audience was “What do you think about blockchain and its potential in supply chain management?”.

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Innovating Production and Supply Networks to Increase Value from New Product Introductions

Logistics Viewpoints

Product and service innovation, driven by digital technologies, is key to gaining extra value from new product introductions. One particularly interesting development is the emergence of modular plants. Forecasting a NPI can be very difficult. Modular plants help companies to scale economically. The post Innovating Production and Supply Networks to Increase Value from New Product Introductions appeared first on Logistics Viewpoints.

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The Hurdles & Current Challenges of Using Blockchain in Supply Chain & Logistics

GlobalTranz

Although using blockchain in supply chain and logistics is an exciting prospect, the technology lacks the maturity necessary to enable global deployment today. Such limitation can be discouraging, but it serves as a beacon of hope for a better future in supply chain management. To unlock the true value of using blockchain in supply chain and logistics management, shippers should consider its existing hurdles and possible challenges as the technology matures.

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How demand planning can quench our thirst for beer

Kinaxis

by Mike McAllister World Cup and hot summer combine to create beer bottle shortage for German brewers. On the heels of a carbon dioxide (CO2) shortage in the UK that caused some breweries to ration beer production , Germany’s long, hot summer and the revelry surrounding the World Cup have combined with suboptimal demand forecasting to create a significant shortage of beer bottles , causing breweries large and small to plea to customers to return their empties.

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How to Master Product Portfolio Management

Pursuing product portfolio management excellence empowers organizations to unlock the full potential of their offerings. This comprehensive guide unveils 10 essential keys that serve as the building blocks for success.

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Supply Chain Resiliency - Top to Bottom

ToolsGroup

There is an increased focus on being prepared for supply chain risks such as digital threats, product traceability issues, and now the potential impact of a trade war. Coping with these risks necessitates matching supply chain resiliency to both the bottom and top layers of the Gartner “CORE” supply chain planning model. Gartner defines four types of supply chain risk (see chart above) depending on frequency and impact.

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Periodic Versus Continuous Planning – What’s Needed for Success?

Logility

The vast amount of information vying for our attention can make your head spin. When you think about how much this has changed over the last 10, 20 or more years, it is quite dizzying. It has been 11 years since the iPhone was introduced. Just 10 years prior, I remember purchasing my first Motorola Flip phone, which looked like the picture to the right.

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IoT Speeds Over-the-Road Shipment Tracking

Talking Logistics

If you’re a global supply chain executive, you’ve got a challenging job. A job that was once as simple as moving goods around now involves managing relationships with suppliers and service providers all around the globe, while also keeping track of the goods as your shipments move closer to their destination. According to a 2017 Michigan State University Supply Chain Management study , “supply chain and product complexity possess a number of sources that vex supply chain operations…customer acco

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No Driver Working Today Will Need to Change Careers Because of Autonomous Trucks

Logistics Viewpoints

Mike Reid, the Chief Operating Officer at Embark Trucks, said that “Anyone employed as a driver today will be able to retire as a driver.” What makes that statement surprising is that Embark is a leading developer of autonomous trucks. One might think that the goal of an autonomous truck company is to render drivers superfluous. The post No Driver Working Today Will Need to Change Careers Because of Autonomous Trucks appeared first on Logistics Viewpoints.

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The Ultimate Guide to Transportation and Load Building Optimization

Enhance your transportation and load building efficiency with our comprehensive guide. Learn to tackle today's supply chain challenges and optimize your approach with advanced planning strategies. This guide covers: Supply Chain Challenges: Discover how transportation planning can address critical issues and improve efficiency. Load Building Benefits: Understand how effective load building can enhance your transportation processes.

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[PODCAST] Why Using Logistics & Transportation Technology is Vital to Gain “Shipper of Choice” in Any Capacity Crunch

GlobalTranz

Cerasis brings you another episode of “The Freight Project Podcast!” Remember, you can catch every episode of “The Freight Project Podcast” by going over to the Podcast section of “ The Freight Institute !” You can also subscribe and find this podcast on Apple iTunes, Google Play, Spotify, Soundcloud , YouTube , and iHeartRadio!

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Indiana Jones and the supply chain bullwhip effect

Kinaxis

by Joe Cannata According to the European Journal of Operational Research , the term ‘bullwhip effect’ was first coined by Procter & Gamble (P&G) in the 1990s in reference to the order variance amplification phenomenon observed between P&G and its suppliers.”. A small shift in customer demand essentially cracks the whip, and the further a supplier is from the demand, the more significant the impact, which inevitably leads to increasing swings in inventory for suppliers.

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How a changed business model initiated a new supply chain planning approach

ToolsGroup

T he telecom provider business model was traditionally about delivering networked voice and data to homes and businesses, therefore not necessitating strong supply chain planning. But that has changed in the last decade due to the rapid growth of smartphones. The following is how a few telecom providers learned to react to the change, adopting a more aggressive approach to supply chain planning, and breaking through their supply chain and business performance barriers.

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Optimized Planning for an Explosive 4th of July

Logility

I love the 4 th of July Holiday. As a kid, the 4 th of July always represented the best of the summer school break and often included fun activities like camping, fishing, spending time in a park, parades, and wonderful firework displays. Of course there was always the abundance of kid friendly foods like hot dogs, hamburgers, popsicles, watermelon (and the ensuing watermelon seed spitting distance contest), salty chips of all kinds, and lots of sugary drinks.

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What Makes a Warehouse Worker Happy?

The 2024 Newcastle Systems Worker Satisfaction Survey provides insights into the life of a warehouse worker and what matters to them.

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The New Way a TMS Fuels Routing Creativity

Talking Logistics

Is managing your transportation operations an art form? You may not do your job with a palette and a paintbrush, but it’s safe to say that logistics planners have to be creative when moving freight. Customers have high expectations for quicker deliveries and more visibility into the delivery process, plus you have endless, changing constraints to deal with too.

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Using Big Data to Improve Your Supply Chain

Logistics Viewpoints

The term “big data” has been one of the hottest buzzwords over the last couple of years, and that’s not a big surprise. Statistical science and data analytics can help organizations (of any size and type) obtain historical measurements and generate actionable information that increases supply chain visibility, drives operational efficiency and supports overall growth.

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Use of Blockchain in Supply Chain & Logistics: Looking to Examples Across Industries for Better Understanding

GlobalTranz

The days of managing supply chains through databases and changing information are over. Although blockchain is often related closely to cryptocurrency, it holds great value for use in supply chain management. Even JP Morgan, Microsoft, and Google, reports Jonathan Chester of Forbes , are working to increase blockchain development and innovation, and supply chain leaders need to understand how the use of blockchain in supply chain and logistics will bring about lasting change and improvements in