May, 2013

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Taking the Hill

Supply Chain Shaman

'For most companies, growth has slowed. Profits are sluggish. Complexity reigns and cycles are longer. The challenges and opportunities of business are greater. We believe that supply chain excellence helps a company to better balance demand and supply. We also believe that it helps companies to be more resilient: weathering demand and supply volatility while maximizing opportunities and mitigating risks.

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History of Logistics and Supply Chain Management - SupplyChainOpz

Supply Chain Opz

'NAVIGATE. Home. Basics. Case Studies. Graphics. All Posts. About. Copyright. Privacy. Blogroll. History of Logistics and Supply Chain Management. Logistics and Supply Chain Management is a relatively new discipline. Its the crossroads of diverse subjects, covering various branches of business, management and engineering. Understanding of our own roots helps create the appropriate mindset, ending the rhetoric and bringing supply chain integration to reality.

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How Many Slaves Are in Your Supply Chain?

Talking Logistics

'The collapse of the garment factory in Bangladesh last week , which killed at least 705 workers and injured thousands of others, has put a spotlight on a problem that plagues many supply chains: the use of slave labor. Coincidentally, at the Ariba LIVE 2013 conference yesterday, I attended a presentation by Justin Dillon, Founder and CEO of Made in a Free World , a nonprofit group that is “building a coalition of consumers, businesses, and governments to disrupt the system of slavery.

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Laboratory Experiments in Supply Chain Research

SCM Research

'Nobel laureates rarely publish articles in journals within the supply chain arena. Vernon L. Smith was awarded the 2002 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences “for having established laboratory experiments as a tool in empirical economic analysis, especially in the study of alternative market mechanisms” In its recent issue, the Journal of Business Logistics had the great privilege to publish an article by Cary Deck and him, in which these ideas were applied to our field: Using L

Research 147
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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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The 11 Transportation Service Offerings

The Logistics of Logistics

'There are 11 transportation service offerings. Last summer, Inbound Logistics published a list of different 3PLs and their services. The article listed 11 different types of transportation services and I decided to write an overview of those 11 transportation service offerings described in the article. I wrote a similar overview for warehousing: The 7 Warehouse Service Offerings.

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Why I No Longer Believe in the Gartner Supply Chain Top 25

Supply Chain Shaman

'This week, Gartner is hosting their annual supply chain conference. A major item on the agenda is the announcement of what used to be named the AMR Top 25. It is now the Gartner Supply Chain Top 25. While the name has changed, the methodology has remained fairly constant, with a only a few changes, since 2004. The research tries to establish “ who did supply chain best ” by looking at a weighted formula of Year-over-Year Growth, Return on Assets (ROA), and Inventory Turns for the Fortune 500 co

Gartner 254
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Origin of Logistics & Supply Chain Revealed! - SupplyChainOpz

Supply Chain Opz

'NAVIGATE. Home. Basics. Case Studies. Graphics. All Posts. About. Copyright. Privacy. Blogroll. Origin of Logistics & Supply Chain Revealed! What do we know about "Logistics" and "Supply Chain" to date? The purpose of this article is to shed the new light on this topic, who coined the terms, the true meaning of the terms and its relationship with other disciplines. 1) Current State.

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4 Questions Before Investing in a Transportation Management Solution

Talking Logistics

'Managing transportation — the ebb and flow of rates, capacity, fuel and regulations — is an ongoing challenge for many companies, especially those still using spreadsheets and fax machines to plan and execute shipments. At some point, usually when costs are out of control or service levels are heading south, companies finally make the decision to invest in a transportation management system (TMS) or outsource all or part of their transportation operations to a third party.

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Global Manufacturing Outlook 2013

SCM Research

'The Economist Intelligence Unit’s Global Manufacturing Outlook 2013 , written on behalf of KPMG, is out now. It is based on an international survey of more than 300 senior executives from five industries. The report demonstrates that competitive advantage can be secured by enhancing supply chain networks for efficiency and innovation. Particularly, it is demonstrated that (1) many manufacturers are planning mergers or acquisitions to seize opportunities in global markets, and they plan to exit

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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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What is Supply Chain Innovation? Separating the Reality from the Hype

MIT Supply Chain

'Blurred vision. Supply chain innovations such as the early adoption of RFID underline how a flawed view of new technology can lead to unwise investment decisions. For many companies supply chain innovation (SCI) is a key source of competitive advantage. Yet there is no clear, commonly accepted definition of the concept; one company’s SCI is another company’s process improvement.

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Infographic: Streamline Supply Chain using Social Media

Supply Chain Movement

'What is the biggest barrier to social media integration in the supply chain. “the supply chain leader will have to first learn about social technologies to apply them, and the digital marketing person will have to learn about supply chain before he can have the discussion” says Lora Cecere. When you’re past this first –critical- phase, the following infographic, based on a research by O’Leary (2011), you might get a good idea how social media integration can help across four categories: S

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Changing Mental Models

Supply Chain Shaman

'Over the course of the last week, I have been working on healthcare research. We finished our report on the maturation of hospital supply chains , and I have put the finishing touches on the Healthcare Supply Chain Index for this Thursday’s webinar. I also had the opportunity to speak at the GHX conference and facilitate a leadership workshop on the required changes for implantable devices.

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Segmenting Supply Chain using Portfolio Matrix (2x2 Matrix)

Supply Chain Opz

'NAVIGATE. Home. Basics. Case Studies. Graphics. All Posts. About. Copyright. Privacy. Blogroll. Segmenting Supply Chain using Portfolio Matrix (2x2 Matrix). Supply Chain Segmentation is the planning process that links a corporate strategy to the executions. But, how should companies ensure that the process is done systematically and timely? This article will show you how to use a simple 2x2 matrix system to segment supply chain with examples across various functions. 1) Purchasing Portfolio Mat

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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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Revisiting Transportation Forecasting

Talking Logistics

'Many companies have collaborative planning and forecasting processes with suppliers and manufacturing partners, but very few companies translate demand and production forecasts into transportation capacity requirements. Has the time come to make this a standard leading practice? In this episode, Adrian discusses the key challenges and opportunities associated with transportation forecasting.

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What Are the Best Business Schools?

SCM Research

'You are looking for a business school and you do not know where to enroll? A ranking might help. One of these rankings is from Bloomberg Businessweek. As part of their 2013 Best Undergraduate Business Schools ranking, they have now published the top 10 business schools in the area of operations management , an area that focuses on “the processes involved in production and everyday business operations, whether on an assembly line, a supply chain, or even something as common as a movie thea

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For supply chain managers to become a trusted advisor, talent management is key

Supply Chain View from the Field

'A CPO in the financial services industry also noted that a need to redefine procurement’s role in the enterprise is happening, driven by the recognition that a new type of procurement capability is needed: Prior to our transformation, the ONLY metric by which our performance was measured is how much money we saved for the organization. When people are compensated only on some of the money they save this drives some interesting behaviors.

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The devil of SCM software selection is in the details

Supply Chain Movement

'One of the most valuable things to come out our workshops is insight into some of the less obvious root causes for why supply chain efforts go wrong. Recently a delegate told us something surprising: that his company’s IT department chose some planning software without consulting anyone in supply chain. I later heard a similar story from someone in our last Supply Chain Club meeting.

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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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7 Hurdles to Well-Managed Inventory and How to Top Them

MIT Supply Chain

'Inventory mismanagement. Ingrained attitudes can block better inventory practices. Depending on which corporate silo you belong to, inventory can be a liability, an asset, or something in between. How do supply chain (SC) professionals overcome these biases and implement optimal inventory management solutions? More than 30 SC managers from some 19 organizations pondered the issue at a recent MIT CTL roundtable (see below for details).

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Supply Chain Maturity Model for Capability Assessment

Supply Chain Opz

'NAVIGATE. Home. Basics. Case Studies. Graphics. All Posts. About. Copyright. Privacy. Blogroll. Supply Chain Maturity Model for Capability Assessment. The concept of maturity model was firstly introduced by Watts Humphrey of Carnegie Mellon University in 1987 with the goal to improve the performance of software development process. Since then, the maturity model has been adopted by many disciplines.

Modeling 113
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This Week in Logistics News (May 13-17, 2013)

Talking Logistics

'“We’re toast,” said one of my son’s baseball teammates from the bench last night, as their team quickly fell behind 8-0 against the best team in the league. From my beach chair on the sidelines, I thought the same thing. Then came the bottom of the fifth inning, when my son hit a 2-run home run with two outs, followed by more hits and more runs, and when the dust settled in the infield, the game was tied.

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Retail Leaders: Shift from a Static to a Dynamic Supply Chain

BlueYonder

'When discussing the biggest disruption hitting retail today, a super-session panel of leading retailers at FOCUS 2013 in Orlando, Florida agreed it was….the customer! That’s right, it’s not multi-channel or mobile or social commerce, it’s the changing customer, they said. Why? Because meeting customers’ fast-changing desires for shopping convenience and service, and providing a seamless customer experience across channels, is what is driving revenue growth.

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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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Creating an analytics organization for supply chain

Supply Chain View from the Field

'I’ve been leading a few calls for the International Institute of Analytics, as a faculty lead for the manufacturing group. We are preparing for the Chief Analytics Officer meeting coming up in Chicago in June. One of the issues that comes up is where the analytics function should reside – in IT or in the business function? We have heard from people on both sides.

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Supply Chain Future: Anticipating the unknown

Supply Chain Movement

'New markets, rising energy prices, growing raw materials shortages and mass individualisation are all widespread trends which will change the world we live in. The question facing businesses is, how can they prepare for developments which are as yet unknown? Scenario planning is one way of gaining insight into what the future may hold. Closing supply chain loops and creating flexible and transparent chains which operate at the right speed are possible response strategies.

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3D Printing: Let’s Not Manufacture False Dawns

MIT Supply Chain

'3D printing is being hailed as a breakthrough technology that will revolutionize manufacturing and supply chain management. This may be the case, but we should avoid repeating the mistake of relying on hype to judge its value. For those who are still unfamiliar with the concept, in 3D printing (or additive manufacturing) a digital file of a computer-aided design is sent to a “printer” that creates an object by depositing successive layers of materials a few microns in thickness.

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Improving Inventory Management with Automated Data Collection

RFgen

Automated data collection can help companies manage inventory, optimize warehouse performance and provide a greater level of transparency across the supply chain. When inventory management systems are integrated with existing accounting and tracking systems, companies can realize numerous benefits. There are various factors that make it likely companies could benefit from integration, explained American Machinist: Prices of products vary.

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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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Ariba: At the Intersection of Social and Business Networks

Talking Logistics

'Last week at the Ariba LIVE 2013 conference, I led a discussion session titled “At the Intersection of Social and Business Networks” with about fifty senior executives in supply chain and procurement. I made the case that we are currently seeing the rise of supply chain operating networks , the business equivalents of Facebook and LinkedIn, which are enabling communities of trading partners to communicate, collaborate, and execute business processes in more efficient, scalable, and innovative w

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JDA FOCUS 2013: Day Two Recap

BlueYonder

'More than 2,600 JDA Software and RedPrairie customers came together yesterday as JDA FOCUS 2013 began showcasing its supply chain, retail merchandising, store operations and all-channel commerce solutions at the industry’s premier event of the year. The day got off to an impressive start with General Session presentations from JDA CEO Hamish Brewer, JDA Users Group President George Frongillo, Ray Kurzweil, Author, Inventor and Futurist, and others.

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Why margin management is the ‘talk of the town’ in fast moving consumer product supply chains…

Supply Chain View from the Field

'Recent discussions with consumer goods companies reveals that margin management is becoming an imperative that goes far beyond just taking out cost of goods sold, or using full truck loads on shipment. CPG companies are seeking to continuously drive profit margins on the products they sell in retail stores – and the world of retail is continuing to become more complex as we speak.