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Three months into 2025, we have seen a barrage of on-again, off-again tariffs that have supply chain and logistics teams reeling, as they must rethink everything from next weeks shipping route to their foundational network models. The Ukraine-Russia conflict is ongoing. Tensions flare in the Middle East without warning.
In follow-up qualitative interviews, one of the largest issues with organizational alignment was metric definition and a clear definition of supply chain excellence. In my post Mea Culpa, I reference my work with the Gartner Supply Chain Hierarchy of Metrics. Error is error, but is it the most important metric? My answer is no.
Investment in research and partnerships is crucial for scaling these solutions industry-wide. Green Logistics: Optimizing transportation routes, consolidating shipments, and employing energy-efficient vehicles to reduce emissions. Advanced route optimizationtools further support these goals.
Strategic sourcing and innovative solutions are often viewed as two distinct procurementtools, 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. Click here!
Traditionally, procurement has been a process weighed down by manual tasks, fragmented systems, and endless paperwork. Today, procurement is undergoing a transformation. While procurement teams have long worked to add strategic value, Artificial Intelligence (AI) amplifies their impact.
Supply chain optimization has also improved in significant ways that can address these trade-offs better than before. Technical innovations can also impact supply chains, which is why many turn to supply chain planning solutions, which are designed to be trade-off machines. The myth of the “perfect plan”.
Setting the Stage The National Retail Federation’s 2025 conference has unveiled a clear vision of retail’s future, where artificial intelligence, integrated planning solutions, and customer-centric approaches are reshaping the industry landscape.
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?
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?
Procurement and Supply Chain Management are essential functions that can help companies navigate these challenges, but they are often siloed and operate in separate departments. Their metrics are often misaligned as well – supply chain focuses on service and procurement focuses on the cost of acquiring materials and services.
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.
Knowledge Graphs are emerging as an important tool for building advanced AI capabilities. Instead of relying solely on a single, monolithic AI model (based on a massive large language model), a company can orchestrate a team of specialized agents, each leveraging the best AI or mathematical technique for its specific task.
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.
His comments are the same–he feels that I identify problems but do not adequately define the solutions. He feels that based on his years of experience with a software provider, he has a whizzbang technology. The approaches add waste and increase risk when companies think that they are investing in solutions to do the opposite.
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. We’re talking real-time tracking, automated purchasing, and a whole lot less stress.
To keep customers like my dad satisfied, RGD and Quick-commerce companies need to invest in new technologies to optimize the supply chain and logistics operations. Inventory Optimization. Inventory Optimization involves decisions about the inventory level, the location, and the mix of products.
Here are the three questions that I would like people to ask: Table 1: Comparison of Results for Best of Breed Solution Providers to ERP Expansionists in Supply Chain Planning. The first evolution of technologies were built by best-of-breed solution vendors. This new solution was favored by the Information Technology (IT) organization.
End-to-end supply chain visibility, planning, and execution support software are critical in agile supply chain performance. Theory and practical implications are clear: optimizing each silo does not imply optimizing the end-to-end system. each with discrete plans generated typically in sequential batch runs.
Digital commerce efficiently requires the digitalization of many customer-facing operations and sourcing and procurement. Ensure that, somewhere along the way, data diagnostic tools will be used to check for missing and inconsistent data automatically. . Accurate and timely reconciliation of purchase orders with receipts.
Solvoyo’s Solution Bugaboo: something that causes fear or distress out of proportion to its importance. Organizations then convert those demand forecasts to the associated quantities of raw materials to purchase, goods to be manufactured, or finished products to ship. Would better forecasting accuracy be a good thing? Absolutely!
Ultimately, what KPIs, as metrics and indicators derived from the set of plans are taken into account and prepared for each scenario. Here, planning solutions with optimization fit very well with this concept. Technology for Effective Planning. of planning and revising according to market dynamics.
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. Reflections.
Transportation Metrics That Matter Most to Track and Improve Performance : How do you measure logistics efficiency and transportation metrics performance indicators when you are already doing the best job possible? Let’s take a look at these trucking industry trends and what kind of facts they provide. Read the Full Blog Post.
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).
With so many moving parts to running an ecommerce business, youll probably build a tech stack of several different apps, platforms, and solutions to power your operations. The software automatically pulls inventory data from your warehouse for a real-time stock count update across all your sales channels.
With so many moving parts to running an ecommerce business, youll probably build a tech stack of several different apps, platforms, and solutions to power your operations. The software automatically pulls inventory data from your warehouse for a real-time stock count update across all your sales channels.
I am speaking this morning at the Terra Technology conference and doing a book signing of my new book, Supply Chain Metrics That Matter. In parallel, I have been hard at work on a report on multi-tier inventory optimization for the last two weeks. Selling licenses does not translate into implemented software. The sun is rising.
Let’s break down the trade-off between an on-premises and a cloud environment, what it means for your business, and how you can realize the optimal potential of a cloud investment. Cost Competitiveness How does the cost of a cloud-based platform – compared to on-premises software – make the cloud a more competitive choice?
As an analyst in the battered supply chain software market for a decade, it is fun to watch you grow. Clients buy your software because you make it real. I always start the discussion of all software acquisitions with the same statement: the acquisition of software is seldom a good deal for the buyer/user of software.
According to McKinsey & Company, procurement accounts for 50% to 80% of a company’s cost base. That’s why organizations zero in on strategies to achieve procurement cost reduction. The key thing to remember is that cost reduction in procurement isn’t just about slashing expenses.
BOSTON, February 16, 2022 : ToolsGroup , a global leader in supply chain planning and optimizationsoftware, has partnered with Planalytics to integrate their weather-driven demand (WDD) analytics with ToolsGroup’s retail planning solutions, enabling customers to isolate, measure, and manage the influence of weather on their businesses.
The key point is that I have spent a lot of my working life focused on the value generated by more advanced planning solutions. They have piloted the process in Excel and know that they need an enterprise level solution for a global roll-out of S&OP. Their words. She states that. However, excellence in corporate planning matters.
But companies often have diverging incentives and interests from their supply chain partners, so when they independently strive to optimize their individual objectives, the expected result can be compromised. ”. I think about this discussion with Keith often as I work on the Supply Chain Index and edit the chapters of Metrics That Matter.
Ability to update constantly on the most recent data, and models that quickly ’find their level’ and adapt to regime changes. Machine Learning for demand forecasting is highly accurate; this is proven over and over again in Kaggle competitions and modeling benchmarking studies. Greed for more data.
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.
The article is written and the story is spun, but the solution offered is a supply-centric solution based on yesterday’s technology. As a result, articles are written proclaiming demand-driven results and then the reader is given a solution that is anything but demand driven. The concepts surrounding demand driven sound right.
Without a doubt, Apple Inc is the world leader in Innovation, Branding and Software Ecosystem. 1) Apples Supply Chain Model. Supply Chain Model of Apple Inc. Apple Inc purchases raw materials from various sources then get them shipped to an assembling plant in China. But, is Apples Supply Chain really the number 1?
With the digitization of the source-to-pay process being a key initiative for many chief procurement officers, to the inherent automation which promises to accelerate innovations such as artificial intelligence (AI), digitization is growing. However, it is fundamental to empowering procurement success in the modern age.
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. Imagine if you can store your planning data in-memory and use highly optimized analytics.
Last week in the middle of a presentation, a supply chain leader made the statement, “We have solved the issues in supply through better optimization and use of data. The data models are wrong. ” Or run the statement by any software provider, and they will share that their solutions delivered these “best practices.”
However, this year promises a significant paradigm shift where traditional performance metrics are replaced by technology-driven frameworks, as recent breakthroughs with Generative AI in supply chains have demonstrated. In response, supply leaders must acquire better decision-making support, such as AI-first solutions.
Category management is a procurement strategy that involves grouping similar products or services together into categories and managing them as a single unit. This approach can help organizations streamline their procurement processes, negotiate better deals with suppliers, and ultimately save money.
In the absence of communication, even the best suppliers can only deliver marginal value at best. For optimal effectiveness, supplier selection, contract management , and supplier development must be supported by consistent, streamlined, and transparent collaboration. Collaboration brings visibility and agility for gaining market share.
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