Planning and Uncertainty In response to supply chain uncertainties, articles and podcasts have advised businesses about actions to take. Popular advice is to expand the network of suppliers, source items from suppliers located geographically closer and accelerate the implementation of automation. An action that is rarely mentioned is to improve the planning and scheduling process within a business. Planning at … Read More
Demand Flow and Supply Chains make a Value Chain
Value in a business The Aim of a business is (or should be) to provide value for customers and end users. Value is the benefits a product (or service) offers its users and the level of satisfaction for the money spent. The challenge is to build value against competitive offerings and to identify and implement an improved value proposition. To … Read More
Tariff impost requires Supply Chain analysis of effects
Uncertainty from levies on imports The media is providing a lot of commentary concerning the political and economic implications from the American imposition of additional tariffs on imported goods, but what could be the effect on supply chains? Imposts charged by governments on imports are a consumption tax paid by the importer and passed on through Nodes in the supply … Read More
A Supply Chains model to meet your business objectives
Supply Chain models While it is commendable when complexity is removed from an organisation’s supply chains operations and its core supply chains, consideration must be given to the supply chains model that the business and Supply Chain group (Procurement, Operations Planning and Logistics) operate within. Working to remove complexity from an incorrect model is not a good use of resources. … Read More
Lower cost of ownership for AI use in Supply Chains
A news item about AI The recent news item that few people will have missed was the launch of DeepSeek, an artificial intelligence (AI) tool set for use in commercial environments. Its total cost of ownership is reported to be substantially lower than the cost of currently available AI products developed in America. This announcement provides a long-term benefit for … Read More