Hype about delivery lead times. Citizens find it difficult to escape the call from politicians and the popular media to increase productivity and support innovation; typically without explanation of what productivity and innovation are or mean. Allied to the call are press releases and articles that tell us of the wondrous new technologies and all their benefits. As an interested … Read More
Bringing demand and supply chains together with S&OP
The same view for sales and supply chains. Your successful enterprise cannot be ‘demand driven’ if it is not ‘supply supported’ – a statement that appears to be obvious. Yet I recently read an article which said the ‘old’ supply chain focus was outdated and the ‘new’ focus will be on the customer and demand management. As if the customer … Read More
Organisation to improve your supply chains performance
Focus your supply chain organisation. The overall objective of your supply chains is to ‘satisfy customer needs’. To achieve this requires ‘the time-related positioning of internal and external resources to provide availability of goods and services for customers at the lowest total cost’. This answers the question from senior management concerning ‘What will be gained from the supply chain organisation?’ … Read More
Altering your supply network can be a big exercise
Supply chains are more than cost. The recent US presidential campaign shone the light on bringing jobs back to America – sometimes called on-shoring or re-shoring. Although Apple has been the target company, the possibility is there for many other businesses. But while the rhetoric and comments have mainly focused on costs and price, little discussion has occurred about the … Read More
Demand is amplified as it goes through supply chains
Pioneer work in supply networks. The concepts and rules by which Logistics functions within organisations are much like a wheel. At the hub are the foundations by which the discipline and associated IT applications work and at the rim of the wheel are ‘new’ discoveries. These are often adaptations of established concepts, typically with a different name. One of those … Read More