Category Archive

Can the future be forecast? The amount of complexity within the planning and scheduling of supply chains has enabled software suppliers to promote ‘solutions’ that provide answers to planning questions to four decimal places. But is this required? Think of yourself; you know more about you than anyone else. How far into the future (by week) can you forecast your … Read More

Complex and Complexity When discussing Supply Chains and their Flows (of items, money, data and information), the terms Complex and Complexity (or complicated) are commonly used. While sounding similar, they are different. The Supply Chains Network of a business is an example of a system that is complex. The Network contains many organisations with varying relationships that can be dependent, … Read More

Is there a ‘best’ structure for a Supply Chains group? What organisation structure can work best for your Supply Chains group? Either a Centralised or Decentralised structure is the obvious approach, but do these consider the multiple functions in and supporting supply chains? A Centralised supply chain model is best suited when the products generated from each business unit are … Read More

Waste happens When waste is discussed, it typically refers to waste generated within a business. However, an increasing requirement for Sustainability of organisations means that the waste of time and materials must include that occurring throughout the supply chains. The extent of the challenge can be assumed to be large, but is dependent on the industry sector and the strategies … Read More

Understand suppliers Supply Chains cannot be managed. Instead, the role of supply chain professionals is to understand supply chains and the likely actions of suppliers and providers of supply chain services. But what does ‘understand’ mean? It relates to understanding the likely behaviour and response of businesses to unplanned occurrences in their supply chains. How much the responses are likely … Read More