Category Archive

Cost of holding inventory There is not a ‘right’ decision about the level of inventories that work best for your business. However there is a need to know the cost and potential for cost reduction from decisions about inventories. To cover for unplanned events, an organisation can reduce its total operational costs by holding a calculated ‘safety stock’ in excess … Read More

Slowing sales and rising inventories Reports concerning retail product sales in various countries indicate a slowing rate of sales growth as consumers are again able to access services. For all businesses in product supply chains, this will provide a challenge for managing inventories. An example of the challenge is a major online non-food retailer in Australia which has experienced a … Read More

A major change could be happening We generally have the assumption that things are always changing, but there are epochs (a particular period of time in history) when a more dramatic change occurs. This affects the outlook of governments, such that geopolitical and commercial decisions are made from a different perspective. And the world could be entering one of those … Read More

Applications for Supply Chains Software tools and applications are enablers for gathering and storing data, then analysis and calculations; the output assists to assess options and make decisions. The most effective use within supply chains comes from tools and applications that are ‘fit for purpose’ and not a module that happens to reside in a corporate ‘integrated’ system. The previous … Read More

Managing S&OP A recent blogpost by Lora Cecere at Supply Chain Insights, identified reasons for companies failing to gain benefits from Sales & Operations Planning (S&OP). The main challenge is a lack of leadership to manage change in organisational culture. that recognises, plans and measures the business in an environment of flows within a complex, non-linear system. However, it is difficult for … Read More