Category Archive

MTO and ATO Providing Availability of products for customers is governed by the management of inventory, capacity and lead times. Of the three, operational capacity within a business is the resource least influenced by external events and decisions. As discussed in the previous blogpost, Make to Order (MTO) includes production operations that transform materials, and Assemble to Order (ATO) is … Read More

Operations model The current geopolitical actions add more Uncertainty in a business, which is the driver of risk, so enterprises could be reviewing their business model. The Supply Chains group, or its functions of Procurement, Operations Planning and Logistics will provide input to the decision process. This input should provide options concerning the positioning of Operations from the perspective of … Read More

Bad data example There continues to be a deluge of articles, videos and conferences extoling the benefits of Artificial Intelligence. But there is less emphasis on what businesses must do internally to implement the technologies. One of the major requirements is to use clean data, otherwise it is ‘garbage in, garbage out (GIGO) for IT systems. The lack of clean … Read More

Select your skills As a supply chain professional, it is unlikely that you will possess all the skills required to cover all jobs in the Supply Chains group. However, it is a sign of a good professional to know which skills are required and to help build the team around those requirements, which includes for all to upgrade knowledge and … Read More

Challenges for global trade The current uncertainties in global trade will challenge companies to review the effectiveness of their supply chains. If the uncertainties convert to real risks for businesses, then over time, there is the potential for a realignment of trade relationships and the emergence of different economic blocs. For improved economic cooperation, these trade alliances could be structured … Read More