Product and service innovation, driven by digital technologies, is key to gaining extra value from new product introductions. One particularly interesting development is the emergence of modular plants. Forecasting a NPI can be very difficult. Modular plants help companies to scale economically.
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Archive for Supply Chain Network Design
There is terrific payback from supply chain design solutions. At GM, the supply chain design team is an in-house consulting group. Annually, the projects they take on save between 5 to 10 percent of the in scope spend. They have done many projects in the logistics area, some on an ongoing basis. Logistics costs as a percentage of revenue decreased every year from 2013 to 2018. That is a remarkable feat in today’s freight environment. Considering the size of GM’s transportation spend, $6.5 billion, and the length of time they have been at this, it would not surprise me at all if this small team has saved GM over a billion dollars.
Read More →In 2015, Smithfield Foods, the largest pork producer in the world, got terrible publicity when a spy drone flew over farms operated by one of their subsidiaries and took pictures of lagoons filled with pig feces and urine. Sustainability initiatives provide a way for global brands to improve their brand reputation and reduce risks of further damage to the brand. Smithfield has certainly upped their sustainability game. Last week, on May 8th, the company released […]
Read More →In the not too distant past, when confronted with a decision between investing in sustainability efforts versus corporate survivability, the choice was clear for most organizations. However, as the economic recovery has gained strength and consumers have expressed a desire for corporations to focus on these efforts, green supply chain practices are emerging again. Organizations not only view themselves as being able to “afford” investing resources in “greening” their operations but also see that these […]
Read More →Business students are all exposed to the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats (SWOT) analysis tool. This last week I came across several interesting stories – or in one case a presentation – that all centered on different aspects of SWOT in the supply chain realm. First, STRENGTHS; Greg Toornman – the Director of Global Materials, Logistics, and Freight Management at AGCO – spoke last Wednesday (February 14th) at ARC’s 22nd Annual Industry Forum. AGCO is […]
Read More →As the global economic outlook improves, worldwide mergers and acquisitions (M&A) activity is predicted to pick up. M&A deal volume and deal value remains strong. According to recent surveys, 56 percent of responding companies expect to actively pursue acquisitions in the next 12 months[1], with global M&A value projected to top $3.2 trillion, up 23 percent from this year[2]. Despite the increasing numbers, failure rates for M&A initiatives are extremely high. Depending on which report you […]
Read More →The best marketing executives have long worked to have an “outside in” view of their products. They want to understand how customers and potential customers think about their offerings. The supply chain profession needs to go much further to get to a similar level of maturity. New CaaS solutions can help.
Read More →Supply chain executives at companies with global supply chains are paying close attention to what happens surrounding import tariffs and trade rules now that Donald Trump is the President elect. On the campaign trail Trump promised to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement and impose punitive damages on goods made in China.
Read More →Why Is Supply Chain Design Important? There’s been a fundamental change in the way global manufacturers and distributers operate. The modern supply chain is an increasingly complex and volatile network making the impacts of change harder to determine and increasing the risks involved with being unprepared. The supply chain is a huge opportunity for competitive advantage—and risk. Supply chain design is now a must-have capability for businesses to keep up with the pace of change […]
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Supply Chain Brief
Defining a Balanced Supply Chain Network: Are Your “Walls” and “Wheels” Where They Need to Be?
Two of the biggest and often overlooked challenges facing enterprises today are knowing where to set up shop and how to best leverage enterprise assets across the supply chain network. In the globalized economy, most supply chains are complex and geographically dispersed, serving multiple markets. However, even the small business owner – who markets “farm-to-table” products – faces similar supply chain decision points, albeit fewer in number. Deciding where to locate a hub, where to […]
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