As supply chain consultants, we often help clients navigate complex change–from adjusting to cost or competitive pressures to unique challenges like an M&A. These challenges all demand careful analysis of multiple financial and operational outcomes. There’s often a lot hanging in the balance, so it’s rarely a good time to “map out” supply chain changes […]
In September 2015 I began the update of ARC Advisory Group’s global supply chain planning (SCP) market study. In a Logistics Viewpoints article published at that time, I discussed some of the major changes in SCP over the previous decade. I am now concluding this SCP market study update. I have spoken with the vast […]
ARC Advisory Group, in partnership with DC Velocity magazine, has just launched an online survey of logistics practitioners to evaluate the future direction of today’s distribution facilities, technologies, and practices. The survey is designed to obtain a multi-faceted overview of the changing demands placed on fulfillment operations and how practitioners are responding by adjusting processes, […]
Redesigning overall retail strategy through the eyes of the consumer with a seamless shopping experience at the core, necessitates an ‘outside-in’ supply chain perspective and often big adjustments to supply chain operations. Retailers are turning to supply chain modeling as a way to effectively design and test omni-channel fulfillment strategies prior to execution. Modeling can […]
Do you remember the old days when the hottest topic in supply chain software evaluations was whether it was smarter to go with the “good enough” applications from the major enterprise resource planning (ERP) vendors or to go with the superior functionality of the best-of-breed vendors even though integration was a concern? IT argued that […]
Top supply chain officers across the industry were recently surveyed¹ on their biggest barriers to effective inventory management. Their top two responses were “Can’t Optimize Network Holistically” and “Demand Volatility”. It’s no wonder: often inventory placement decisions are made in a vacuum without considering the end-to-end supply chain impact. In addition, product demand has become […]
I chose “Revisiting Supply Chain Planning” as the title for this blog post because I believe the phrase captures both the current focus of my research agenda (what I am doing) and the heightened priority SCP has taken on the agenda of many supply chain executives (what practitioners are doing). Earlier this week, I began […]