Robert Handfield, PhD, is a distinguished professor of Supply Chain Management at North Carolina State University and Director of the Supply Chain Resource Cooperative. In an episode of the Health Pulse Podcast, Handfield gave his views regarding the challenges health care and life science companies have encountered over the past two years
What if you could automatically detect supply chain anomalies as they happen, or even predict them in advance? You'd be able to take timely corrective action and help maximize revenue, margins, customer satisfaction and shareholder value. There's no question: Supply chain planning and execution is complex. From design and sourcing, to
The widespread adoption of the term "analytics" reminds me of the evolution of the term "supply chain management." Initially the term focused on supply chain planning. It involved demand and supply balancing and the heuristics and optimization tools that came out of advanced planning and scheduling. Over time practically everything was included
Inventory is a result of decisions. Inventory is not the problem... the problem is the decisions. I recently had an interesting conversation with the VP, Supply Chain at a leading global manufacturer. He is not happy with the results from the inventory optimization he is using. He was told inventory optimization
On a recent CBS Sunday Morning episode Dr. Phil McGraw of “Dr. Phil” fame was featured. During the segment he talked about shifting his focus from golf to tennis. To paraphrase, he said golf drove him crazy because he couldn’t bear down, run faster, sweat harder and be better. I
Over the course of my career as industrial engineer turned supply chain planning advocate I've had the opportunity to work hands-on with many manufacturing and supply chain planning solutions. This has included solutions offered commercially by the usual suspects of ERP and post-SCM consolidation supply chain solution providers. Most of these
Today, we live in a polarized world that divides family members, friends, and business colleagues. It effects everything we do from the way we communicate with one another to how we handle business challenges. I have seen long time business colleagues have passionate discussions to defend their supply chain position
In a recent meeting, the CIO of a leading commercial automotive company’s shared his experience of high complexity in managing forecasting data. I was not surprised. Often demand planners complain about managing forecasting data. I can relate to where there are coming from. It’s due to the approach prescribed by their legacy
There are four key areas that require continuous investment in order to become demand-driven: people, process, analytics, and technology. However the intent of your demand forecasting process along with business interdependencies need to be horizontally aligned in order to gain sustainable adoption. Adoption alone doesn't necessarily mean it will be sustainable. As
