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
With all the technology advancements and innovative trends driving Industry 4.0 right now, you might expect geeky topics like the Internet of Things (IoT) or artificial intelligence (AI) to be the hottest topics of discussion among industry leaders. Instead, many leaders are still more focused on workplace culture. And here’s
“Quick response forecasting (QRF) techniques are forecasting processes that can incorporate information quickly enough to act upon by agile supply chains” explained Dr. Larry Lapide, in a recent Journal of Business Forecasting column. The concept of QRF is based on updating demand forecasts to reflect real and rapid changes in demand, both
Depending on who you speak with you will get varying definitions and opinions regarding demand sensing and shaping from sensing short-range replenishment based on sales orders to manual blending of point-of-sales (POS) data and shipments. Most companies think that they are sensing demand when in fact they are
Analytics-driven forecasting means more than measuring trend and seasonality. It includes all categories of methods (e.g. exponential smoothing, dynamic regression, ARIMA, ARIMA(X), unobserved component models, and more), including artificial intelligence, but not necessarily deep learning algorithms. That said, deep learning algorithms like neural networks can also be used for demand forecasting,
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
The digital revolution has affected all aspects of business, including supply chains. The Internet of Things (IoT), with its network of devices embedded with sensors is now connecting the consumer to the factory. Technologies such as RFID, GPS, event stream processing (ESP) and analytics are combining to help companies to transform their existing
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
I had the opportunity to interview an award-winning, fast-moving, consumer packaged goods (CPG) company in the early 2000’s. They were recognized as one of the best supply chain companies in the United States by all of the major retailers and their CPG peers. Indeed, it seemed every time a new
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
