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
SAS has been extending technological boundaries for many years. Whether in analytics, artificial intelligence (AI) or cloud, it excels in innovating what these technologies can do on a day-to-day basis. Recently, SAS released some of its most exciting announcements, sharing what is to come over the next couple of years.
Before the outbreak of COVID-19, demand planning hardly ever matched actual sales. But since the virus reached Europe, the level of sales in different product categories became even more difficult to predict. How could the garden centers have imagined that consumers would invest their money in a roof, pavement or
From COVID-19 vaccines, climate change, supply chain issues and everything in between, 2021 set forth a wealth of thought-provoking ideas and data-related topics for us to share with you on this blog. Last year, SAS announced more groundbreaking partnerships and expanded upon its corporate responsibility efforts to help solve some
We made bold predictions a year ago about what 2021 would bring. We’re bold enough to do it again for 2022. The pandemic disrupted traditional ways of life in 2021. Remote learning and working became the norm for many. Telehealth took off, and IT modernization accelerated in every industry. 2021
SAS' Bahar Biller, an operations researcher, details how to develop a supply chain digital twin.
Mais do que qualquer outra indústria, a manufatura impulsiona a saúde econômica de um país ou de uma região. Segundo estudos de mercado, o segmento de manufatura irá representar cerca de 25% da atividade econômica até 2025. Espera-se que o setor industrial assuma um crescimento de dois dígitos e sua
Tropical Storm Ana, which formed in May this year, officially made 2021 the seventh consecutive year that a storm formed before the season's designated start. Since then we have seen a number of storms, representative of an increase of severe weather over the past few years, especially as we remember
Demand management concepts are now over 30 years old. The first use of the term "demand management" surfaced in the commercial sector in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Before that, the focus was on a more siloed approach to demand forecasting and planning that was manual and used simple
Small and midsize (SMB) manufacturers are critical drivers of innovation and productivity, and agility often gives them a competitive advantage over larger organizations. But they have unique challenges compared to larger manufacturers who have the resources and capital to achieve greater economies of scale. To take advantage of their agility,
Bribery and corruption continue to plague governments and organizations around the world. Brazil’s Operation Car Wash, the 1MDB scandal in Malaysia, the FIFA bribery case and many others continue to make headlines. The prevalence of widespread, coordinated corruption and bribery is alarming and seems to continue to grow, despite ongoing sanctions and fines meant to deter these
Two billion people worldwide experience food insecurity and 14% of food produced for humans to consume is wasted before it arrives at the wholesaler, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). The FAO celebrates World Food Day on October 16, 2020. This year’s event focuses
As he watched me unpack yet another Amazon delivery, my husband decided to do an intervention. Scattered around me on the floor were solar panels, water purification tablets, tarps, hunting knives and enough batteries to power New York City for many weeks. It was 2019 and hurricane season was upon
Learn how continuous monitoring of suppliers can flag issues and help prevent supply chain disruptions.
When we interviewed supply chain expert Chris Tyas a few weeks prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, we had no idea that his 40 years of experience and knowledge in the consumer product goods (CPG) industry would soon have a profound impact on the supply chain and efforts to keep supplies
As you will have read in my last blog, businesses are demanding better outcomes, and through IoT initiatives big data is only getting bigger. This presents a clear opportunity for organisations to start thinking seriously about how to leverage analytics with their other investments. Demands on supply chains have also
Wie wäre es, wenn Sie Anomalien in der Lieferkette automatisch erkennen oder vorhersagen könnten? Wenn Sie also die Chance bekämen, rechtzeitig Korrekturmaßnahmen zu ergreifen und so Umsatz, Margen und Kundenzufriedenheit zu steigern? Die Planung einer Supply Chain kann sehr komplex sein. Von der Planung und Beschaffung über die Fertigung bis
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
Sábado por la tarde. Un aficionado al futbol visita la tienda de conveniencia más cercana para comprar todo lo necesario para disfrutar el partido de su equipo favorito: botanas, comida, bebidas. Recorre los pasillos, pero no encuentra todo lo que quiere. Pregunta al dependiente; éste le responde que algunos de
“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
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
When I visit with customers or potential clients, they often ask, "Where should I start in order to get a handle on my supply chain?" There is no clear and concise answer, but I usually say "Follow the inventory!" Inventory is a result of decisions made, not the cause. When you
