The Lean Supply Chain Archives

February 9, 2024 | The Lean Supply Chain

Sustain the Chain With Technology

Today, more than ever, it is important that we build sustainable supply chains that positively impact business, society, and the planet. To meet customer expectations and be truly sustainable, organizations must ensure responsible business practices internally and across the entire value chain.

October 20, 2023 | The Lean Supply Chain

Small Businesses Need Supply Chain Planning Tools, Too

Supply chain technology vendors historically have paid little attention to the planning needs of small “mom and pop” businesses. That’s surprising, considering there are approximately 32 million such businesses in the United States, with 2.7 million in the retail trade alone, according to the 2019 U.S. Census.

July 19, 2023 | The Lean Supply Chain

Autonomous at Last?

One of the most difficult and expensive areas of the supply chain is last-mile and home delivery. It can also be the most memorable and important aspect of the customer’s buying experience. So, it’s no surprise that last-mile delivery of goods is a key application for driverless technologies.

April 10, 2023 | The Lean Supply Chain

Just In Time to Near-Source or Nearly Time to In-Source?

As the global economy grows more complex, the concepts of in-sourcing and near-sourcing are receiving increased attention from many supply chain professionals.

January 29, 2023 | The Lean Supply Chain

The Supply Chain: It’s Alive! It’s Alive!

In some ways, the supply chain of today is a living, breathing organism. It’s not just links and nodes on a map, but a blend of digital and/or analog data, machines, and yes, real people who are constantly moving and adapting.

October 24, 2022 | Supply Chain Technology | The Lean Supply Chain

The Future of the Supply Chain is Cloudy

We hear a lot about the cloud these days. The cloud (public or private) refers to software and services that run on the Internet instead of locally on your computer. There is a good chance that the majority of business data will eventually reside in the cloud.

July 31, 2022 | The Lean Supply Chain

Building The Smart Supply Chain

With more objects embedded with sensors, and better communication, decision-making and automation capabilities, traditional supply chains are becoming more intelligent. The new “smart” supply chain presents huge opportunities for reducing costs and improving efficiency. Some refer to this concept as Supply Chain 4.0: the application of the Internet of Things (IoT), advanced robotics, and big […]

May 10, 2022 | The Lean Supply Chain

Lean Isn’t Mean and Agile Isn’t Cheap

Back in 2014, I wrote a column extolling the benefits of a lean and agile supply chain, also known as a hybrid strategy. Depending on your product or service, your supply chain may tilt more one way or the other, or it might be segmented but still exhibit characteristics of both. For example, if you […]

February 15, 2022 | The Lean Supply Chain

S&OP: Bringing the Outside In

Sales and Operations Planning (S&OP) is an integrated business management process through which the leadership team continually achieves focus, alignment and synchronization among all functions. This ensures that supply meets demand while the organization meets general business objectives, including profitability, productivity, competitive customer lead times, and others.

October 22, 2021 | The Lean Supply Chain

Supply-Side Accuracy and Timeliness in Volatile Times

While improved demand accuracy in your supply chain is critical, it is equally important to have supply-side accuracy and timeliness, especially now. The disruption the pandemic caused for global supply chains is getting worse, creating shortages of consumer products and making it more expensive for companies to ship goods where they’re needed.

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