Articles
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.
Read More
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.
Read More
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 […]
Read More
How can retailers compete with the logistics dominance of the e-commerce behemoths?
Don’t view this as a competition with e-commerce behemoths, but as another sales channel in your omnichannel strategy. Treat it as such and develop your strategy to provide differentiation on customer service and trust to be able to drive direct sales, while still leveraging other channels to build brand awareness. —Scott Hebert CEO SYSPRO USA […]
Read More
Follow the Sun
Arch Thomason basks in a mentor list 33 names long, lean principles, servant leadership, and a talented team to keep Sunland Logistics Solutions shining bright.
Read More
Demand Accuracy In Your Supply Chain
During the pandemic, a lot of the focus on supply chain tended to be on the supply side, and rightly so, due to the highly publicized sourcing, production, distribution, and transportation issues. As a result, organizations continue to look to increase productivity, flexibility, and agility through programs such as Lean, increased automation, robotics, artificial intelligence, and others.
Read MoreDoes Lean Have a Limit?
Since the 1980s, the supply chain industry has enthusiastically embraced just-in-time (JIT) inventory management and lean manufacturing in the search for cost optimization. This resulted in highly streamlined processes and impressive efficiencies. But in the past year, we’ve seen there are limits to lean operations—one being we need the ability to adapt quickly when unexpected […]
Read More
The Road Map Out of This Mess
For years, I have been a proponent of operating a lean and agile supply chain, but some now say the COVID-19 pandemic has revealed the shortcomings of a supply chain that is perhaps too lean. To be “lean,” however, doesn’t mean maintaining extremely low inventory levels with no coordination or backup plan. It also appears […]
Read More
Bringing End-2-End Efficiency to Your Logistics Operations
With economic consequences from COVID-19 and other resulting challenges, companies are looking for ways to manage more efficiently with less—while reallocating resources to more productive activities and maximizing freight spend value. Logistics operations are a great place to start, as even the smallest percentage savings could mean triple-digit impact to bottom lines. These operations are […]
Read More
The View From the Control Tower
As discussed in my last column, Integrated Business Planning (IBP) is a process that uses “outside-in” thinking by integrating demand forecasts, supply plans, inventory projections, and financial plans into one medium-term strategic model. That’s a great starting point. But the leading-edge way to manage your short- to mid-term global supply chain in real time (or […]
Read More