Articles
Demand Planning
Demand-Driven Supply Chain: Definition, Benefits, and Implementation
A demand-driven supply chain offers significant strategic advantages in today’s competitive market. By focusing on customer demand and leveraging real-time data, businesses can achieve increased customer satisfaction, reduce lead times, and optimize operations planning.
Read MoreBeyond the Rack: Retail Supply Chain Strategies That Work
In the challenging retail sector, supply chain efficiency can be the difference between succeeding and just barely hanging on. From weaving together disparate systems into a single information flow, to ensuring products appear effortlessly on shelves, to fulfilling online orders with lightning speed, here’s how thriving retailers rack and roll.
Read MoreHow Does Integrated Business Planning (IBP) Drive Supply Chain Efficiency?
6 ways that Integrated Business Planning (IBP) improves supply chain efficiency.
Read MoreTaking a Peek at Peak Season
It’s never too early to prepare for the holiday peak season, especially with disruptions mounting amid solid consumer spending. Shippers and carriers are employing automation, data-based decision making, and smart inventory management strategies—and tapping into lessons learned from last year—to get into position for 2024.
Read MoreDemand Planning vs. Supply Planning: Key Differences and Value
Demand planning vs. supply planning remains a cornerstone debate in the logistics sector. Both concepts are integral to supply chain management, determining many businesses’ efficiency, cost-effectiveness, and overall success. Recent studies indicate that organizations that effectively balance demand planning and supply planning see up to a 15% increase in forecast accuracy and a 35% reduction […]
Read MoreDemand Planning: Process, Significance, and Components
Demand planning is pivotal in today’s shipping and customer service industry. This strategic process predicts future demand, optimizes inventory levels, and boosts customer satisfaction. In an era where supply chain efficiency is paramount, understanding demand planning is the difference between a thriving business and one that struggles. Here, we’ll explore this critical component of the […]
Read MoreFuture-Proof Your Supply Chain
Unpredictable demand has become standard, but there is no reason why it should cause your business to be unaware, unfocused, and unready. Consider these action items to overcome challenges and future-ready your operations during peak seasons.
Read More4 Tips for Procurement Logistics Pros to Weather Economic Storms
For logistics procurement, the past 12 months have been a continual, yet perfect storm. First, the pandemic exposed a decades-old model based on low transportation costs. Then the conflict in Ukraine created a fresh set of problems, including a huge spike in energy prices. The relative certainty that procurement and supply chain organizations enjoyed at […]
Read MoreBecoming a Demand-Driven Enterprise
The key to becoming more agile when responding to demand signals is overcoming data and decision-making siloes that impact your ability to deliver. Here are 10 ways you can start to optimize your operations to become more predictive and proactive.
Read MoreOptimizing the Last Mile
Complexities and constantly changing demands impact last-mile delivery. Since the pandemic, consumer demand and e-commerce volumes have surged, as delivery windows have shrunk. Businesses can address the challenges of the last mile with technology, along with these directives.
Read MoreWhat’s the biggest supply chain silo?
Readers shine a light on the most significant information lapses and data gaps in the supply chain, from transportation siloes to the lack of visibility into suppliers.
Read MoreWhat Does the Labor Shortage Mean for Your Supply Chain?
Labor shortages exacerbate supply chain issues, creating a perfect storm for disruption. Here’s why it’s happening and what to do about it.
Read MoreVertical Focus: Electronics
The electronics industry has seen price hikes, supply chain shortages, an increase in global demand, and much more. Here’s the latest Vertical Focus on what’s happening in the electronics industry.
Read MoreParts and Parcels
Rony Kordahi is chief operating officer with Parts Town, a distributor of restaurant equipment parts.
Read MoreDesigning a Soft Goods Supply Chain
Forecasting demand for soft goods can be difficult because demand changes due to fashion trends, weather patterns, and other factors. But artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) technologies are changing the way soft goods manufacturers and retailers manage their supply chains.
Read MoreManaging Working Capital Amid Product Shortages
Distributors can’t seem to catch a break. First they faced a liquidity squeeze when COVID-19 raged onto the scene, triggering a dislocation in the supply and demand for products. Now, as they enter the third year of the pandemic, distributors are grappling with wide-ranging shortages of goods and commodities across the supply chain that show no sign of abating.
Read More5 Tips for Finding the Right Retail Consolidation Solution
Using multiple vendors can leave you vulnerable to inefficiencies and higher transportation spend. Here’s how to find the right consolidator for your business. The planning and management that go into multivendor supply chains are an orchestration of many complex parts. The process for new and existing brands trying to get into big box retail requires […]
Read MoreVertical Focus: Exercise Equipment
Planet Fitness is one fitness club company that has thrived in recent years, growing from 918 locations in 2014 to more than 2,200 in 2021. FISCAL Fitness Here’s a sampling of statistics about the fitness equipment industry, compiled by RunRepeat and other sources, that helps to illustrate its status today. The fitness equipment industry is […]
Read MoreLean 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 MoreDigital Transformation: The Experience is King
Over the holidays, my wife and I decided to give ourselves the gift of a new couch. Because I work in transportation and logistics, I knew that constraints up and down the supply chain easily could result in a long delivery lead time. So it was a pleasant surprise when the home furnishings company said to expect the couch in about three weeks.
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