The technology surrounding point-of-sale data has improved tremendously in recent years and companies are making much better use of this information, says Tina Lalor, senior business consultant with John Galt Solutions.
The overall shortage of supply chain talent is particularly critical in demand management, says Jason Breault of LifeWork Search. He explains reasons and remedies.
Speed, Efficiency, Optimization. For many companies, actualizing this powerful trio can seem more like a dream than a concrete, achievable supply-chain goal. There are ways to realize all three, and the evolving excellence of supply chain technology is providing more and more opportunity to do so. Enter Big Calculations: the act of optimizing your business in real time, to create fast and efficient results.
In a multi-year, multi-phase project covering people, processes and technology, Red Wing Shoes streamlined and improved its S&OP process, cutting planning time from six weeks to three and reducing inventory by 27 percent.
Segmenting customers and products to lower costs and improve profit margins also results in higher customer satisfaction, says Wade McDaniel, vice president of solutions development at Avnet Velocity.
With mobile commerce sales growing quickly, Staples is jockeying to hold onto its role as an ecommerce leader by opening its dedicated mobile site to direct sales from vendors.
Aligning supply chain planning with execution is now a competitive necessity and essential for all organizations, according to a new study. Results from the 2014 Supply Chain Benchmarking Study reveal investment priorities and top challenges of more than 300 supply chain professionals from a wide cross-section of the market.
So-called "growth through innovation" strategies continue to drive supply chain complexity at a rapid pace, making it harder for businesses to forecast, according to the 2014 Terra Technology Forecasting Benchmark Study. Data shows that demand planning has reached a performance ceiling with forecast value-added declining for a second year.
The global electronics contract manufacturing market is forecast to grow at a CAGR of 5.74 percent from 2012-2016, according to TechNavio analysts. One of the key factors contributing to this market growth is the need for original equipment manufacturers to optimize resources. With the fast-paced product development environment of high-tech electronics manufacturers, creating a closed-loop, traceable collaboration process with their contract manufacturing partners and suppliers is key to product efficiencies, quality, compliance and meeting time-to-market goals.