Technology

Creating a Unifying 'Big Picture'

February 26, 2013

Analyst Insight: The number one strategy for high-impact business performance is organizational and supply chain strategic alignment, coupled with effective supply chain segmentation. The hyper competitive supply chain landscape is a new normal. To compete leading organizations need to restructure in order to breakdown functional silos, create enterprise unification around common goals, and use technology and "big data" to create a "big picture" understanding of organizational goals. - Nada R. Sanders, Professor of Supply Chain Management and Iacocca Chair, Lehigh University

5 Steps to Better Data for Supply Chain Decision-Making

February 26, 2013

Donna Fritz, Director of Product Marketing, TAKE Solutions

In today's environment of Big Data and analytics, effective supply chain decision-making is only as good as the data influencing the decisions. Drawing actionable conclusions based on the best information possible is critical to maintaining a supply chain that is efficient and effective, but also acts as a continual driver of strategic and competitive advantage. But how can your organization ensure that the data used to draw conclusions and make decisions regarding the supply chain is clean, relevant and accurate?

Are Robots Taking Over the Warehouse?

February 25, 2013

Robert J. Bowman, SupplyChainBrain

It seems like a cruel joke. At the same time we hear about the return of manufacturing jobs from Asia to the U.S., we are inundated with stories about the growth of robotics, which threatens to take away those very jobs for good.

Moving from Marketing-Driven to Market-Driven Supply Chains

February 25, 2013

SupplyChainBrain

Analyst Insight: The corporate goal is to drive profitable growth. Growth happens through success in new products, capturing market share in emerging markets or brand building in existing regions. To make these initiatives successful, the supply chain matters more and more; however, the greatest success happens when companies shift from marketing-driven to market-driven value networks. In market-driven value networks, companies build the capabilities to listen, test and learn in vitro with zero data latency to maximize market opportunity. - Lora Cecere, Founder of Supply Chain Insights

Supply Chain Disruptions Major Threat to Share Prices of Businesses

February 25, 2013

Forbes

In recent years, supply chains have become longer and more complex, while the severity and frequency of supply chain disruptions seems to be increasing. In close cooperation with Accenture, the World Economic Forum recently presented a report, "Building Resilience in Supply Chains," at the WEF Annual Meeting in Davos, Switzerland. It indicates that significant supply chain disruptions reduce the share price of affected companies by as much as seven percent on average.

81 Percent of Surveyed Ocean Shippers Look to Cut Costs Through E-Invoicing This Year

February 25, 2013

Inttra

A global study of high-volume shippers and freight forwarders that included four of the top five global logistics providers found that 81 percent of respondents want to receive invoices electronically in 2013.

Linking the Physical and Financial Supply Chains

February 22, 2013

Supply Chain Europe

Electronic invoicing isn't new, writes Nigel Taylor of GXS. It started over 40 years ago with business-to-business (B2B) electronic data interchange (EDI) within private networks. With the advent of the internet in the '90s, e-procurement portals appeared and sparked a frenzy of investment into online industry communities. The e-procurement portals focused on sourcing and purchasing activities, and this narrow focus inevitably led to internet portals dedicated to payables processing.

BizSlate Launches Small Business Supply Chain Assistant

February 22, 2013

Venture Beat

New York-based BizSlate is launching its cloud-based resource planning tool to give small business a hand with their supply chain challenges. Unlike legacy vendors in that sector, including SAP and Netsuite, the technology is specifically designed for department stores, retail chains, small boutiques and the like. Chief executive Marc Kalman says BizSlate is ideal for companies that have "outgrown QuickBooks" but don't have ample resources at their disposal for IT.

Supply Chain Is the Weakest Link in Indian Retail Industry

February 22, 2013

SupplyChainBrain

Analyst Insight: With the government of India recently liberalizing foreign investment into the country's retail sector, many global retailers are eyeing the country as the next expansion opportunity. The experience of early entrants into India's organized retail has shown that supply chain inefficiencies are among the top hurdles to profitability. The unique Indian context requires creative sourcing approaches and significant investment in training and retaining local skilled supply chain talent. - Viktoria Sadlovska, Chief Research Officer, Prameya Research

Reasons for Selecting 3PLs Are Changing

February 22, 2013

SupplyChainBrain

Analyst Insight: Third-party logistics providers continue to be the recipients of outsourcing requirements and have grown to provide a critical business capability, but the business rationale in selecting an outsourcing partner appears to be changing. The use of 3PLs remains compelling, with shipping companies continuing to report productivity gains - along with cost reduction and service enhancement - but in discussions with clients, increasingly manufacturers are looking to leverage industry best practices and process knowledge as a first priority. - Simon Ellis, Director, Supply Chain Strategies Practice, IDC Manufacturing Insights