Analyst Insight: Let's start at the very beginning. Supply chain DNA is focused on costs while providing acceptable service to customers. Marketing DNA is focused on revenues that come from the sales and services. As a result, the only shared value between marketing and supply chain people is the recognition that "stuff has to get to customers." To marketing, the term "minimize" only relates to the number of times a customer is dissatisfied, whereas to supply chain, "minimize" is the Holy Grail. – Robert Sabath, Principal Essentialist SCM, Trissential

Analyst Insight: For retail, what's on the supply chain horizon isn't one-dimensional, purely best practice, absolutely the optimum, but rather a continuum of distinct models working within several different environments. From a supply chain vantage point, the best retailers are those who orchestrate supplier resources with their own, resulting in agility and responsiveness to changing situations and differing customer needs. - Robert Sabath, Principal Essentialist SCM, Trissential

Analyst Insight: Network planning suffers from an abundance of inappropriate technology, coupled with far too little pragmatic, common sense. Everyone is familiar with the optimization tools that are routinely applied; all are based on long-term shipment forecasts by SKU, by zip code or even finer measurement. Now wait a minute! We can't even forecast next month's demand; how in the world can we forecast demand detail five years in the future? The skills and skepticism of the millennials just may have the solution. - Robert Sabath, Principal Essentialist SCM, Trissential

Analyst Insight: Facility location planning is a six-dimensional balancing act encompassing long-term facility commitments with need for agility, predictable demand patterns with seasonal and spiky demand surprises, material handling investments with facility flexibility, return on investment with immediate operations effectiveness, cutting-edge technology with common sense, and operational efficiency and cost reduction with technology investment. Consequently, the best FLP results are those that design in the most needed capabilities, leaving space to accommodate the flexibility that drives location success. - Robert Sabath, Principal Essentialist SCM, TRISSENTIAL

Analyst Insight: Customer relationship management evolved from contact management, a sales-focused process for suppliers. In many cases, CRM must be rethought; it should be stood on its head, starting with customers' needs and working back to suppliers. Because most companies lack sufficient resources to satisfy every customer, this approach initially leads to frustration. But "every customer totally thrilled" is the wrong objective. To the contrary, it's critical to focus: to "wow" the most profitable customers, and serve them perfectly. Supply chain responses must match segmented and targeted relationships to build satisfaction and profit. - Robert Sabath, Principal Essentialist SCM, Trissential