Jeff Bodenstab Archives | ToolsGroup

Posts by Jeff Bodenstab

Jeff Bodenstab is a supply chain software marketing executive with a history of building young businesses into successful enterprises. Most recently he was Marketing Vice President at ToolsGroup and prior to that was a Marketing Vice President for i2 Technologies (now JDA). Jeff holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and a BS in Industrial Engineering from Lehigh University.

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Improvements to Mid-Market Supply Chain Planning

19 February 2019

Is the latest technology enabling some mid-market companies to leapfrog supply chain planning (SCP) stages of maturity? The evidence suggests that it is. Publicly, analysts are still cautioning mid-market companies not to aim too high. But in interviewing a number of[...]

5 February 2019

Design, Operating and Situational Inventory Trade-Offs

Gartner analyst Paul Lord has developed a framework to better understand inventory trade-offs by categorizing those decisions according to the objectives they are meant to achieve: structural, operational and situational. Many companies struggle with decisions such as “How many days of[...]

22 January 2019

Which Supply Chain Planning Processes Should We Automate?

Now that more companies are embracing supply chain planning productivity and automation, many firms are asking which processes they should automate. Let's first address that question and then look at where this trend is heading in the future. Gartner says that the attitude towards supply[...]

Recreating the Environment in which Historical Demand Occurred

At last year’s Gartner Supply Chain Executive Conference analyst Tom Enright summarized the essence of successful demand forecasting with the following statement: “Demand forecast accuracy depends on your ability to recreate the environment in which historical demand occurred.” While seemingly[...]

18 December 2018

The Three “Habits” for Successful IoT Implementations

In Lora Cecere’s Supply Chain 2020 study, the Internet of Things (IoT) was considered one of two disruptive technologies with the greatest potential impact on supply chain effectiveness, above technologies such as 3D printing and robotics. The other disruptor was advanced[...]

11 December 2018

Demand Planning is the top Machine Learning App for Supply Chain Planning

Gartner recently polled both users and vendors on which types of supply chain planning (SCP) applications were employing machine learning technology. In three different analysis, demand planning and demand forecasting came out on top of the list. With years of experience now in[...]

4 December 2018

Supply Chain Planning for Direct-To-Consumer

Direct-to-Consumer (DTC) presents special supply chain planning challenges for both smaller microbrands (e.g., eyeglass brand Warby Parker or mattress seller Casper) and much larger consumer goods incumbents, but the planning challenges are different depending on which type of company you[...]

27 November 2018

What’s Your Forecast Accuracy Target?

It seems as if everyone is looking to improve their forecasting performance. Companies are seeking to implement (or re-implement) planning technology solutions, tune and optimize existing methodologies towards tighter variances, and integrate more accurate information into their planning processes. Unsurprisingly,[...]

30 October 2018

Three Mega Trends Driving Gartner Stage 5 Supply Chain Planning

Gartner says that clients are increasingly asking, “What will the future of supply chain planning look like?” and in a recent report (Technology Reference Model for Stage 5 Maturity Supply Chain Planning, June 2018) they see three “mega trends” driving[...]

23 October 2018

Gartner Questions Supply Chain “Control Towers”

Gartner's recent research report entitled Don’t Believe the Control Tower Hype — Buyer Beware(August 2018) questions vendor messages that are “loaded with marketing hype”. It describes a disconnect between promise and reality, limitations not addressed by vendors, and their opinion on[...]

The Nine Top Supply Chain Planning User Concerns

Gartner’s most recent Magic Quadrant for Supply Chain Planning System of Record (21 August 2018, Amber Salley, Tim Payne, and Alex Pradha) calls out the concerns most often cited by users. These are the nine top supply chain planning concerns users want[...]

18 September 2018

Gartner’s Top Ten User-Rated Supply Chain Planning Capabilities

Gartner Research recently released its new Magic Quadrant for Supply Chain Planning System of Record (SCP SOR) in which 485 user companies identified their top ten rated planning capabilities for delivering SCP goals. They are: Ability to provide an integrated planning environment that[...]

4 September 2018

Gartner Releases New Supply Chain Planning Magic Quadrant

Gartner Research just released its new Magic Quadrant for Supply Chain Planning System of Record (SCP SOR). There have been significant vendor position changes since the last Magic Quadrant because some vendors are taking advantage of technology advancements reflecting “changing[...]

How Manufacturers Optimize Their Inventories

Editor’s Note: Microsoft’s Colin Masson, Global Industry Director of Manufacturing Solutions, sat down with me to discuss how manufacturers optimize their inventories. You can see a longer version of the interview on the Microsoft website or my slightly abridged version[...]

Here come the Response Networks

As competition heats up to meet consumer fulfillment expectations, the analyst community has worked to define a supply chain model that can dynamically and rapidly respond to changing market needs, sometimes called "Response Networks". Gartner calls their version “Respond Planning”.[...]

Supply Chains that Push and Pull Different Products

Push-driven supply chains have been around forever whereas pull-driven supply chains have become increasingly popular and in most cases arguably better. But what about employing push and pull for different products in a single supply chain or distribution network? The[...]

Still Managing Your Inventory with Spreadsheets?

Most companies are still trying to use Excel to optimize their stock levels, managing inventory with spreadsheets. Supply Chain Insights’ 2018 Inventory Optimization Technologies Study suggests the number may be as high as 75%. These companies struggle to meet tight service[...]

Segmenting Your Inventory by Gross Margin and Demand Variability

Gartner Research analyst Paul Lord has developed a thought-provoking approach (shown in the below diagram) for tailoring supply and inventory tactics to different inventory segments based on gross margin and demand variability. Traditional ABC inventory models segment inventory into A,[...]

Four Ways Inventory Optimization Can Address Tighter Supply Constraints

As the (U.S.) economic expansion enters its ninth year, supply constraints are showing up in supply chains. The Wall Street Journal recently advised “In the battle for economic supremacy, investors should quickly be realizing it’s increasingly about supply, not demand.”[...]

Advanced Analytics versus Artificial Intelligence

For firms with Advanced Analytics or Artificial Intelligence (AI) in their future, Gartner has just published a useful report with three findings that clarify the difference between the two technologies and offers insight on employing them for augmenting versus automating supply chain decision making. 1. Advanced Analytics is[...]

Want to Disrupt Your Supply Chain? Check Out this New Analytical Tool

Brad Householder, Founder and CEO of b2i, spoke at the ToolsGroup TG18 user conference recently and presented an innovative approach to strategically analyze your value chain to focus digital investments. Brad, by the way, comes from a great pedigree. Prior to founding b2i,[...]

Digital Transformation of Supply Chain Planning at SKF

“Digital transformation” is tough for any firm, but when you are $9 billion industrial manufacturer, it is a sizable undertaking. At last week’s TG18 ToolsGroup user event, global bearing manufacturer SKF laid out an impressive review of their transformation to “Integrated[...]

Transforming the Manufacturing Supply Chain with MEIO

Editor’s Note: Last year ToolsGroup became Microsoft’s partner for Multi-echelon Inventory Optimization (MEIO) in Industrial accounts. Microsoft’s Bill Moffett and I collaborated on an introductory blog on MEIO for manufacturing businesses. You can see Bill’s version here on the Microsoft website and[...]

Three Key Themes in the New Inventory Optimization Vendor Ranking

The 2018 Nucleus Research Inventory Optimization (IO) Value Matrix Report has just been released, and analyst Seth Lippincott identifies the latest technology trends, ranks top inventory optimization solution providers, and describes the strengths and weaknesses of each vendor. Nucleus positioned[...]

Segmenting Your Spare Parts Supply Chain for 3D Printing

From warehouse robots (very real) to equipment that you control with your mind (in the labs), new technologies appear so regularly that it can be hard to separate real from science fiction. But in the spare parts business, 3D printing has become “here and[...]

21 February 2018

How Not to use Machine Learning for Demand Forecasting

Eight years ago ToolsGroup was one of the first supply chain planning software vendors to employ machine learning to improve demand forecasting. As the tag line to a popular commercial goes, by now “we know a thing or two because[...]

17 January 2018

Forecasting the Long Tail and Intermittent Demand

Items with intermittent, unpredictable or "long tail" demand are a growing part of business. You don’t have to be an internet retailer like Amazon to see it. Companies are dealing with more slow moving items with unpredictable demand patterns. This[...]

Analysts Support a Single Model for Sales and Operations Planning

A new report from Nucleus Research, Value Drivers of Single Model S&OP, concludes that the historical disconnect between planning and execution in Sales and Operations Planning (S&OP) is best bridged by a single unified data model that allows companies to[...]

New Findings from the Gartner Supply Chain Users Wants and Needs Study

The annual Gartner Supply Chain Technology User Wants and Needs Study is one of the most comprehensive studies of supply chain users. The most recent survey included more than 473 people spanning the globe. We have written on this study before,[...]

12 December 2017

Probabilistic Forecasting Can Extend the Life of SAP APO

Since the beginning of time – OK, since the beginning of demand forecasting --- the standard approach has been a single number forecast that works relatively well with stable high volume demand. Traditional forecasting tools such as SAP APO, designed 25 years[...]

14 November 2017

What’s Wrong with Strategic Network Design?

The problem with strategic network design is when it accounts for service time but not service level. That is, it accounts for the time it takes to serve customers, but not the probability that a certain percentage of the orders will be delivered within that time. It optimizes[...]

7 November 2017

How to Attain “Stage 4” Supply Chain Planning Maturity

Gartner has identified five stages of supply chain planning maturity and they say that 70-80% of companies plan to increase their supply chain planning (SCP) technology spend over the next two years to climb to the next level. In their[...]

24 October 2017

Four Reviews of DDMRP for Supply Chain Planning

In recent months four experts have weighed in on Demand Driven Material Requirements Planning (DDMRP). Here is an overview of those reviews, followed by my own short commentary, plus links to the articles at the end of the post. Lora Cecere[...]

11 October 2017

Building a Business Case for Improved Demand Forecasting

I’ve always maintained that improving demand forecast accuracy, as helpful as it can be, shouldn’t be the end goal itself, but simply a means to the end, and a recent report from Gartner agrees, focusing specifically on the challenge of[...]

Aligning Your Supply Chain Planning Message with Your CEO

"Growth and new products have spiked as the top priorities for CEOs and supply chain intensive industries when compared to 2016" [caption id="attachment_3375" align="aligncenter" width="618"] Attention to business growth has ballooned, becoming a top priority for 57% of CEO respondents[/caption][...]

26 September 2017

What Will a Supply Chain Planning Job Look Like in the Future?

We have tackled the question of automation before, but his time I want to focus specifically on what automation will mean to the job of the supply chain planner. There is a saying that the best forecasts come from having[...]

19 September 2017

Traditional Statistics versus Machine Learning. What’s the Difference?

Since machine learning is a hot topic, we thought it useful to clarify the difference between machine learning and traditional statistics as applied to supply chain planning (SCP). Both technologies help you better understand data and are classified as analytics,[...]

13 September 2017

What’s Wrong with your Supply Chain Planning System: Twelve Symptoms

The right SCP technology avoids key symptoms that reduce planner productivity, plan timeliness and plan usability. Doctors look for specific symptoms when diagnosing what’s wrong with a patient. Now with Gartner’s help, supply chain execs can do something similar with their[...]

5 September 2017

A Shift in Supply Chain Planning Priorities?

Increased demand volatility still tops business pressure, says Aberdeen ... but supply chain planning priorities are changing. For several years there has been a commonly held belief that focusing on improving demand forecast accuracy should be a top priority for Chief[...]

Gartner’s Five-Stage Maturity Model for Supply Chain Analytics

There are supply chain and demand analytics models that describe the type of analytics being deployed (e.g., descriptive, prescriptive, etc.). Now Gartner has created a different look at the issue by creating a five-stage maturity model for assessing the overall maturity level of your[...]

The Power of Downstream Data for Sensing Demand

Lora Cecere, CEO of Supply Chain Insights, has released a useful new report entitled “The Power of Downstream Data” which describes previously undocumented benefits for collecting and analyzing downstream supply chain data. Downstream data is the demand data that powers a market-driven, “outside-in”[...]

The Best Way to Set Inventory Targets?

Gartner’s insights are quite good and it’s not often that I disagree, but on the topic of setting inventory targets I have to differ with the conclusions of a recent report, “Cover Considerations — How to Optimize Retail and Consumer[...]

Avoid “Lost in Translation.” Monetize S&OP to Include Finance.

Finance speaks a different language than supply chain. But by monetizing Sales & Operations Planning (S&OP), supply chain planners can speak the language of finance while developing S&OP into a more mature process. In its report Partner with Finance to Monetize the[...]

Gartner says “Add S&OP to your Financial Planning”. Here’s Why.

“Based on our research, every organization which aligns top-down financial plans with bottom-up demand plans, as part of their S&OP, sees an improvement in the accuracy and predictability of their financial forecast.” - Matthew Spooner, Research Director at Gartner In Real[...]

Gartner’s Six Levels of Supply Chain Planning Autonomy

Business is moving fast and there is so much new data now speeding through the pipes that Gartner says it’s not possible to plan a supply chain without some level of automation. So they now offer a scale (a maturity curve)[...]

Gartner’s Five Stages of Supply Chain Planning Technology Maturity

In any business or trade you need the right tools for the job, and supply chain planning is no different - you need the right technology for the job at hand. At every level of supply chain expertise and competitive[...]

Seven Recent Trends in Retail Demand Forecasting and Replenishment

Since most retailers are facing a shrinking operating “margin for error”, many are looking for more accurate demand forecasting and intelligent stock replenishment. Gartner analyst Mike Griswold explains how in his recent report on retail demand forecasting trends, entitled Market[...]

Gartner Releases a New S&OP Magic Quadrant

Gartner Research just released its new Magic Quadrant for Sales & Operations Planning Systems of Differentiation (S&OP SOD). They say that compared to just two years ago “there have been significant shifts in the relative positions of several vendors.” Gartner says that the[...]

Nucleus Pinpoints Inventory Optimization Trends and Solution Providers

The Nucleus Research Inventory Optimization (IO) Value Matrix report was just released, identifying the latest inventory optimization trends, top inventory optimization solution providers, and the strengths and weaknesses of each solution provider. Nucleus positioned 17 vendors in its value matrix[...]

Why You Need to Embrace Autonomous Supply Chain Planning

Editor's Note: This piece (with small variations) first appeared as a Supply Chain Brain editorial joining the debate about autonomous software and its impact on work and society. We are living in a new wave of automation. Machines are already performing many tasks previously done by[...]

Four Prerequisites for Demand Sensing Success

In a previous popular blog we described the key components of a demand sensing solution, which helps improve near-term forecasts by leveraging detailed, short-term demand data. It’s a great competency for any business—to be able to grab downstream demand data, identify[...]

Why S&OP Needs In-Memory Computing

Sales and Operations Planning (S&OP) or Integrated Business Planning (IBP) has a problem, and in-memory computing offers an answer. Gartner says that, “The No.1 challenge among manufacturing companies is connecting S&OP to operational plan/execution.” There is a disconnect between: financial[...]

Industrial Supply Chain Planning is Different. Here’s How.

Two recent benchmarking surveys, one by Gartner and another by ToolsGroup, identified specific issues that make industrial supply chain planning different. Here’s what they discovered. Gartner surveyed 112 industrial supply chains across North America, Western Europe and Asia/Pacific. They found a median[...]

14 February 2017

Supply Chain Data is a Time-Sensitive Asset. Now We Know Just How Much

It’s said that “Time is of the essence.” Now a new Nucleus Research report quantifies just how time-sensitive an asset supply chain planning data can be. The Half Life of Data (Anne Moxie, January 2017) describes the deteriorating value of supply chain[...]

7 February 2017

A Nobel Prize-Winning Economist’s Four Steps to Minimize Forecast Bias

A problem with Demand Collaboration is that we humans naturally tend to overestimate our own forecasting skills and underestimate or even distrust computer generated statistical forecasts. We ignore the statistical probabilities of outcomes and assign great significance to the few facts we[...]

24 January 2017

Five Ways Machine Learning Improves Demand Forecasting

When it comes to demand forecasting, machine learning can be especially helpful in complex scenarios, allowing planners to do a much better job of forecasting uncertain demand. Demand forecasting with machine learning leverages the knowledge, experience, and skills of planners and[...]

17 January 2017

Transforming Your Supply Chain Planning, Transforming Your Business

Last week we described how attitudes towards improving supply chain planning productivity are changing. Large enterprises ask, “What’s wrong with my process that I need armies of planners?” Growing mid-market companies ask, “Why do I need to keep adding so much[...]

20 December 2016

Supply Chain Planning with Microsoft Dynamics AX

Microsoft Dynamics AX is a powerful mid-market ERP platform with the capacity for medium-size companies to expand and transform their businesses. But growth poses supply chain planning (SCP) challenges. Expanding your business creates increasingly complex demand forecasting, and you are[...]

6 December 2016

Using Weather and Climate Data to Improve Demand Forecasting

Demand forecasting software can usually factor in climate and seasonality, like more ice cream being sold during summer months or in warmer climates, but weather data adds a more granular time-sensitive signal. Weather can drive demand: like heat and beach goods, rain and umbrellas, or[...]

29 November 2016

Demand Forecasting for New Product Introductions

Short and hard-to-predict product life cycles make it important that firms master New Product Introduction (NPI) demand forecasting. A good New Product Introduction plan should account for: Sales volume over the long term at normal operating capacity, otherwise known as the[...]

25 October 2016

Intermittent Demand is Not Unforecastable Demand

Has this happened to you? Your forecasting or demand planning system says an SKU is “unforecastable” because demand is too small and intermittent. If it happens infrequently, your intermittent demand might not be a problem. But if it’s happening regularly,[...]

Has Driverless Supply Chain Planning Already Arrived?

There has been a lot of news about driverless cars, and at the Supply Chain Insights Global Summit there was also some news about “driverless” supply chain planning when two companies described supply chain planning with almost no human intervention. More on[...]

28 September 2016

Supply Chain Complexity and the Need for Disruptive Technology

The keynote address at the always enlightening Supply Chain Insights Global Summit was given by Lora Cecere, and she used it to focus on the problem of growing supply chain planning complexity and how disruptive supply chain technology can fix[...]

Why CPG Demand Forecasting Has Hit a Ceiling

Consumer package goods (CPG) companies are looking for growth and scouring markets for opportunity. Their product portfolios grow with new product introductions, fresh takes on existing merchandise, and multiplying sales channels. Boston Consulting Group talks about how the “endless aisles”[...]

Why Individual Retail Stores Shouldn’t Order Their Own Inventory

In the old days, each store knew best what inventory it needed to keep shelves stocked and customers satisfied. But with today’s product proliferation and demand complexity—including now often the need to operate as a satellite fulfillment center for orders[...]

A Different Solution to the Supply Chain Talent Shortage

“78% of respondents to Gartner’s most recent Chief Supply Chain Officer Survey identify talent as the No. 1 long-term supply chain risk” There is a lot of documented evidence of a shortage in supply chain talent. Why is it happening?[...]

Four Tips on Pitching Supply Chain Initiatives to the C-Suite

If you have to sell your ideas about how to strengthen the supply chain to executives that control the purse, here are four tips from experts on pitching supply chain initiatives to the C-Suite. 1. Play to the C-Suite strategic[...]

There’s Blood in the Supply Chain

Editor's Note: An associate of mine just pointed out that some readers may be uncomfortable with the title of this blog in light of recent events in Turkey. Since email, social media and other alerts have already been distributed, it's difficult to change[...]

When SMBs Hit the Inventory Planning Complexity Wall

Inventory planning is especially important to small-to-midsize businesses (SMBs). Nobody wants to tie up more working capital in inventory than necessary, but SMBs typically have a higher cost of capital, so it’s more expensive to fund excess stock. And if a company is[...]

Demand Analytics and the Omni-Channel Customer Experience

While much has been written in the trade press about the omnichannel opportunity, somewhat less has been written about the potential issues from a buyer’s perspective. This new shopping environment is empowering – name your product, name your price, you’re in[...]

How Gartner Sees the Future of Supply Chain Planning

[caption id="attachment_7767" align="aligncenter" width="627"] Source: Algorithmic Supply Chain Planning: The Future of SCP, Amber Salley, May 2016[/caption] Gartner has taken a look at the future and sees lots of algorithms. The analyst firm says algorithms “are now feasting on the[...]

Is Inventory Optimization a Key to Omnichannel Survival?

For multi-channel retailers, it’s getting increasingly difficult to survive in “the Amazon jungle”. Bob Ferrari of Supply Chain Matters recently pointed to The Sports Authority bankruptcy as one indication. As Amazon invests relentlessly to boost its agility and drop its costs,[...]

What’s Wrong with Aftermarket Parts Supply Chain Planning?

This is actually a trick question. What’s wrong with aftermarket supply chain planning really has nothing to do with planning, but with management expectations. This is a case of management not expecting enough from their business. There is a reoccurring conversation in[...]

The View from Finance: Freeing Up Cash with Inventory Optimization

If you (or your boss) are measured by your company's Return on Invested Capital (ROIC) or a similar metric, then you want to turn assets into cash. Whether the message comes down from the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) or even[...]

An Example of Outstanding Change Management

Managing change or "change management" at the individual level is essential to realize benefits across the organization. Companies pick supply chain planning software based on the benefits to the business. But they install the software successfully—and realize the gains—when they[...]

What’s New in Inventory Optimization?

Principal Analyst James Cooke of Nucleus Research just published his 2016 Inventory Optimization Value Matrix which highlights this year’s key trends, including functionality and usability. The report is available below and the following also includes some comments from a recent[...]

23 February 2016

A Detailed Look at What’s Driving Disruptive Innovation in Supply Chain Planning

Last week offered an overview of how disruptive innovation is changing the supply chain planning vendor landscape. We mentioned that Gartner said that this significant disruption was driven by end users’ changing priorities and needs. Today examine those drivers in more[...]

16 February 2016

What’s Driving Disruptive Innovation in Supply Chain Planning?

Disruptive innovation is changing the supply chain planning vendor space. Later we will investigate why, but first let’s look at what’s happening, starting with the Gartner Magic Quadrant for Supply Chain Planning System of Record (SOR). In the latest Magic[...]

12 January 2016

Ex Machina: AI and the Future of Supply Chain Planning

There’s been a lot of discussion lately about the future of artificial intelligence and its impact on human beings. It recently gained heightened attention with the movie “Ex Machina,” where an AI creation outsmarts its maker, escapes the closed experimental environment,[...]

8 December 2015

Sensing Demand at Point of Sale – Part 2: Demand Signal Repositories

Last week we discussed how grabbing hold of data at the point of consumption—essentially, taking continuous-frame snapshots of buyer behavior—can improve supply chain performance and enhance inventory optimization. But many companies don’t have their own captive retail network and therefore don’t have[...]

1 December 2015

Sensing Demand at the Point of Sale

There is a new technique for improving forecast accuracy and inventory optimization—sensing demand from Point of Sale (POS) data or "POS Demand Sensing". When you see which products, or product variants, are actually moving—and how fast they’re selling, in what[...]

24 November 2015

Why the Forecast for Supply Chain Planning has been Only Partly Cloudy

Cloud-based supply chain planning is gaining traction. Each year more users opt for cloud-based systems and there is a lot of support in the analyst community. But cloud-based supply chain planning has not proliferated nearly as fast as many have[...]

10 November 2015

Five Types of Inventory Optimization You Should Know

[caption id="attachment_7932" align="aligncenter" width="541"] For inventory optimization, optimizing inventory configuration is often the predominant issue in most manufacturing environments, versus optimizing inventory policy in most distribution environments[/caption] Here are five types of inventory optimization that you should be aware of if you[...]

3 November 2015

When is Inventory Too “Lean”? Finding the Right Balance

I learned about “lean manufacturing” (or simply “lean”) back in the 1990s when I met James Womack and read his book “The Machine that Changed the World”. Based on MIT's five-year, fourteen-country study – one of the largest and most[...]

27 October 2015

Five Things You Need to Know About Machine Learning for Supply Chain Planning

First a confession: I borrowed this blog’s title directly from Gartner Analyst Noha Tohamy and her recent research note Five Things Supply Chain Strategists Need to Know About Machine Learning. I couldn’t do better myself. Noha’s main message in her note[...]

Supply Chain Priorities: Seven Things That Matter Most

A recent Gartner study, conducted annually, sheds some light on what matters most to top executives in supply chain technology. I attended the Supply Chain Technology User Wants and Needs Study delivered by Dwight Klappich at the Gartner Supply Chain Executive Conference[...]

29 September 2015

The Challenge of “Click and Collect” Supply Chain Planning

“Click and Collect” lockers and sales kiosks are becoming increasingly popular methods of order fulfilment, and for good reason. Customers order items any way they want and pick up the goods at a location convenient to them. It is the[...]

22 September 2015

How Safety Stock Absorbs Demand Volatility

Demand volatility is cited by Gartner, IDC and other analyst firms as the number one obstacle identified by corporate executives to achieving their supply chain goals. But companies can overcome this obstacle by positioning the right safety stock inventory across the supply chain[...]

1 September 2015

Inventory Obsolescence: It Can Get Complicated

It’s hard to get around inventory obsolescence. Derived from the Latin verb obsolesere—to grow old—most products in the marketplace grow “long in the tooth” at some juncture in their life cycle. Shorter innovation cycles, multi-channel complexity, and long-tail stock-keeping units[...]

Managing the Long Tail of the Supply Chain Part 4: Five Takeaways

Our last three posts covered the key messages of the recent Consumer Goods Technology (CGT) web seminar about long tail demand called “Driving Results despite Item Complexity". Blog 1: Lora Cecere discussed the drivers of increasing demand volatility, the pain and risk it[...]

Managing the Long Tail – Part 3: How Dart Achieved a 99.6% Service Level

After analyzing the long tail supply chain challenge in the last two blogs, this week we see how Dart tackled their long tail and achieved a 99.6% service level with about 20% less inventory. This story starts in 2012 with Dart[...]

The Long Tail of the Supply Chain: Part 2 – Pareto is Dead

In last week’s post about the long tail of the supply chain, Lora Cecere emphasized the need to forego traditional forecasting and replenishment strategies in the long tail. In the recent Consumer Goods Technology (CGT) web seminarentitled “Driving Results Despite Item Complexity”, one slide[...]

Managing the Long Tail of the Supply Chain: Part 1

This month we will dedicate four posts to an important but not well understood supply chain planning phenomenon called “long tail” demand. Consumer Goods Technology (CGT) recently hosted an excellent web seminar on this topic entitled “Driving Results Despite Item Complexity”.[...]

Sensing Demand or the Art of Hitting a Curve Ball – Part 2

How do you get to be really good at forecasting demand and driving higher supply chain performance? The same way you get to be good at hitting a curve ball – by sensing what’s happening sooner. In baseball, you want[...]

Demand Sensing and the Art of Hitting a Curve Ball – Part 1

They say sports is not just about doing the right thing, but being able to do it very fast. Think of an outfielder in baseball who, at the crack of the bat, senses whether the ball is headed behind or[...]

Changing Supply Chain Planning Dashboards

Think about how the automobile dashboard has changed in the last 20 years. It wasn’t that long ago that it displayed simple information—how fast the vehicle was going (speedometer), how rapidly the engine was turning (tachometer), how far the car[...]

Will Your Team’s Skills be Ready for Supply Chain Planning in 2025?

What will supply chain planning look like 10 years from now? It’s a tough question, but Gartner analysts Tom Enright and Matthew Spooner took on the challenge in their presentation Supply Chain Planning 2025 at the recent Gartner Supply Chain Executive Conference[...]

The Role of Inventory Optimization in a Market-Driven Supply Chain

It’s time to rethink inventory. For years it’s been portrayed as a place where working capital goes to die. But in today’s market-driven supply chain, inventory optimization is gaining increased purpose and meaning. Getting inventory right means thinking of it in a[...]

Why “Sense and Respond” Supply Chain Planning Requires a “Single Model”

A single underlying model is a key technology enabler to the “sense and respond” strategy advocated by Gartner in our last blog post. Here is why. Sense and respond requires connecting functional processes with an immediate flow of coherent information, maximizing[...]

Reduced Latency – Gartner on “Sense and Respond” Supply Chain Planning

Gartner says supply chain planning needs to move to more of a "sense and respond" model—reducing the latency between sensing demand and execution response. The research and advisory firm says that supply chains need to profitably respond to demand changes by executing[...]

Reducing Latency in Supply Chain Planning – Seven Ways to Get Started

Last week we focused on reducing latency in supply chain planning by moving closer to real-time execution via continuous re-planning. One form of this new strategy is called “Predictive Commerce”. It connects upstream demand sensing with downstream supply chain planning and execution in[...]

Supply Chain Innovation: Improving Forecast Value Added

Forecast accuracy is a common and helpful overall measure. But Forecast Value Added (FVA) adds visibility into the inputs from the individual sources that contributed to the forecast, so you can understand their impact on the forecast and whether or[...]