BOSTON – April 14, 2016 – ToolsGroup’s North American customer conference TG16 took place April 12-13 at the Boston Park Plaza Hotel, covering supply chain planning topics such as Sales and Operations Planning (S&OP), multi-channel distribution, demand sensing and multi-echelon inventory optimization (MEIO). The event attracted supply chain leaders consumer goods, retail and e-commerce, aftermarket parts and industrial sectors.
Three main themes emerged over the two days:
- Managing long tail inventory is essential for competitive advantage – many companies face growing challenges associated with long-tail inventory management as they seek to offer greater product choice to achieve growth targets.
- Predictive Commerce is helping companies solve modern challenges – the companies most successfully overcoming modern supply chain challenges are employing advanced technology by connecting upstream demand sensing with downstream supply chain planning and execution – all in a single model. For example, one retailer reported an almost 90% increase in planner productivity accompanied by significant improvements in service level and inventory performance.
- S&OP is high on agendas – most companies presenting success stories were undertaking S&OP and similar cross-functional planning initiatives designed to address growing supply chain complexity.
