Supply Chain Management Archives - Supply Chain Game Changer™

Supply Chain Quotations from the Pandemic!

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10 Vital Supply Chain Lessons from the Coronavirus Pandemic!

The Coronavirus Pandemic has upended virtually every aspect of our personal and working lives. And at the centre of this disruption has been Supply Chain.

We’ve heard our political and business leaders talking about Supply Chain more than any time in history. This is both because problems with Supply Chain have contributed to this issue and because solutions to these problems begin and end with Supply Chain.

Professionals are working every day to survive the current situation and strategize on how to make the changes necessary for more robust changes in the future.

During this time it’s important to reflect on what many of the global experts have had to say. In this article we’ve compiled a number of Supply Chain quotations from these experts regarding the Supply Chain and the pandemic.

3 Ways a 3PL Fulfillment Agent in China Keeps ECommerce Competitive!

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Importing From China! The Essential Guide!

The recent supply chain issues have wreaked havoc on e-commerce companies. Either they can’t get products at all or there is a massive delay in when they can get them, resulting in upset customers, frustrated business owners, and overworked freight companies.

To plan for Q4 inventory, you had to have your orders in place several months ago and now, it’s too late. Fortunately, there is a way for you to solve these supply chain issues, though, and it involves partnering with a 3PL fulfillment agent in China.

Here are the three ways a 3PL fulfillment agent in China can keep your e-commerce company competitive.

There Are Not Enough Women Supply Chain Leaders!

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Seasoned Leadership in Action™ – An Interview with Kristie Syndikus, VP Procurement at Maple Leaf Foods!

Women have made tremendous strides in the Supply Chain Management profession. However a new survey shows that the percentage of women Supply Chain leaders is still low.

Time was, Supply Chain Management was seen as an outgrowth of a blue collar profession. Logistics Managers, Manufacturing Directors and other Supply Chain leaders often rose from the shop floor, from front-line warehousing and transportation positions.

As a result, the field was overwhelmingly male: because mostly men occupied those front-line roles, and educational opportunities to get into the field were limited, the leadership reflected that demographic.

But as we chronicle on the Argentus blog, the field has changed. Supply Chain is no longer a back-office, transactional function.

The Amazing Supply Chain of Chocolate Easter Eggs

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The Baby Supply Chain!

At the end of this month, the festival of Easter will begin. Aside from the religious connotations, many people automatically associate Easter with the legend of the Easter bunny delivering chocolate Easter eggs to children. I, for one, am a big chocolate lover, so I am fascinated by this amazing supply chain.

Originally, eggs were included in ancient pagan practices and these have, to some degree, been adapted to create some Christian Easter traditions with the egg symbolizing new life. Chocolate Easter eggs are more of a modern tradition and somewhat of a substitute for the former custom of decorating Easter eggs by dyeing and painting chicken eggs in bright colors using vegetable dye or charcoal.

Freight Mode Optimization!

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What’s the Difference Between Freight Management and Logistics Management?

The ability to unlock freight mode optimization and gain meaningful insights to monitor, measure and improve supply chain management is more critical than ever.

And according to a recent survey of logistics professionals, reported by Supply Chain 24/7, “A combined 61% of research participants indicated that improving forecast accuracy is either ‘important’ or ‘extremely important’ for their organizations. To improve accuracy, many are betting on new technologies like machine learning and demand sensing.”

Shippers, logistics service providers (LSPs), carriers and drivers need to know how optimization of freight is evolving in the wake of digital transformation, why it is more than simple freight mode analysis and its implications for maximizing supply chain performance.

World Class Inventory Turnover Infographic!

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Featuring Our 10 Best Inventory Management Articles!

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Achieving World Class Inventory turnover performance is an aspiration, a requirement and a challenge for many companies. We’ve written several blogs on this subject to share our experiences in achieving truly game changing results in inventory management.

Attacking just a single element of inventory has, in our experience and observation, proven to be an insufficient approach to making significant, sustainable changes. The entire ecosystem of processes, variables, and stakeholders requires taking a holistic approach enlisting a variety of tools and techniques (eg. lean inventory management) to drive game changing inventory performance.

Given the breadth, depth and complexity of the Inventory Turnover management ecosystem it is not surprising that there is much to be addressed in this area. We’ve captured much of this in our article Featuring our Top 10 Inventory Management articles.

In this blog article we’ve captured much of this content in a single Infographic

Inside the Online Casino Supply Chain that Powers Your Winning!

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Responsible Gambling in Online Casinos: Tips for Safer Play!

In the realm of online casinos, the supply chain plays a crucial yet often overlooked role in ensuring the seamless operation of gaming platforms.

Let’s delve into the online casino Supply Chain and uncover the distinctive elements that set it apart.

4 Product Packaging Mistakes to Avoid!

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5 Product Packaging Mistakes That Could Cost You Customers!

Whether you are running a small-scale business or are a part of a huge organization, one of the crucial things that you need to be considerate about is to make sure your products are packed in a proper and efficient manner to make a great strong impression on your customers.

This means that sloppy execution of your product packaging can turn out to be something that will completely negate all the other great things about it, which is why it is pretty important to make sure its packaging is up to the mark.

Many people do not know what exactly is going wrong despite maintaining a great quality of their products, and it is most of the time the packaging of your product.

So, here are some of the most common product packaging mistakes to avoid making for packaging boxes of your brand.

Indirect Procurement – It’s Time to Rise and Shine!

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What’s the Difference between Procurement and Purchasing? (Infographic)

Indirect procurement of goods and services can be one of the largest areas of expenditure in any company. And the operational impact that the provision of Indirect goods and services can have on a company can be significant, either positively or negatively.

Yet the lack of attention and focus that Indirect Procurement is often given is inconsistent with the true importance of this area. Indirect Procurement takes a back seat to Direct Procurement unfortunately.

But it is time for Indirect Procurement to stand up and be counted!

Stand Out Digital Supply Chain Strategies!

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Supply Chain as a Service (SCaaS)!

The digital economy is bringing a paradigm shift in the business models and Digital Supply Chain strategies across the world, thus blurring the industry boundaries. No matter the niche, the customer today expects both products and services to be delivered real quick and tailored to unique requirements.

Effective digital supply chain strategies can help organizations stand out from the crowd. It is then that companies can make themselves faster, granular, flexible and accurate.

What is a Multichannel Distribution Management System?

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Which is Better? Amazon FBA or 3PL?

Many businesses begin with single-channel distribution. That sole channel could be a brick-and-mortar store or an e-commerce website. In either case, all sales flow through one outlet.

The advantage of a single-channel distribution management system is simplicity. There’s only one channel to manage, one channel to stock, and one channel to market to customers. As a business expands, however, the single-channel model can limit growth.

Supply Chain Investment Challenges – Real and Imagined!

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The Digital Supply Chain Road is Full of Potholes, Construction and Accidents!

Everywhere you turn there is talk of a lot of very exciting technologies requiring Supply Chain investment. The Internet of Things (IoT), Augmented Reality (AR), Drones and Autonomous Vehicles, Robotics, Virtual Reality (VR), Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Intelligent Analytics are front and centre.

And all of these technologies have applicability for the Supply Chain in every business and in every industry around the world. The Digital Supply Chain vision is within our line of sight.

But most companies are still working with the same, manual, non-automated Supply Chains that they have had for at least the last decade. And they will continue to do so in the foreseeable future. They are faced with challenges which are going to impede technology investments to advance their Supply Chains going forward.

What are these Supply Chain challenges?

Outsourcing Sourcing! 5 Lessons from Around the Globe!

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What is Virtual Procurement and Why Should You Care?

Doing business with suppliers located overseas or in another country can be an overwhelming and daunting task even for expert Sourcing professionals. But what if you considered Outsourcing Sourcing?

Recently a friend of mine asked me to have lunch with him and one of his associates. The other gentleman had invented a new product. He had a marketing plan. He knew what his cost point had to be on the product which meant that he had to have the product manufactured overseas.

But beyond that he had no idea on where to start to source his product.

6 Essential Provisions in a Supply Chain Contract!

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Effective Sales Contract Lifecycle Management Best Practices!

Maintaining quality and brand image in a supply chain can pose a business risk if you’re a manufacturer. You have authorized dealers whose core operations you don’t fully control. In addition, you may also use brand ambassadors who help promote your company. Therefore a supply chain contract or sponsorship agreement would be best in such instances.

What Exactly Is Procurement? And What is Purchasing?

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Featuring Our 12 Best Procurement Articles!

For his entire career my Father worked in the field of Procurement. But the job titles that he had during his career alternatively included either the word Procurement or the word Purchasing. I seem to recall that one of his business cards included both words.

When I was young I thought I had a somewhat clearer understanding of what my Dad’s Purchasing job was. His job involved buying, negotiating, contracts, overseas travel, sourcing, suppliers, parts, services, managing, supplier qualification, product qualification, terms and conditions, quality issues and delivery problems.

But was that Procurement or was it Purchasing? Procurement sounded like a somewhat loftier and more sophisticated word than Purchasing but by the same token it also seemed like they were synonymous and interchangeable terms.

What exactly is Procurement? And what is Purchasing?