How to Invest to Make Your Supply Chain More Efficient!

With the advent of Amazon Prime’s free two-day and one-day delivery, customers have come to expect faster, free shipping from online sellers. How do you make your Supply Chain more efficient?

A PayPal study shows that 43% of shoppers will abandon their carts if hit with high shipping costs, while 84% won’t purchase from a brand again after a single negative delivery experience.

To compete favorably with their grown-up brothers like Amazon, small businesses in the eCommerce sector should know how to invest in keeping their supply chain running like a well-oiled machine. That way, they can dwarf shipping times and delivery costs to meet customers’ expectations.

Of course, a supply chain upgrade is a major investment that may require you to obtain a working capital loan from reliable lenders. But the resulting time and cost savings are so huge that the loan pays for itself in a few years.

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Cutting Edge Warehouses! (Video)

Last week, the Wall Street Journal reported that in 2017 total spending on logistics in the US rose to a record $1.5 trillion, up 6.2% from the year before. What’s more, the costs of warehousing, fulfillment and delivery are expected to keep rising in the upcoming year. This is why the biggest players in the market are investing in cutting edge warehouses and technology.

Here are 4 amazing examples of beautiful warehouse operations in which the latest technologies are helping ecommerce giants handle record volumes of parcels faster and more efficiently than ever before.

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Are We Facing the End of Supply Chain Management?

A new article in Harvard Business Review has been generating some automation-related controversy in the Supply Chain Community, as well as lots of buzz and interesting conversation. Naturally, we want to weigh in and the end of Supply Chain Management.

Titled, “The Death of Supply Chain Management,” the article discusses the way that automation, AI and big data are transforming the industry.

It raises the alarm that the function will soon cease to exist, only to – as these “X is dead“ articles often end up doing – assert that it will still exist, just in a very different form.

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4 Ways Packaging Optimization Can Improve Business Processes!

If there is any stage that can affect the supply chain process, it is the packaging and packaging optimization.

Shipping companies and fulfillment centers package products to guarantee protection and ensure the end-user receives them in good condition. However, if suitable packaging materials are not used, the items might get destroyed. So when goods get destroyed, there are high chances of customer complaints, which can cost a company’s reputation.

While you might not have control over what happens during transportation and delivery, optimizing your packaging solution is the only way to reduce such issues.

Here are factors worth your consideration about this critical supply chain management element.

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Logistics Trends to Watch!

As the logistics industry, and the broader business world, looks ahead, it’s time to explore what the next years will bring to logistics and logistics trends.

After reviewing several industry sources most Logistics professionals are in agreement with all of these trends.

We hope this information will help your organization prepare for what’s ahead. 

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The Hard Economics of Justifying a Digital Supply Chain Transformation!

There have been countless times throughout my career where I was either a recommender or approver of significant IT projects. And, I must say, I have always experienced a prevailing attitude among senior management that these transformations are black holes and money pits, including a Digital Supply Chain transformation.

I believe many (if not most) companies still feel this way. Why? There is a litany of cautionary tales: From Hershey’s widely reported $100 million failed ERP implementation in 2015 to our own personal stories.

I’ve seen businesses engage consulting firms only to give up about six months in after slow progress and skyrocketing costs; I’ve witnessed first-hand how a $15 million project ballooned to $40 million before it was even finished. 

Let’s talk about why this happens and what can be done about it.

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What Can Location Map Software Be Used For?

Most companies collect and store consumer data. For many businesses, the data holds a geographic component to the information, including physical address or general city. Unfortunately, businesses without location map software will involuntarily forgo these critical communication components.

After all, any location-based information may directly connect with sales data, supplier information, and more. Understanding how to optimize and capitalize on these details is essential for businesses wanting to maintain a competitive advantage.

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Our 2018 Top 10 List!

It’s been a tremendous start to our second year at  Supply Chain Game Changer.  Our goal has always been to share experiences and expertise, including our 2018 Top 10 list.  In the first half of 2018 our readership continued to grow substantially over our first year, 2017.  And we were selected  as one of the Top 25 Procurement blogs in the world.

In 2018 we added video content and introduced our “Seasoned Leadership in Action” Interview series.  For the purpose of this Top 10 List we have excluded all  “Seasoned Leadership in Action” articles as we are not trying to promote a popularity contest amongst individuals.  That being said the response to the Interview series has been absolutely outstanding.

We also continued to add more and more Guest posts provided by industry leaders.  We have 17 new Guest contributors so far in 2018 on top of the outstanding roster of contributors who started with us in 2017.

As we end the first 6 months of 2018 we wanted to publish our Top 10 List, so far.

Thank you for your tremendous, ongoing support.  If you haven’t subscribed yet please sign up!  Subscribe Here!  

So here is our 1st Top 10 List of 2018…

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Global Process Excellence™: Defining the Roadmap for Best In Class Results

Global Process Excellence™” was to be the platform on which we would propel the company’s Operations upward toward Best In Class status.  Our Call To Action objectives were clear:

  • We had a clear requirement to improve our profitability
  • We needed to respond to customer expectations for increased value and a consistent, exceptional customer experience in all Distribution Centres
  • We needed to lean out the operations and improve our productivity
  • We needed to create Best in Class capabilities
  • We needed to enable profitable growth on the back of an enhanced Operating model, capacity and capabilities
  • And we needed to unleash the tremendous experience and expertise that resided within our employees

Now we needed to formulate our Roadmap: the Approach, the Mandate, a set of Ground rules, and a process of Governance to bring together everything that would now be called Global Process Excellence™.

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How 3rd Party Liability Insurance Protects Your Supply Chain!

Businesses face all sorts of risks in almost all aspects of their business operations. Perils in the supply chain are some of the risks that can potentially cause severe and lasting damage to the capability of a business to operate and its reputation with clients and customers.

Large enterprises and multinational corporations often have to manage risks at several tiers or layers of their suppliers, vendors, and service providers. 

When a business suffers from disruptions to its supply chain, this can have an impact on all aspects of its business operations. And they can often result in financial losses and damages.

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Our 2019 Top 10 List! (Part 2)

As we come to the end of our 3rd year here at Supply Chain Game Changer it is time to publish our semi-annual 2019 Top 10 List.

First we want to thank our readers. Our audience and reach continues to expand with Supply Changer now being ranked as one of the Top 20 Supply Chain blogs in the world and one of the Top 15 Procurement blogs in the world. Both are record achievements for us.

Second we want to thank our guest contributors. With dozens of writers and articles we continue to fulfill our vision of sharing expertise and experience from all over the world.

We thank you for your ongoing support and ask you to continue to spread the word about Supply Chain Game Changer. There is truly something of value for everyone no matter what challenge you are facing each and every day.

Here we present our Top 10 list for the second half of 2019. Enjoy!

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Revolving Door Management – Who Wants a Spin?

How many times have you seen new Management being brought into a company, only to see them leave and be replaced, through the revolving door, in a very short timeframe?

This happens a lot on Sports teams. Coaches and Players alike are replaced after a relatively short stint with no tolerance for poor performance.

I’ve seen it happen several times. Basically the CEO or Chairman gets rid of the entire Management team and brings in a new team. Within a couple of years the process is repeated. The entire team is replaced even though these people were considered saviours when they were brought in.

Does that kind of Revolving Door, or Turnstile, Management Strategy really work? Is it really a reflection of the performance of those being replaced or is it more a reflection of the poor leadership of those doing the replacing?

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Inspirational Supply Chain Quotes

Here we present a series of thought provoking and inspirational Supply Chain quotes.

“If you think of standardization as the best that you know today, but which is to be improved tomorrow; you get somewhere.”  ~ Henry Ford, founder Ford Motor Company

“Eighty-five percent of the reasons for failure are deficiencies in the systems and process rather than the employee. The role of management is to change the process rather than badgering individuals to do better.” ~ W. Edwards Deming

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Truck Drivers – Unsung Heroes of the Supply Chain! (Infographic)

Anywhere you go anywhere in the world you will find truck drivers delivering goods.  Roads and highways are filled with trucks of all shapes sizes.  Tractor trailers of all configurations are everywhere on the roads.

If you are driving a car you may be annoyed by all of these trucks.  Or if you are an environmentalist you may be concerned by the fuel consumption of these behemoths.

But the reality is that these truck drivers are the backbone of our societies and our economies.  They deliver the goods that we need to live the lives that we enjoy.  Without them the economy would stop and life as we know it would not be the same.

Truck drivers are truly the unsung heroes of the Supply Chain!

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Additive Manufacturing and 3D Printing!

Although additive manufacturing and 3D Printing for both plastic and metal materials has been around for years, the investment, developments, breadth of applications, adoption rate, and beneficial case studies are expanding at an extremely rapid rate.

New processes, materials, devices, design applications, are emerging every day. Now, there are cloud sites that store portfolios of designs, much like Pandora does for music. All of this is creating an amazing amount of opportunity creating more efficient supply chains, new product types, de-centralized manufacturing schemes, and easier approaches to mass-customization.

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