Tag: supplychain

supplychain is the tag associated with every aspect of Supply Chain Management, Planning, Technology, Logistics, Procurement, and more.

Peeling Back The Orange Juice Supply Chain!

The Journey of One Banana! A Supply Chain in Motion! (Infographic)

Orange juice is the most popular fruit juice in the world, and one of the most popular of all drinks globally.  Depending on the country you live in you may consume on average several gallons of Orange juice annually.

When you go into a grocery store or supermarket you are likely to see a large pile of oranges.  And when you walk down the aisle to where the juices are you will see a large variety of brands and types of juice … with lots of pulp, some pulp, no pulp, low acid, with calcium and vitamin D, and on and on.

While Oranges and juice are common and usually easily found it is still curious as to what the Supply Chain is.  What exactly is the Orange juice Supply Chain and how does it work?

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Struggling with Process Ownership? Is it a Failure to Communicate?

Never Automate a Bad Process!

Does your business struggle with process ownership? Are your process improvements not “sticking”? The failure of an organization to have in place well-functioning process owners is a common occurrence these days.

The root causes (if anyone cares to do a full postmortem) are numerous. We’ve heard it all before; “the organizational structure won’t allow for it”, “incentives are misaligned”, “leaders don’t understand what it takes to be a process owner” etc. I’m sure we can all relate to some or all of these statements.

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Seasoned Leadership in Action™ – An Interview with Derek Panchyshyn!

Derek Panchyshyn
Derek Panchyshyn

At Supply Chain Game Changer we believe in sharing experiences and expertise from people in every industry and from across the globe.  As such we have introduced our “Seasoned Leadership in Action™” Interview series at Supply Chain Game Changer.  This interview is with Derek Panchyshyn.

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Procurement Outsourcing – Keep your Integrity!

Why Get a Product Sourcing Agent?

Like so many professionals Procurement people are very proud.  They are proud of the job that they do and the contributions that they make.  And they are most always proud of their ability to negotiate and get the best deal!

But at some point in their careers, especially in the age of Outsourcing, they are likely to have to deal with potential suppliers who provide Procurement services.  Procurement typically negotiates deals for other functions like I/T, HR, Manufacturing and every other area in the company.

Now they are faced with dealing with companies who basically state that they can do a better job at negotiating and Procurement than they do.

In the face of such a perceived, direct challenge to your abilities how do you and your Procurement team deal with this professionally and with integrity?

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Seasoned Leadership in Action™ – An Interview with Jill Button, CEO of ProcurePro!

What is Virtual Procurement and Why Should You Care?

At Supply Chain Game Changer we believe in sharing experiences and expertise from people in every industry and from across the globe.  As such we have introduced our “Seasoned Leadership in Action” Interview series.  This interview is with Jill Button, President and CEO at ProcurePro.

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Crowdfunding Fulfillment Solutions: Things You Should Know About

7 Ways to Help Raise Capital!

Crowdfunding has given entrepreneurs and inventors greater access to startup capital. You might not be able to get seed money or Series A funding from a venture capital firm for your idea, but backers on Kickstarter or Indiegogo could give you just the leg up that you need.

Crowdfunding marketing is a strategy to raise funds for a project by asking a large number of people to donate money, usually in small amounts to fulfill the financial goals of the project. Crowdfunding, on the other hand, gives you a quick place to showcase and share your pitch with a bigger audience.

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A Case Study in Reverse Logistics Optimization!

Reverse Logistics and the Power of Your 3PL!

The application of advanced forecasting and planning methodologies improve inventory management in a critical, high-volume repair and reverse logistics optimization business, dramatically reducing costs and fulfillment cycles while improving customer satisfaction.

When one of the world’s leading manufacturers of personal computers set new goals for its European operations, ModusLink was there to help.

The OEM turned over management of one of the most critical, high-volume segments of its reverse logistics program—the processor business—saving the manufacturer millions of dollars each year; reducing excess inventory; increasing same-day, on-time ship rates; and improving customer satisfaction.

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What is Virtual Procurement and Why Should You Care?

Outsourcing Sourcing! 5 Lessons from Around the Globe!

Any of this sound familiar?  Then you need Virtual Procurement!

“With recent minimum wage increases, I need to find better ways to control my costs and to stay profitable while still delivering the highest level of service to my customers.”

“We are too small and can’t afford to hire a full-time procurement person. We are busy and just don’t have the time to focus on procurement.”

“We hope for good prices, but we usually just accept what suppliers offer. We are leaving hard earned money on the table.”

“Contracts are stored in someone’s drawer or lost, never to be seen again. Contracts often expire leaving us scrambling.”

“Supplier relationships are too close. They don’t deliver on their promises. Communication is lacking or too casual.”

If any of these statements resonate with you, please keep reading.

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The Omni-channel Approach to Customer Experience!

How to Synchronize Your Supply Chain!
Unchaining Change Leadership

In the last decade, the growing adoption of ecommerce has been swift–and ruthless. Huge retail market players like Best Buy and Toys R’ Us are shutting down huge chunks of their physical locations due to plummeting revenue and poor customer experience.

Not only is this a result of not embracing ecommerce early in its wave, they are also now competing with ecommerce giants like Amazon and Alibaba who sell the same or competing products online.

Traffic drought in physical stores could be attributed to the rising number of purchases made over the internet for certain customer and product segments. For some, the revenue drop is significant. And yet another part of the challenge big box retailers face as publicly traded companies is that they have to answer to their investors–and with ecommerce delivering superior results, the patience afforded to big box retailers is just not as generous.

So, where does the success of ecommerce lie?

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The Supply Chain Control Tower! An Assessment!

The Control Tower – Is Yours Real or Smoke and Mirrors?
Get OUR Ebook EBOOKS HERE

The concept of the “control tower” is increasingly becoming widespread in  Supply Chain Management, and Control Tower technologies are a popular topic right within the supply chain community. Every research firm and vendor has their own definition, but all share the common theme of visibility.

A supply chain control tower system is an attempt to make the outside supply chain environment visible to the enterprise, with “end-to-end” visibility being the Holy Grail.

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Turn your Brick And Mortar Stores into E-Commerce Distribution Hubs!

Brick and Mortar Stores: Stand Up and Unite!

Retailers with Brick and Mortar stores continue to be under tremendous pressure.  Competition is intense in the fast growing Omnichannel E-Commerce world.  Every week there seems to be news about how one Retailer or another is closing more of their stores when they could be using them as Distribution hubs.

And very few Retailers with Brick And Mortar stores have been able to make a profit in E-Commerce.  Competitors who only sell online without physical stores appear to have an advantage with lower overhead costs.

So how can Brick And Mortar Retailers turn their stores into a competitive advantage plus a source of greater profitability?

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Inventory Turnover Breakthrough … Go Back To The Basics!

Do You Want Inventory Turnover Breakthrough? Define and Manage The Levers!
Get Our Inventory ManagementEBOOK HERE

I had accepted a career changing challenge … how to change the company’s Inventory Turnover performance from being perennially worst in the Industry to being one of the best.  And I had to do it all within 1 year!

I had seen many very smart people tackle this problem over the years.  Yet they all seemed to come up short.  Sure they improved some aspect of Inventory levels or turnover but in aggregate these all seemed to amount to incremental, step function changes.  We needed game changing results!  We needed a game changing approach!  And we needed it now!

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The Supply Chain Detective™: The Case of the Unpaid Invoices!

The Supply Chain Detective ™! In Search of Broken Supply Chain Clues!

The CEO called.  “I need you to go down to Mexico right away.  They aren’t paying their invoices and suppliers are stopping shipments.  Our manufacturing lines are going to stop.  I need it fixed right away.  Get those bills paid now.”

What on earth was going on?  Why didn’t the site just pay their bills?  This shouldn’t be a big deal.  And this was their problem, and responsibility, not mine.  But as with any crisis situation it’s all hands on deck to get the problem fixed.

Little did I realize that while on the surface this seemed like a simple problem, and solution (ie. just pay the darn bills), the reality would prove to be much more complicated.  This would be a case for a Supply Chain Detective!

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Cutting out the Middleman: The Growth of Direct to Consumer!

What are the Top 7 Trends in Last Mile Logistics?

As supply chains evolve and grow, products are often passed between dozens of hands at factories, shipping vehicles and pallets, distributor warehouses, retail warehouses, shop floors, and delivery fleets. They often travel thousands of miles to go direct to consumer.

And they go through multiple intermediaries, something which has an impact not only on the profit margins, but also on the brand’s ability to connect and communicate with their customer.

With revenue growth remaining a challenge, almost half (48 per cent) of manufacturers are racing to build Direct to Consumer (DTC) channels, with almost all of them (87 per cent) seeing these channels as relevant to their products and consumers.

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Our 2018 Top 10 List (Part 2)!

As 2018 comes to a close we offer a list of the Top 10 most viewed articles that we have published over the last half of the year.

When you look at this list you will see that there is a common theme amongst most of the articles.  That theme is one of “Definitions”.

Based upon tremendous viewer interest this year we began our “What Exactly Is … ” article series to describe definitions and commentary on terms which we often see and hear but don’t always truly understand.

For instance, the term “Supply Chain Management” itself has innumerable definitions and our article What Exactly Is Supply Chain Management? 10 Different Definitions! proved to be one of our most popular articles ever.

So here it is, our Top 10 list for the second half of 2018!

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