supplychain Archives - Supply Chain Game Changer™

Disaster Strikes!!! Is Your Supply Chain Ready To Recover?

Part Shortages? What is your Supply Line Strategy?

Hurricanes! Earthquakes! Terrorist Attacks! Train Derailments! War! Fire! Cyber Attacks! Every one is a disaster.

You see it in the news every minute of every hour of every day. Either some natural disaster or some man made despicable act has occurred somewhere on the planet. The result is death, destruction and disruption.

Everyone is trying to pick up the pieces. They are trying to figure out what has happened, how to come to grips with the catastrophic results, and how to get things going again.

Depending on what the disaster is people can be struggling to know where they can get the basics such as food, water and shelter.

This is where the Supply Chain must kick in to gear: business continuity and disaster recovery.

What are the Supply Chain Impacts of Amazon’s Whole Foods Acquisition?

Amazon and Uber Impact on Logistics!

Big news out of the grocery retail world as Amazon has announced its acquisition of major organic foods retailer Whole Foods Market – for an eye-popping $13.7 billion sale price that doesn’t look so massive given Amazon’s $136 billion sales volume in 2016.

Analysts across the retail industry are talking about the huge implications of this sale for a retail industry that many say is in the middle of a major meltdown, in part owing to Amazon’s massive growth in the eCommerce space. This foray into the grocery business is a big challenge to companies like Target, Wal-Mart, and others, and also a sign that reports of brick and mortar retail’s demise might be greatly exaggerated.

Artificial Intelligence in E-Commerce! (Infographic)

What is Big Data?

The convergence of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in E-Commerce is underway. Further it has the potential for exponential dissemination across the Retail landscape in the future along with expansion of it’s applications and capabilities.

From playing a role in managing the Customer Experience to providing Buying, Replenishment and Fulfillment capabilities to analyzing the ever growing expanse of Big Data, Artificial Intelligence (AI) is here to stay in Retail.

Social Media Tips for Supply Chain Leaders!

For busy executives, being active on social media and leveraging social media tips is kind of like networking. It’s one of those things that everyone says you absolutely have to do to benefit your career, but it’s hard to make it part of your daily routine.

Let’s be honest: it’s even harder for those who came of age before social media became ubiquitous. It can be tough to pin down what channels you should be on, what you should be posting, and the specific ways that a strong social media presence will bolster your career.

Supply Chain Collaboration – The New Way to Drive Value!

Create Collaborative Innovation with Suppliers!

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EBOOKS HERE

Supply chain collaboration is a hot topic today and no wonder: companies that collaborate effectively across the supply chain have enjoyed dramatic reductions in inventories and costs, together with improvements in speed, service levels, and customer satisfaction.

Supplier chain collaboration itself isn’t new. What’s new is that it’s taken on a much greater urgency and importance.

To Infinity and Beyond! Ultimate Principles for Creating a World Class Team!

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The Supply Chain team was generally viewed as lacking in skill and capability by those outside the organization. Customers and other internal functions viewed Supply Chain as a dysfunctional organization as evidenced by the poor Supply Chain performance metrics. And external benchmarking placed our Supply Chain last amongst our competitors. Going to infinity and beyond was a tall task to say the least.

Inside the Supply Chain organization there were a lot of very smart people. But there was no trust, teamwork or synergy. The culture was one more of complacency than of trend setting. And there was a lack of inspired leadership.

Something had to change!

Gartner Top 25 Supply Chain List! Is it Relevant?

5 Trends in the Gartner Hype Cycle for Emerging Technologies

Gartner recently announced their Top 25 Supply Chains List. I always find it interesting to see the list, to see who came out on top, and to hear what their views are on prevailing trends.

But as I review the list, compare it to prior years, and consider the scoring methodology I do wonder whether the list in its current form continues to be relevant for identifying the best of the Supply Chain.

Design in Quality First!

A Tale of Two Companies: Different Quality Management Beliefs!

The Division I had just joined was enjoying great success in Sales and Development. They had created a modular building block design for their products. Simply there were over two dozen different building block designs which could be configured in innumerable combinations to create the end product.

Each building block was designed to be a low-cost item. Based on the customer requirements and specifications the building blocks could be combined in varying quantities. Then a custom outer case, with the appropriate inputs and outputs, would be created to house all of the building blocks, interconnected on a master mother board.

It sounded great on paper and on Powerpoint slides. But what came next was an absolute nightmare.

Procurement Don’t go to the Dark Side!

Procurement Outsourcing – Keep your Integrity!

Early in my career I worked in a department that was responsible for the design,testing, sourcing and procurement of packaging materials. It was a great experience and introduction to so many aspects of the Supply Chain.

But one day one of my peers was fired. He was responsible for negotiating with the packaging suppliers. As it turns out he was taking kickbacks. When that was discovered and verified he was summarily dismissed. He went over to the dark side.

I never got the precise details but I don’t believe he could have got more than a few thousand dollars for his illicit efforts. More importantly he got a black mark on his resume, and in his life, that he could never erase.

That was my first lesson on the do’s and don’t of Supplier Relationships.

Fake News or Supply Chain Fallacies?

The 5 Levels of Supply Chain Transparency!

Lots of things are happening in Supply Chain Management! Is Supply Chain immune from fake news?

The field is becoming more digital, with end-to-end planning and blockchain technologies transforming the way products are coming to market. It’s becoming more strategic, as companies integrate their Supply Chains and use them as a source of competitive advantage – instead of just a back-office function.

Larger societal changes are affecting the way companies are planning their Supply Chains of the future – everything from the looming arrival of driverless cars, to consumers’ demands that companies be more socially responsible. And the prevailing use of the term “Fake News“.

Attracting Millennials Gets Your Digital Supply Chain in Order!

6 Reasons Supply Chain Employees Look For New Jobs!

As explained by Brian Barry of Multichannel Merchant, millennials make a growing cross-section of the American labor force. Ignoring this generation is impossible and attracting millennials in the supply chain is an even bigger hurdle.

Since e-commerce has flooded the industry with more orders and stringent delivery expectations, supply chain leaders must think outside the box to attract and retain the next generation.

In fact, millennials will make up more than 75 percent of the workforce by 2025, so it is time for supply chain executives and leaders to enact the changes necessary to guarantee success in both the current and future supply chain.

Seasoned Leadership in Action™! An Interview with Skip Boothby!

What is Supply Chain Management (SCM)? (Video)

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. The first in our Interview series is with Skip Boothby, a colleague and good friend for many years.

Skip Boothby is a tremendous Leader and Executive with phenomenal experience in running businesses and operations through every stage of their evolution. Skip’s background and insights are valuable for all of us to learn from and share.

Same Day vs Next Day Delivery … What’s the Difference? (Infographic)

Last Mile Delivery! What is your Strategy?

E-commerce has changed the game of how parcels are transported and delivered to customers with the expectations of same day vs next day delivery.

With the help of advanced technology, the days have become shorter. We no longer have to wait for the sun to rise and set a few times before we receive that box of meat pie that’s probably not safe to eat anymore.

What once felt as if a pack mule was used to deliver a package, now seems like a teleportation device is involved in the delivery.

World Class E-Commerce Fulfillment Principles! (Infographic)

Keys to Success in Warehouse Management/Order Fulfillment! (Video)

E-Commerce is the fastest growing avenue for doing business anywhere. It has been for many years and it will be for many years to come. In support of this your operations need to be World Class.

It is certainly a challenge to establish the sales, marketing, merchandising and transactional infrastructure to offer an efficient and effective E-Commerce solution to your customers.

At the core of the Supply Chain an enormous challenge is to have a highly competitive and compelling E-Commerce Fulfillment solution. So what are the key principles that you must have in place to design, construct and deliver a leading E-Commerce Fulfillment solution?

Report Card: Most Executives Think Procurement Isn’t Strategic Enough!

Could the CPO Be Replaced by the Chief Value Officer?

As we’ve chronicled on the Argentus Blog, it’s no secret that the world of Procurement is changing and fast. With automation, big data and burgeoning AI systems removing more and more of the profession’s “tactical” or “clerical” tasks, the Procurement report card is that companies are calling on their Procurement teams to be more strategic, more nimble, and more innovative.

They’re expecting their Procurement functions to deliver not just bottom-line cost-savings, but other sorts of value, adding to organizations’ overall competitiveness.

Procurement, you’ve come a long way, baby!

But a new survey of 200 C-Suite executives from a variety of industries and functions presents a rather dispiriting picture of the Procurement function today – or at least how it’s perceived.