ERP systems are not renowned for their simplicity. With the overwhelming ERP system complexity, there is a lot of technical data and parameters to maintain. Planners are often lost or dependent on data maintained by other remote teams. They have no way of ensuring that the system’s recommendations are correct. Usually, they end up calculating … Read more
For you, it’s clear: it’s time to overhaul your supply chain practices—teams are under stress, performance is unsatisfactory, we’re not agile enough, and our systems are outdated. The need for supply chain transformation has never been more evident. Yes, it’s clear to you, but how do you convince the executive committee, and obtain the budgets … Read more
At our June 2024 user conference Luca Cicchiello, Corporate VP of Supply Chain at Hutchinson, a global company with sales of over €4.5 billion, testified: “In our company, we’ve known for fifteen years how we should operate our supply chain: an end-to-end pull flow anticipated and configured by an S&OP process – but we were … Read more
A supply chain, industrial operations or distribution operations, is above all a flow. We start with raw materials, and a few steps later we have a finished product that meets a market need. That “a few steps later” is sometimes an understatement. I remember a crisis cell when I worked in electronics, because we were … Read more
I recently attended a Supply Chain conference, where it became clear that we, industry professionals, have been terrible predators – criminals. Over the past 4 decades, we have relocated production to distant countries, skillfully built up long and complex supply chains, and multiplied transport volumes and the associated carbon emissions. Forbes recently published an article … Read more
For your production orders or supplier orders, having promised dates in the past means you know how to travel time: “We’ll receive this last week” – remember the De Lorean? Do you have to constantly replan production steps to ensure your production orders are correctly aligned? Let’s take an example: you have a task list … Read more
It’s no secret that AI is all vogue. When you’re in the supply chain software solutions business, if you don’t have AI, you’re a has-been. Don’t worry, we’ve started to infuse a little AI to good effect in Intuiflow… However, it’s hard for industry players to see where AI is relevant. Have you seen any … Read more
Service rate – on time in full – is THE most important performance measure for a supply chain – it measures our ability to deliver on time. OK, but what does “deliver on time” mean? Does this mean: -Deliver on the date requested by the customer? -Deliver within a predefined timeframe? -Deliver on the date … Read more
Warning 1: this article is not (too) much about artificial intelligence, and not at all about generative artificial intelligence, or LLM. If you’re a fan of shiny stuff that contributes to depleting the planet’s resources by wasting as much energy as possible, you’d better move on! Warning 2: if you think that supply chain management … Read more
An airplane is complex. There are tens of thousands of parts in the bill of materials for an airliner. To supply these parts, there’s a whole network of tier 1 suppliers, tier 2 suppliers, and n suppliers. The supplier base is made up of large multinationals, as well as a network of SMEs and mid-sized companies with very specific skills – it’s a … Read more
Factories prioritize value creation – the flow analysis from a factory determines the company’s ability to respond to its markets. When you visit a factory, beyond the state-of-the-art machines, the impressive technologies, and the exemplary 5S (or not), try to understand how these flows are connected to the needs of the company and its customers. A visit is quick – … Read more
A company seeks to satisfy the demand of its market – and therefore to ensure the availability of the goods and services it provides. A company faces capacity constraints – machines, people, skills, materials. To remain sustainable, a company must generate profitability – i.e. cash flow in excess of expenditure. Balancing availability, capacity, and profitability is therefore at the heart of day-to-day operations, and this balance must be assured for the future. All in … Read more
