Industry 4.0 and digitalization are on the rise. Technology is moving into our shop floors. LCD touch screens are gradually replacing physical boards and post-its. However, we must recognize that the vast majority of our workshops, however complex, are planned or scheduled in Excel, right? The promise of scheduling algorithms Scheduling solutions have existed for … Read more
Decades of Lean and continuous improvement initiatives have profoundly changed the way many companies operate. We have gone from a traditional organization — with a hierarchical structure of leaders who make decisions and implementers who obey — to a network of men and women who each use their knowledge to improve performance every day. At the … Read more
Hm, seeing the visual illustrating this post I had some objections: is it really reasonable to represent the measures of a supply chain in the 21st century as following a normal law? No, certainly not – the measures do not follow the normal law, while we live more than ever in a new (ab)normality. However, … Read more
Orchestrating the launch of new products is one of the processes you need to define when designing your Demand Driven model. It uses special techniques for several reasons: Since this is a new product, you have no historical demand The uncertainty on the demand profile is greater than for a mature product There can be … Read more
Flow Profiles vs Inventory Buffer Profiles For DDMRP inventory management, buffer profiles are defined. A buffer profile groups together articles with similar characteristics – replenishment times, demand variability, supply variability. This will allow to assign identical buffer sizing rules to all these articles (red, yellow, green zones, detection of demand spikes, etc.). When it comes to building a … Read more
Music, Rhythm, and Material Flow If you are a musician, or just a music lover, you probably have the rhythm in your skin! From classical to pop, rock, electro, or the “flow” of a rapper, music is a flow, isn’t it? The common point in most of these forms of music – at least Western … Read more
Every time I visit a factory, I ask myself the following questions: Do we see the flows? Does material visibly flow? What are the process steps that set the tempo? Do we see this tempo? Are we early or late? How do we see it? What should be manufactured after the current batch? What are … Read more
Agility is in the genes of SMEs Small and medium-sized enterprises, or SMEs, are an essential component of the industrial and commercial dynamism of the global economy. The first characteristic of successful SMEs is agility: they rely on tight teams, interactions between industrial, technical, and commercial functions are permanent, and the silos are less compartmentalized than in many … Read more
The promise of Vendor Managed Inventory, or VMI, is great: by sharing information and responsibility, VMI seeks to establish a mutually beneficial relationship where both sides are able to more smoothly and accurately control the flow of materials in a supply chain. The reality is often more complicated. But first, a little history. In the … Read more
The global health crisis has shone a spotlight on pharmaceutical and medical device supply chains—and highlighted their fragility. Yet long before the pandemic, the pharmaceutical industry was suffering severe shortages, even though drug stock-outs can be life-threatening for patients. One may wonder about the dynamics that have led over the years to this situation: the … Read more
In 2004, a TV station owner in France created controversy by cynically claiming that he was selling his advertisers “available brain time” from his viewers. More than fifteen years later, the available brain time that most of us possess has shrunk considerably, as we are constantly bombarded by a flow of information, along with explicit … Read more
