Bernard Milian

Bernard Milian has more than 35 years of experience in developing agility within industrial and distribution supply chains. He has more than 25 years of experience in Supply Chain Management and Continuous Improvement / Lean 6 Sigma transformation. He has served as a Supply Chain Director within French subsidiaries of world class corporations, in the automotive, electronics, medical devices, furniture and metallurgy industries, B2B, B2C, manufacturing and distribution environments.

Product Proliferation in the Food and Beverage Industry and its Impact on Supply Chain Planning

June 29, 2021June 9, 2020 by Bernard Milian

Niche providers are having a significantly greater impact on the Food and Beverage industry than they were just ten years ago. Providers of craft beers and craft soft drinks have experienced substantial growth of market share in their respective segments by providing unique flavors and greater variety to the market. For example, craft beers now … Read more

Religious Wars and Rearguard Fights, How About Peace?

June 29, 2021June 2, 2020 by Bernard Milian

In recent weeks we have seen in France two rather virulent online publications against DDMRP, one stating that “DDMRP is egocentric and short-sighted”, and the other giving a “numerical point of view” on DDMRP, to conclude in short that the methodology was too simplistic.

S&OP, Stop Looking For a Consensus on the Set of Numbers!

June 29, 2021May 26, 2020 by Bernard Milian

Sales & Operations Planning is an important process in most companies. Yet, with the increased volatility in supply and demand, it’s easy to wonder, “What’s the point?”

Remote Demand Driven Implementation

June 29, 2021May 19, 2020 by Bernard Milian

This period of health crisis has paradoxical effects on the progress of DDMRP implementation projects. Some corporations are putting all improvement / transformation projects on hold: expenses must be cut.

How to Manage a Demand Driven Recovery From This Crisis

October 17, 2022May 12, 2020 by Bernard Milian

You have implemented all or part of the Demand Driven operating model to drive your operations, so you should be prepared to deal with situations of uncertainty.

However, the current period presents an unprecedented level of disruption.

What Supply Chain Leaders Must Learn from the Latest Pandemic

June 29, 2021April 23, 2020 by Bernard Milian

In recent weeks, the news media has been flooded with reports on the growing spread of the novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) across the globe. This highly contagious disease has shut down travel to and from China and several other regions of the world as governments implement aggressive measures to control the spread of the virus. At the time of this writing, there are nearly 130,000 documented cases of COVID-19 infection, and over 5000 people have died.

Using Lead Time To Be More Agile in VUCA Conditions

June 29, 2021April 23, 2020 by Bernard Milian

In my previous blog, I described how the outbreak of the Coronavirus was an illustration of the Volatile, Unpredictable, Complex and Ambiguous (VUCA) conditions supply chains are encountering. Given that VUCA conditions are unpredictable, it’s imperative that supply chain leaders evaluate the actions they can take to improve the overall agility of their operations. The more agile your supply chain operations, the more adept you’ll be in dealing with unpredictable conditions.

Why Improvements in the Manufacturing Sector May Be Unsustainable

June 29, 2021February 20, 2020 by Bernard Milian

Ken Titmuss has helped more than 200 companies with all aspects of their manufacturing planning and control systems and provided their employees with courses to raise their level of understanding of Operations Management and Supply Chain Management. Most of Ken’s work has been in Southern Africa, but more recently, he has run programs in Namibia, Botswana, Kenya, Zimbabwe, Nigeria, USA, UK, Ireland, France, India, Australia, Dubai, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Mauritius, Singapore, and Lebanon.

Dramatic Results Optimizing Supply Chain with Replenishment+

February 3, 2022January 28, 2020 by Bernard Milian

A Customer Success Story: Haceb, a leading Colombian producer of kitchen appliances, experienced significant impact on cash flow and improved visibility across its supply chain after implementing Replenishment+®. Overall, Haceb experienced bigger sales, better service levels, less inventory and lower expenses.

Insights From The Gartner Supply Chain Summit

June 29, 2021December 6, 2019 by Bernard Milian

I had the privilege of attending the Gartner Supply Chain Summit in Denver, Colorado, last month. Gartner put on a great conference with very informative presentations in both the plenary and breakout sessions. The food was excellent, and a wide range of technology companies were represented in the exhibition hall.

Don’t Trust Your MRP Supply Chain Systems?

December 2, 2022November 20, 2019 by Bernard Milian

What’s the greatest manufacturing innovation in history? I’ll bet a lot of you immediately thought, “the assembly line.” Introduced by Henry Ford in 1913, the assembly line revolutionized manufacturing, reducing the time it took to build a car from half a day to just over two hours.

Materials Planning

Sales & Operations Planning

Scheduling & Execution Planning

Demand Planning

Auto Pilot