In mathematics, the law of large numbers is a fundamental principle of probability theory, which states that when a random experiment is repeated many times, the average of the results obtained converges toward the theoretical mean value (the mathematical expectation) of this experiment. Let’s keep it simple. If you roll a die once, you’ll get … Read more
During the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, all kinds of predictions were made about the medal chances of different countries. Some have even developed algorithms, predictive models and business planning tools, which of course have been wildly wrong. Numerous sporting competitions are scrutinized by bookmakers and are the subject of bets. Every major election is the … Read more
Even if they don’t know it, the notion of a decoupling point is very familiar to your favorite pizza chef. Last week I made a call to the excellent pizzeria near my house to order two pizzas. But wait a minute. There’s a menu of 25 different pizzas, that’s a lot of different ingredients, and … Read more
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chain practices—teams are under stress, performance is unsatisfactory, we’re not agile enough, and our systems are outdated.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
