Since the 1990s, the Western automotive industry has widely adopted the practices derived from the Toyota production system. 5S, continuous improvement is the daily life of automotive suppliers.Pull flow – formerly known as Just in Time – is at the heart of these practices. It is facilitated by the fact that the automotive upstream supply … Read more
“I understand that we should replenish our points of sale with DDMRP for permanent products, but can you also do it for promotional products?” Our client asked us.
A year later, after multiple simulations based on sales history, and the implementation of a dozen promotional campaigns, the demonstration is there: it works very well, but the model needs to be adapted.
Over the decades we have developed more and more technology for our supply chains, invented sophisticated algorithms, interconnected remote sites around the world, traced in real time the slightest event. This debauchery of means, computing power, software and complicated acronyms would tend to make us think that it’s all scientific, mathematical, electronic and fantastic!
In supply chain management, we’re often asked to make quick, buffer-related decisions with the best information available. We do this in the real world, too.
If you flip a coin, you have a 50/50 chance of winning. As long as the coin is evenly weighted and the coin flipper isn’t playing a trick on you, it’s going to come up heads or tails a roughly even number of times. There may be situations where it comes up one or the other more frequently, but those are outliers that even out the more times you flip the coin.
“Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication” Leonardo da Vinci
Over the last few decades, manufacturers and distributors have made huge technological investments in their supply chains. At the same time, we’ve invested heavily in developing sophisticated supply chain management processes. Too often, however, any similarity between our technologies (ERP, DRP, APS, etc.) and our processes is a matter of luck more than design.
Theory of constraints sometimes uses terminology that discourages us from taking the right perspective. If, like me, you have a somewhat rebellious mindset, controlling constraints isn’t very inspiring.
The bullwhip effect: Supply Chain Practitioners know this phenomenon quite well – a slight change in demand downstream may create big swings upstream, and reversely small delays upstream may create a catastrophe to downstream supply chain partners.
There is often a misunderstanding. How, by implementing software, can we reduce lead times?
The answer is, we can’t… Reducing lead times does not come from magical software.
As supply chain professionals, we’re trained to anticipate our company’s needs. That’s a good thing. Unfortunately, our training can also lead to some unfortunate habits.
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
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.
