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.
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What Supply Chain Leaders Must Learn from the Latest Pandemic
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.
Is DDMRP Really a New Idea?
Demand Driven Material Requirements Planning (DDMRP) is compatible with, and even supportive of, many other manufacturing philosophies: Lean, TOC, Flow, Pull, etc. However, since some of these ideas have been around for decades, most notably Lean Manufacturing, it can seem like DDMRP is an old idea given new life under a different name.
The Bottom Line Benefits of DDMRP
In my last post, I talked briefly about the benefits of being demand driven using Demand Driven Material Requirements Planning (DDMRP): lower inventory levels and increased service levels.
You may be thinking, “Yeah, Ivan, that all sounds good, but isn’t that what other methodologies like Lean Manufacturing were supposed to do? What’s the difference here?”
If so, you’d be right. DDMRP exploits some of the principles found in other methodologies, but it also modifies them and arranges them into a consistent, organized, and easily executable process. The first key principle, and the one that separates DDMRP from many other approaches, is that of decoupling stock buffers.
Why Improvements in the Manufacturing Sector May Be Unsustainable
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.
How DDMRP Can Help You Improve Operations in 2020
As the DDMRP practice leader for PwC, I’ve had to do my fair share of explaining demand-driven concepts both internally and to customers. I want to thank Demand-Driven Technologies for giving me the opportunity to share my thoughts on their blog.
In this first post, I want to speak to the business leaders in the company about why they should be exploring the benefits of DDMRP. In a follow-up post, I’ll dig more into some key DDMRP concepts for the practitioners in the audience who are well-versed in traditional material requirements and supply chain planning.
Dramatic Results Optimizing Supply Chain with Replenishment+
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.
A Paradigm Shift in Supply Chain Thinking
A DDMRP Practitioner Talks About the Evolution of PwC’s Global Operations Practice
Ivan Lavatelli is the operations leader for PwC Italy and the global lead for PwC’s DDMRP practice. He’s also been a driving force behind Demand Driven Technologies’ presence in the European market. We sat down to chat with Ivan about his experience evolving PwC’s operations focus from traditional APICS thinking about supply chain management to demand-driven MRP.
Insights From The Gartner Supply Chain Summit
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?
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.
Tech Talk with Erik Bush, CEO
TECH TALK podcast host Joey Kline on Atlanta Business Radio X interviews Erik Bush, CEO of Demand Driven Technologies to see how DDMRP software is improving customer outcomes.
Aligning Inventory with Actual Consumption by using Replenishment+
Q&A with Brad Mitchler, VP of Channels and Product Management It is one thing to read about the benefits that Replenishment+® NetSuite (NS) brings to your supply chain management operation, but it is an entirely other thing to hear it from an expert in the field. Here we interview Brad Mitchler, VP of Channels and … Read more
