We were recently approached to tender by a company looking for a forecasting and procurement solution. The tender included all the buzzwords of the moment: AI, big data, and a system that could process millions of planning actions per day (sic). When we talk to this company to understand their context, we quickly realize that … Read more
Since the introduction of computer-based material planning solutions, planners and supplier chain managers have been scratching their heads trying to determine how to properly size inventory buffers and safety stock settings. Try a Google search today reveals a multitude of different theories and formulas on how this can be done. Yet, planners today are still … Read more
When the world becomes more complex, a little nuance doesn’t hurt… A binary approach doesn’t usually solve problems. This adage also applies to the planning of our supply chains. Our management systems, by definition, are binary – running on computers more at ease with zeros and ones, true/false, than with progressive, nuanced gradation. The material … Read more
The fact is, we have, and will continue to have, more and more destabilizing events for our supply chains.Your company may have a supply chain that was conceived in a different context to that of today. In the heyday of globalization, sourcing components from the other side of the world was the norm, and the … Read more
It took Brexit, the end of international law, a pandemic, a few near-global wars, and other vicissitudes for the Supply Chain planet to finally (almost) begin to free itself from the dictate: “Make accurate forecasts and you’ll ensure your company’s success by having the right product at the right time in the right place”. The … Read more
When you mention a Kanban board to the younger generation, they immediately think of a visualization board for to-do / in-progress / completed tasks – and the Agile project management method. Just do a web search, and that’s what you’ll find… For veterans like me, a Kanban loop is a replenishment management method – when … Read more
Particularly in the supply chain, good performance is above all the result of good processes, followed by committed teams… To establish these processes and define a supply chain improvement path, you need a compass. In my professional experience, I have been successively responsible for the supply chain of several companies. From the very first weeks … Read more
Production planning means striking a balance between shop floor efficiency and the agility required to meet customer needs. Planners and schedulers are torn between the injunctions of customers, production, and finance – reducing lead times, serving new urgent orders, resources optimization, limiting the time spent on changeovers, stabilizing the schedule, not being under constant stress … Read more
Global companies often have “gas plant” supply chains. For all sorts of reasons – historical, internal politics, IT, etc. – everything seems to have been done to make things more complex. Organizations are fragmented. Of course, if you’re a global corporation, you need to structure teams into manageable entities, so it’s necessary to articulate business … Read more
I think supply chain managers see themselves as pragmatic, concrete people. Confronted with the reality of customers to deliver to, production resources to manage as best they can, and supplier relations to nurture, they should have both feet on the ground and some common sense. There’s really no room for magic in this field, is … Read more
In one of my first professional experiences, at the end of the 80s, I was in charge of the methods team at an industrial site. Our team included specialists in time studies, who had applied MTM (Methods Time Measurement) methods to best evaluate routings. In particular, these routings were used to define productivity targets. We … Read more
Our companies operate according to plans. We draw up forecasts, draw up budgets, formalize a production program, and allocate our resources to execute this plan. MRP2 logic is firmly rooted in this principle: business plan, S&OP, master production schedule, capacity and bottleneck network, everything follows and cascades in a hierarchical and deterministic manner, with plans … Read more
