Safety Stock for Raw Materials – A View from the Trenches and Importance of Community Intelligence
A common question is how to best manage safety stock for critical raw materials that are critical to the production of the exit product...
Optimization and Central Planning: Compass or Advanced Navigation
Two ongoing questions are: (1) when an organization migrates from an Excel-based central/supply/master plan is it best to go to a rule-based method or an optimization-based method and (2) is optimization a compass that identifies true north or is it an advanced navigation system. This blog outlines my view and alternative views on each question.
“Optimized” Inventory Forecasting a Co-Product of Optimized Central Planning
In a recent blog on Inventory Forecasting the core challenges and business importance of estimating inventory are outlined. A projected inventory position across time (plan) is a natural co-product of most central or master planning models that match assets with the demand to create a projected supply line linked to demand.
Coronavirus: A Substantial Supply Chain Interruption – The Importance of Digital Supply Chain
The tragic outbreak of the Coronavirus has again demonstrated the need for ever vigilant health care services and fast response. It has demonstrated that supply chain interruptions from a manufacturing excursion to a port strike to an infectious disease outbreak require two actions from any firm: preparation and response.
Data Science | Analytics Basics: The Difference Between Quantitative and Qualitative Data
In this blog, you will learn some basic guidelines to determine if the data is quantitative or qualitative with a focus on...
Shutdown Days & Demand Patterns
Shutdown days are either planned well in advance or inadvertent and unwelcome manufacturing excursion- this is a factory issue, not a demand issue. The answer is simple...
Lots of Zeroes? Basic Guidelines to Managing Intermittent Demand – Part 2
In Part 1 of this blog, we closed with the following question: “OK, intermittent demand creates a challenge, but I still need a demand estimate, what do I do!” Below we will provide an answer, but with a different orientation that begins with the question: “what is the purpose of the demand estimate?”
RCCP versus MPS –historic terms and a path to inadequate organizational performance
Where did the terms RCCP and MPS come from? Reading the recent blog “RCCP versus MPS – Can They Be Connected?” it struck me whether this question represents the current best in class or do they represent old terms as well as an old way of thinking that should not be the end goal of an organization any more when it comes to supply chain planning.
IOT and Digital Enterprise Move Over – the next wave: Community Intelligence
Community Intelligence synchronizes the use of technologies in a manner that is focused on closing gaps in critical decision-making processes in the ongoing journey of more intelligent supply chains to improve organizational performance.
Probabilistic Forecasting and Confidence Intervals
Historically, most of the key planning and computational activities (models, time series, machine learning, and other analytics) that support extended supply chain management (SCM) are “deterministic models”.