Can You Make the Case For Supply Chain Technology Investment?
The right technology can provide a solution to maintaining optimal supply chain planning, but how can you justify the investment?
Relationship Between MAD and Standard Deviation for a Normally Distributed Random Variable
A colleague and I were talking recently, and the conversation turned to what is the relationship between Mean Absolute Deviation (MAD) and the Standard Deviation (STDEV). In this post, I will explain to you the math behind that approximation, which by the way, only applies to normal distributions.
Supply Chain Management – Autonomous is Far Away and Resiliency is Needed Now
Over the past few years, the chatter about the role of AI to “optimize” supply chain has been almost endless. Some of the material is great, other is hype, some conjecture, and in most cases, we will not know the impact...
Optimization and Effective Use of Space – COVID-19 Challenges
For most involved in Supply Chain Management, optimization is viewed as one of the three primary methods to create a supply or central plan that matches or balances assets with demand. Historically effective use of space involved minimizing unused space or maximizing revenue from a fixed amount of space. COVID-19 has upset the social order.
Avoiding Data Driven Disasters – Operations Management (OM) To The Rescue
If you are thinking “machine learning and AI” will save you from data disasters – think again as the pandemic behavior is playing havoc with machine learning models.
COVID-19 & SCM – Importance of Operations Management to Overcome the Limitations of Data-Driven
An often-heard theme in supply chain management (SCM) and COVID-19 is “data-driven” – being data-driven is the path to success. For COVID-19 “science-driven” is often said in the same sentence. For SCM demand or customer-driven replaces “science”. This blog will point out a few examples in the COVID-19 challenge demonstrating COVID-19 is an OM challenge.
Demand Management’s Partner in Crime – Central Planning
Arguably the two most important core components of managing the supply chain or demand-supply network are demand management (DM) and Central Planning (CP). CP is sometimes referred to as master planning or supply planning.
Supply Chain Challenges in Turbulent Times – The Importance of Preparedness and Responsiveness
The current COVID-19 situation highlights the supply chain management challenges in any turbulent time. In this blog we identify five key points: preparedness, larger good, anticipate, and not react to events, responsiveness, and an intelligent stochastic estimate of demand.
Lessons for COVID-19 and Supply Chain Management Models
For those that work regularly in the supply chain or managing the demand-supply network (DSN) models are commonplace to help with similar questions. This blog will provide some basics about models that all will find helpful...
“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.