In preparation for the Supply Chain Insights Global Summit, Lora Cecere spoke with Bram Desmet, Managing Director of Arkieva’s Channel Partner Solventure, in an episode of Straight Talk with Supply Chain Insights
The Straight Talk podcasts are designed to benefit the supply chain leader that is on the go and wants to be in the know. During this podcast, Bram and Lora discuss the future of supply chains and integration. Below you will find a brief excerpt of their discussion.
Lora Cecere: What do you think supply chain 2020 or 2025 looks like and how do people prepare?
Bram Desmet: Well, if I need to start something or somewhere what strikes me the most, is that when I see companies and when I train executives, is the lack of integration in today’s supply chain. For instance, I do quite some training for a major retailer in Europe and it strikes me that I see that private label suppliers are stuffed with inventory. The Central DC is stuffed with inventory. Shops are stuffed with inventory. We all demand high service levels from one step to the next and for me a basic issue is that there seems to be a lack of trust. There is a lack of trust. There is a lack of transparency and there is a lack of integration. If I see that my supply chain heart is really bleeding. I expect that with increasing pressure on the cost and cash-to-service a lot of companies will have to move to better integration. It is like connecting the dots and making sure the supply chain becomes more market driven. Picking up demand signals and really translating upstream to the supplier. Also picking up supply signals/supply markers and translating back to demand shaping actions down in the market. I think it is very visible if you visit the region organization but I think the same holds true for production companies. Where my background is in inventory so I might have an inventory view. It seems to me that supply chains are congested with inventories. If we get inventories flowing, I am sure it will positively affect the cost, the cash consumed and the service in the supply chain. So better integrating those supply chains and coming to end-to-end optimization is a key challenge. I really expect supply chains will have to evolve and to significantly improve in that aspect.
To listen to the full podcast please click here. Bram Desmet will also be joining the Global Summit as a blogger. Be sure to be on the lookout for his post during the conference on September 9th – 10th, 2015.
