Category: Supply Chain

With the advent of Bitcoin in 2009, cryptocurrency has taken the world by storm. The use of digital assets as an alternative to conventional currencies has garnered praise and recognition for its secure and speedy protocols. While the infrastructural flexibility of crypto currencies is yet to stand the test of time, block chains, the underlying technology for crypto currencies is truly a revolutionary step in the field of technology. Companies such as the Swiss Stock Exchange, IBM and Deloitte have already begun implementing block chains into their technology to define transactions and improve security and transparency.

Supply chain transparency and visibility are one of the topmost concerns for most manufacturing business leaders. Without the proper collaboration between the different players within the supply chain, it becomes difficult to create an S&OP that promote productivity, reduce costs, and improve service levels. In this week’s ‘Supply Chain Talk,’ Arkieva CEO Harpal Singh discusses the top 10 rules for creating a collaborative planning process.

A little over a year ago, I ventured into the unchartered territory of supply chain planning. It was an exciting challenge. I had experience as a marketer in the Business Intelligence (BI) and Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) space. And because ERP solutions often have some supply chain planning functionalities, I thought I could easily apply my knowledge from the ERP space to supply chain planning.

While reading a wonderful article titled “Linear Thinking in a Non-Linear World – the obvious choice is often wrong” in the May-June 2017 issue of Harvard Business Review, I was immediately transferred back to the early 1980’s and theme of the IBM Advanced Industrial Engineering department – “only the model knows.”

What does the Amazon-Whole Foods Merger mean for the Supply Chain world? Amazon, in a revolutionary move, has acquired Whole Foods Market and its 436 stores nationwide for a cool $13.7 billion. The news has rocked the world of retail with several competitors such as Walmart, Target, and Costco losing shares by 4% - 9% in the aftermath

While major supply chain consequences aren’t usually life threatening, you can bet they have a huge impact on you, your organization, and your customers. Your goal is to prevent problems early but it doesn’t always happen.

For most businesses that rely on demand forecasts for supply and capacity planning, improving demand forecast accuracy is critical. There are many methods to measure forecast bias and the accuracy of supply chain forecasts including using statistical methods like the Mean Absolute Percent Error or MAPE that we’ve discussed in our previous blogs.

Almost three decades ago Sales and Operational Planning (S&OP) became the innovation in manufacturing and supply chain. When S&OP came about in 1987 as a concept, we did not yet have the internet much less the “internet of things.”

Here's a list of top must-see sessions at the upcoming 2017 Gartner Supply Chain Executive Conference. Visit Arkieva at Booth...

To celebrate great poetry reading day today, we decided to take a break from our usual Friday Supply Chain Talk to try some poetry instead.

Is there a need to act if no ‘imminent’ repercussions exist? Can you be a more proactive problem solver? In this 3-part blog series, we’ll cover how proactive problem solving can help your team and business stay ahead of the curve, improve productivity, and avoid costly problems in the short and long term.

Supply Chain Lessons from Disney: What if we looked at supply chain management through the lens of Walt Disney?