Category: Supply Chain

Are the researchers in the academic world aligned with the expectations and needs of the business world when it comes to the world of forecasting? Or are the two very different? What can the academe do that will be of value to the business folks? Read on to see some of my thoughts on this topic.

Should one forecast at the SKU-Customer-Location level and aggregate the results up? Or should one forecast at the product-family-region level and dis-aggregate the results down? Or should one do both and try to triangulate the results? Which method gives the best results to the business? Let us look at this together.

Have you gone through a software implementation in a large company? How much time did you spend in committees discussing things? What was the level of detail at which discussions were had? Do you think all that preparation got your firm better positioned for success? How were the results in the end? This blog post puts forward some ideas on making software implementations successful.

OK, I confess! I am thinking like a software provider when I use the words ROI questions. Maybe at times it...

Happy New Year! As we look back at 2015 from a supply chain perspective, digital supply chains seem to show up very prominently. In this blog, let us look at some of the trends in the supply chain space that came to be in 2015.

In a place and time far-far away, before spreadsheets, laptops, even color display units – where typewriters were common and...

In the last few years, more and more people are getting involved in the field of supply chain. By some estimates, around 26% of all jobs are related to supply chain. With so many people involved in the supply chain, a good question to ask is this: How should one manage their supply chain career. This blog post sheds some light on the subject.

So you have been working with your team and possibly a few external vendors in order to get some improvements...

The other day I was searching around the internet and I came a across an interesting article on supplychaindigital.com entitled,...

I was recently exposed to the idea of thinking like a hedgehog (one big idea) versus the fox (a lot...

Steve Reichert retired from AkzoNobel after a successful career in supply chain with the company. We at Arkieva have worked...

Producing and/or subcontracting in faraway regions can often lower the cost per unit in terms of labor and capital equipment investment. This supply chain strategy greatly increases lead times, the need for long range planning and increased inventory to cover demand uncertainty. A thorough evaluation should be made of the trade-offs of agile vs purely low cost supply chain strategies. The low cost solution might not be the best solution.