In this blog, we will explain the basics of trim/loss and further explore the potential disasters from failing to manage the big picture.

An earlier Sudoku blog recognizing Puzzle Day, provided an overview of solving Sudoku using MILP optimization and mentions these methods are helpful to find solutions in supply or central planning. This blog elaborates on “binary variables” which is the connecting technology between Sudoku and Supply Chain Management (SCM).

Isn’t the goal of a successful retailer to give the customer what they want, when they want it? And isn’t today’s customer changing their mind on what they want quicker than ever? Quick trend changes are driven by this customer and retailers must be flexible to survive...

In this blog post, we will briefly review some examples of being “COVID-19 adrift” with just data and then focus on the primary task – demonstrating how modeling can be used to understand the impact of group size on COVID-19 spread.

This blog will provide some basic information on CPIM to balance the SAIM focus of these webinars and most importantly position the two so that the oversight of inventory is coordinated.

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...

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.

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.

A common question is how to best manage safety stock for critical raw materials that are critical to the production of the exit product...

Picking up from where I left off in my previous blog, I will look at a few more scenarios in both short and long terms in this blog. Even though Brexit is the theme for these scenarios, the underlying principles apply to any situation with uncertainty in supply planning.

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.

Inventory Forecasting is the process in which the historical sales data, historical purchasing data, current demand planning, planned production, and distribution resource plan data are used for predicting inventory levels in a future time period.