Supply Chain Brief, an aggregate website for supply chain content officially launched today, Thursday, August 14. The website is a combined effort with The Logistics and Supply Chain Management Society and The Logistics of Logistics blog. The creators have started a supply chain community to encourage sharing of best practices as well as provide a forum for thought leadership.

Last Tuesday, August 5, 2014 Chad Smith, a Supply Chain expert and co-founder of the Demand Driven Institute presented a webinar about consumption-based replenishment.

Smith argued that forecast error is on the rise and that supply chain complexity and volatility are increasing; he also noted that legacy planning tactics and tools are breaking down.  Co-hosted with Narayan Laksham, founder of Ultriva, Smith noted during the webinar, “Worldwide there are more complex planning and supply scenarios than ever – the past is NOT a predictor for the future.”

Omnichannel has become the buzzword of the moment for retail supply chains. 

Recently, four hundred retail CEOs were surveyed by PwC, for a study commissioned by JDA Software. The survey is titled “Retail’s New Imperative: Supply Chain Optimization as a Growth Strategy.” The study revealed a large number of these retail CEOs reporting that their supply chains were not optimized to support the new omnichannel. 

Everyone in the manufacturing industry wants to reduce inventory costs; easier said than done and there is no magic bullet. Simultaneously there is little appetite for inventory reduction solutions with a big price tag. The closest any manufacturer can get to the magic is supply chain visibility.

Warehouse’s inventory at an all-time high, choosing a location for storage is tougher than ever. Demand for space is causing prices to go up, and manufacturers want to make sure they are still getting top notch service, especially when expenditures are higher than previous levels.  DC Velocity reported U.S. warehousing costs spiked in 2013 as retailers, incented by low interest rates and inventory carrying

Recently, Supply Chain Brain (SCB) published, “A Forecast for the Cloud in Supply Chain and Logistics.” Tom Boike, VP of supplier management with UPS, offered his perspective regarding the impact of cloud technology on the supply chain and logistics industry. 

Recently, Forbes and KPMG International released a survey on manufacturing entitled ‘The 2014 Global Manufacturing Outlook: Performance in the Crosshairs.” The report is based on interviews with 460 senior manufacturing executives around the world. 

The report contained four key findings: 

• Manufacturers plan to invest in enhancing processes which increase profits
• Organizations will increase R&D spending, including outside collaborations and leveraging technology
• Supply Chain visibility remains a challenge.
• Manufacturers want to achieve a globally integrated supply chain and share real-time information with suppliers

Manufacturing companies must uncover opportunities to reduce inventory to stay competitive. One way to reduce excess inventory (without the risk of stocking-out of important parts) is to determine an optimal replenishment cycle. This can be done by identifying which parts would benefit from an eKanban loop replenishment system.

Integrating Supply Chain Execution Solutions for Real-Time Visibility to Leverage MRP/ERP Investments 

During the last decade, I have personally visited over 150 manufacturing facilities worldwide to help manufacturing companies collaborate with suppliers and gain true supply chain visibility. Due to all this first-hand knowledge, it was a surprise to read Lora Cecere’s recent Forbes magazine article titled Bumps, Cracks and Opportunities reporting that large manufacturing companies, having spent a fortune on MRP systems (in this case SAP and JDA), still use spread sheets and other patches to get through the day. Cecere reports she has dealt with nine companies in one week alone who had to augment MRP forecasts. She shares how companies explained that they start using spread sheets after the forecast goes awry, and that many of the companies with whom she is working are not even using the costly MRP systems for supply chain planning.

Are you a manufacturing company that wishes to extend your existing business system to accomplish one or more of the following?  

• Gain End to End Supply Chain Visibility (E2ESCV)
• Reduce your lead time by moving to a Demand Driven Manufacturing model
• Build trust in your supply chain through collaboration with suppliers and customers
• Migrate to electronic Kanban replenishment with suppliers for having the right part at the right place
• Increase your customer service levels by moving to consumption driven replenishment with your customers – OEMs, Distributors or Retailers.

Let Ultriva Lean Suite accomplish these goals and extend your investment in Oracle EBS