Discussing hot topics in supply chain optimization

Phased Planning in Apparel and Softgoods

Fashion-oriented businesses have near- and medium-term horizons for styles, colors and sizes, as well as long-term horizons for capacity group planning. Each of these independent activities is normally not integrated with the others. Chris Russell talks with Logility Senior Business Consultant Matt Gorman about how to plan for long, medium, and short-term pieces of the business in one coordinated system.

Using Process Rhythm to Balance Inventory Planning

Today’s inventory planning process must strike a balance between reacting to the dynamic business climate and streamlining the workload of the people doing the planning. Logility Senior Business Consultant Gokhan Usanmaz talks with Chris Russell about how modern optimization technologies help companies balance the level of exceptions to be managed against the time availability of planners throughout the planning cycle

Capacity Planning Renaissance

Capacity Planning is the process by which manufacturers and distributors balance SKU supply and demand, given capacity and material constraints. Surprisingly, even companies with relatively mature S&OP processes and global networks have failed to leverage supply planning to represent multi-echelon supply chains with alternative sources of supply, production/distribution cost elements and third party supplier constraints. That is changing, as companies seek accurate commitment dates and quantities for specific demands that can be shared with the customer service desk to manage customer expectations.

Transforming Industrial Products Supply Chains

Like other sectors, Industrial Products companies face a level of global supply chain complexity that can make it challenging to embrace crucial optimization solutions. Logility business consulting director Peter Chambers talks with Chris Russell about how modern optimization technologies help companies translate high-level plans to the execution level effectively, using a demand-driven, pull-based philosophy.

Impact of Multi-Echelon Inventory Optimization

Multi-Echelon Inventory Optimization (MEIO) brings benefits beyond the scope of a single stage or location in the supply chain. Karin Bursa discusses the results of an Aberdeen Group survey focused on the positive impact of MEIO with Bryan Ball, Principal Analyst at the Aberdeen Group. Bryan reveals how best-in-class organizations are using MEIO to gain a competitive supply chain advantage.

The Inventory Optimization Maturity Curve

Inventory Optimization is perceived as everything from simple inventory management techniques all the way to advanced multi-echelon optimization. In this special podcast, Logility's Chris Russell conducts a quick guided tour through the different levels of inventory optimization encountered as companies progress through a maturity curve.

Top KPIs for Production Planning

When evaluating the quality of a production plan, what are the most important metrics to consider? In this podcast, John Slater, a 25-year manufacturing planning veteran, discusses how to use forward-looking metrics that focus on cost, capacity, material, and efficiency, as well as key execution metrics that compare plan vs. actuals and root-cause analysis.

Managing Supply Chain Complexity

When supply chains grow globally, that growth can spawn challenges in network configuration, regulatory compliance, as well as environmental and political factors worldwide. Planning for complexity is a central activity for Jeff Killian, Director of Global Planning at Sigma Aldrich. In this podcast, Jeff talks about the key elements needed to manage a complex global supply chain and meet key business goals despite potentially catastrophic disruptions.

Starting the Inventory Optimization Journey

What should supply chain teams expect when taking the first steps in an inventory optimization initiative? Logility's Chris Russell taps the experience of Celanese, an organization that has reached the top of the maturity curve. Global supply chain analyst Greg Novitsky breaks down the journey to inventory optimization excellence and delivers a veteran's viewpoint for managers who want to get off to a good start.

Apparel Challenges

With worldwide outsourcing, longer lead times and shorter seasons, apparel supply chains are complex and demanding. Forecasting changing styles is extremely difficult and the supply side is complicated by hard-to-model constraints, costs, and lead times. In this episode, industry expert Ed Thompson discusses some of the unique challenges and best practices used by leading apparel supply chain teams.

State-of-the-Art S&OP

Sales and Operations Planning is an extremely effective method to rally company execs and supply chain stakeholders around a shared view of how the business operates. Dan Gilmore of Supply Chain Digest talks about how S&OP achieves outstanding results by aligning company goals and objectives, establishing a “one number” forecast, and removing the potential for contention and judgment errors.

Taming Transition Turmoil in Process Chemical Scheduling

Process manufacturing can challenge the most sophisticated supply chain experts. This episode looks at transitions between products, movement from upstream to downstream operations, and gaps between long-term and short-term horizons.

Collaborative Vendor Managed Inventory (Part 1)

Part 1 In this episode we examine the evolution of VMI and CPFR, and how we take the best of both worlds to form Collaborative VMI.

Collaborative Vendor Managed Inventory (Part 2)

Part 2 In Part 2, Ron Burnette, Product Director, Logility, outlines five crucial steps to implementing Collaborative VMI with customers and partners.

S&OP: Change in Strategy

In this podcast, Aberdeen Group's Nari Viswanathan shares his insight and findings from his latest sales and operations planning research including reviews of best practices of leading supply chains and the reasons S&OP is important in today's environment.

Real-World ROI for Inventory Optimization

What's the quantified financial benefit of inventory optimization? We take a closer look at where the benefits come from and how "payback proliferates" throughout the supply chain

What Every CFO Should Know About Inventory Optimization

CFOs know that supply chain performance is vital to financial success. But how do we bridge the gap between the world of operations and the big-picture view from the CFO's perspective?

Optimizing Inventory for a Profitable Economic Upturn (Part I)

Part 1 Smart companies are positioning themselves to be more competitive as they increase both revenue goals and service levels. This 2-part episode covers various ways that inventory strategy can be used to take advantage of growth.

Optimizing Inventory for a Profitable Economic Upturn (Part II)

Part 2 This episode finishes off the wide-ranging discussion we started last time on how inventory optimization increases competitive advantage during a time of uncertain demand growth.

Five Core Competencies of Inventory Optimization

Ten years ago, early adopters began saving millions through smart inventory reductions that don't sacrifice sales revenue. Today, IO is a mature business discipline that companies must excel at.

Getting the Most Out of SKU Rationalization

SKU Rationalization is not as simple as lopping off the bottom third of your SKUs! Inventory optimization is needed to weight items correctly, compensate for uncertainty, and expose hidden costs

Root Causes of Excess Inventory

Most supply chain managers believe they have a lot of unnecessary inventory, but they don't have a method to identify the "mysterious" causes of that inventory.

Inventory Optimization in Lean Manufacturing Environments

Companies adopt lean manufacturing techniques in order to reduce waste, remove cost, and improve agility—but it doesn't eliminate buffer stocks! How inventory optimization makes "lean" successful.

Why Inventory Optimization?

A brief look at the fundamental reasons for inventory optimization. What is it? Where did it come from? How does it enhance the performance of supply chains? Featuring Dr. Sean Willems.