Batching – An Enemy Disguised as an Ally

For-profit businesses have a simple task – make profit. Well, maybe not that simple to attain, but simply put for a business to make profit all it needs to do is to generate revenues that are greater than its expenses (and if the business is interested in sustaining the profit making, it needs to ensure that it grows, and therefore that its revenues grow faster than its expenses).

The nature of these two forces is quite interesting, and one of the characteristics they have is absolutely opposite. While revenues generation is subject to high uncertainty and somewhat out of the business control, cost is highly certain and almost fully under the business control. This core difference leads to a fundamental difference in the way management treats the two; we hope for revenues and we ache costs.

Are you still using Min-Max in your Inventory Management?

Some policies and practices that are prevalent in management are seriously counterproductive to the cause of companies, nevertheless they stay the norm. I used to be surprised whenever I stumbled against such practices with my clients, asking myself how is it that given the knowledge generated and advancements in technology companies stick to these practices that are keeping them away from the objectives they want to achieve. We term these practices as “disabling procedures”.

This article, is not about the reasons for the continued existence of these practices, it is about one of these practices that is common in the supply chain arena. A practice that delivers more damage than good and that is a major contributor to the exact phenomena it is supposed to be solving. This is the “Min-Max” practice.

Collaborative Demand Planning Technology

A very interesting research on one of the key areas of the future of supply chains - collaboration. Please read the attached article, and join our discussion group on LinkedIn. 

Enjoy!!

Mickey
http://www.clresearch.com/research/detail.cfm?guid=5E16D35D-3048-79ED-9931-DD15E8AEF724

Invitation to a new Supply Chain Manager's Forum

We are happy to announce the launch of the a new FORUM for Supply Chain Managers, Operations Manager, Logistics Manager, Purchasing Managers, and CIOs

Organized by People and Computers.

The forum is a platform for its members for study studying, getting exposed to advanced knowledge and technologies, sharing experiences, and networking.
The first forum meeting is scheduled for May 28, 2013- among the presenters in this meeting, will be:
- VP Supply Chain of Keter, 
- VP Supply Chain of Strauss Group, and
- VP Supply Chain of Osem/ Nestle Israel.

We would be very happy for you to join the forum, please find more details through the link below:

http://ciscmo-forum.events.co.il/save-the-date

In Modern Retail Replenishment, Once a Day Isn't Enough

This is a very interesting discussion about the frequency of delivery to retail outlets. It seems that there is an evolution towards increasing the frequency to more than once a day. This naturally presents a variety of new challenges, that require rethinking the approach to supply chain operations and collaboration. A post on these challenges and the resulting approach will be published on this blog, soon. For the time being, please enjoy this article:

In Modern Retail Replenishment, Once a Day Isn't Enough

ISM - Publications - Inside Supply Management - A Shift in Sourcing Strategies

Supply management organizations are moving from a low-cost-country strategy to a best sourcing plan that focuses on value, total cost of ownership and a changing world.

ISM - Publications - Inside Supply Management - A Shift in Sourcing Strategies

Mickey's SC Transformation Article in PC Magazine

PC Magazine publishes Mickey's article on "The Unavoidable Transformation of Supply Chain Management" http://www.pc.co.il/?p=114414
 (**article in Hebrew, for English version please see blog entry posted on the 13th of March, 2013 or click link -> "The Unavoidable Transformation of Supply Chain Management")