http://forums.industryweek.com Perspectives on innovative supply chain management strategies. en Tue, 09 Feb 2010 23:25:52 GMT vBulletin 60 http://forums.industryweek.com/IWImages/misc/rss.jpg http://forums.industryweek.com http://feeds.penton.com/~r/21stCenturySupplyChain/~3/_D2QIB8uQms/showthread.php Mon, 08 Feb 2010 14:09:29 GMT As many of you might know, Kinaxis launched theSupply Chain Expert Community (http://community.kinaxis.com/) about six months ago, and since then the community has quickly built a strong following with over 1,400 members and continues to grow daily. Today we announced its recent transformation,... As many of you might know, Kinaxis launched theSupply Chain Expert Community about six months ago, and since then the community has quickly built a strong following with over 1,400 members and continues to grow daily. Today we announced its recent transformation, whereby the site now boasts a sleeker look and feel and, most importantly, new content, added functionality and easier navigation.

Here are some highlights on the additions:

• The community has expanded its blogging component to feature regular third-party industry bloggers. You now have a central place to read multiple thought-leading blogs, including those of:

• Lora Cecere of Altimeter Group (formerly of AMR Research)
• Bob Ferrari of the Ferrari Group & author of Supply Chain Matters blog
• Joshua Greenbaum of Enterprise Applications Consulting (EAC) & author of Enterprise Matters blog
• Jan Husdal of Husdal.com (supply chain risk strategies)
• The site boasts additions to its ‘Just for Laughs’ section with new comedy videos, including Uncle Jay Explains Supply Chains and the BOBI Institute (developed by RedPrairie). Stay tuned for more videos and new series.
• A new Benchmarking Service is now available to all registered members of the community. This service provides a wealth of information for companies looking to benchmark their supply chain performance against multiple companies and across various metrics.
• Now open to the public, Channel 21 contains a host of videos providing insight into RapidResponse product development plans. See first-hand what the product is all about!
• And for the month of February, start a new thread on the discussion board, and tell us your tale of sudden supply chain chaos. If your story tops the list, you will be eligible to win one of 10 Amazon Kindles! See more details here.

The online community we’ve created truly represents our confidence in the ‘wisdom of crowds’ theory. The updates we’ve made offer even more ways for industry professionals to learn, connect, participate and engage with others that share similar interests and insights.

Come visit it again and see for yourself.

John Sicard is EVP, marketing, development and service operations for Kinaxis, provider of the on-demand RapidResponse service that empowers enterprise and mid-market companies to continuously align demand and supply, thereby bridging the gap that exists between planning and execution. ]]> 21st Century Supply Chain Lori Smith http://forums.industryweek.com/showthread.php?t=13681 http://forums.industryweek.com/showthread.php?t=13681 http://feeds.penton.com/~r/21stCenturySupplyChain/~3/HD1cHRFfXYA/showthread.php Fri, 05 Feb 2010 13:46:48 GMT CIO.com (http://www.cio.com/) has a very funny (in a sad but true way) post by Thomas Wailgum (http://advice.cio.com/thomas_wailgum/5_easy_steps_to_erp_software_success)outlining the 5 steps to ERP software success. From his post; 1. Meet with ERP vendor, get taken to expensive sporting... CIO.com has a very funny (in a sad but true way) post by Thomas Wailgum outlining the 5 steps to ERP software success. From his post;

1. Meet with ERP vendor, get taken to expensive sporting event/dinner by sales rep, and select appropriate software package. (And don’t forget to send the check!)
2. Install ERP system!
3. Integrate with other systems. (Repeat as necessary.)
4. Provide thick “How To” manuals—chock-full of Clipart—to users!
5. Sit back, relax and enjoy your new ERP system!*

Thomas has included all sorts of “fine print” around step number 5. Check out his post to get the details.

I’d like to add a couple of points that Thomas may have overlooked (I’ve also posted this as a comment to Thomas’s article);

3b. Integrate with other components of the “Suite” (You don’t think that just because you bought software from the same vendor that you wouldn’t have to integrate it, do you?)

3c. Make sure that you use high priced integration consultants recommended by the ERP Vendor…this is WAAAAYYYYY to complicated to do yourself.

4b. Provide lot’s of “happy pills” to your executive team (they are NOT going to be happy with the loss of productivity as people stumble around trying to figure out the new system)

5b. Don’t forget to send in that annual (extortion) maintenance check. It’s important to pay so that your ERP vendor can fix their existing bugs – and add new (bugs) features.

5c. Invest in some earplugs…you really don’t want to hear the howls of anguish from your users.

Do you have other advice? Let’s hear it!

John Westerveld is a product manager for Kinaxis, provider of the on-demand RapidResponse service that empowers enterprise and mid-market companies to continuously align demand and supply, thereby bridging the gap that exists between planning and execution. ]]> 21st Century Supply Chain Lori Smith http://forums.industryweek.com/showthread.php?t=13631 http://forums.industryweek.com/showthread.php?t=13631 http://feeds.penton.com/~r/21stCenturySupplyChain/~3/HwoQp55VTQs/showthread.php Thu, 04 Feb 2010 13:20:26 GMT You often hear that SaaS is a more efficient way to deliver software value to the customer. The main feature people point to is “if you don’t need it – just don’t renew your subscription.” This “clouds” some other real benefits of SaaS. Deployments are still required for SaaS, but on average... You often hear that SaaS is a more efficient way to deliver software value to the customer. The main feature people point to is “if you don’t need it – just don’t renew your subscription.” This “clouds” some other real benefits of SaaS.

Deployments are still required for SaaS, but on average they are much less involved and costly.

Security is even a greater benefit of SaaS. An on-demand vendor has the greatest incentive to keep their service secure – it is called losing customers if they don’t. One of my favorite stories is about a large enterprise (years ago) who refused to go Saas because of “data security” concerns. Ironically, thirty days after this discussion they had a major breach of their own IT operations which became public knowledge.

I believe one of the greatest reasons to seek out SaaS offerings centers around system administration. Turnover in IT operations is common these days, so why wouldn’t you want the vendor who knows the offering to be responsible for system administration? As CEO of a SaaS company I am often asked why we don’t offer a lower cost on-premise version of our offering. I tell them I would have to charge more because we get more customer support calls due to increased system administration calls.

Having pointed out all of these indirect benefits – economics is still the largest reason to go the SaaS way. There were billions of IT monies wasted on what became “shelf-ware” – because vendors stuffed contracts with additional users or capabilities which were never used. What I have found with SaaS is customers only order the number of users they need in the short term, because it is easy to add users later on.

While there are still some “last remaining holdouts” on the movement to SaaS – it is now undeniable. A proof point is witnessing the “most secretive and data security oriented” large enterprises asking for SaaS!


Doug Colbeth is CEO of Kinaxis, provider of the on-demand RapidResponse service that empowers enterprise and mid-market companies to continuously align demand and supply, thereby bridging the gap that exists between planning and execution. ]]> 21st Century Supply Chain Lori Smith http://forums.industryweek.com/showthread.php?t=13591 http://forums.industryweek.com/showthread.php?t=13591 http://feeds.penton.com/~r/21stCenturySupplyChain/~3/IrhKLW9OYac/showthread.php Tue, 02 Feb 2010 13:54:38 GMT Our expectations as consumers are changing. When I was a growing up (I won’t comment on how long ago that was!) we expected to have to wait for things (“It’s in the mail!”). As the technology evolves, the time it takes to do things, and the time we are willing to wait to do things has changed... Our expectations as consumers are changing. When I was a growing up (I won’t comment on how long ago that was!) we expected to have to wait for things (“It’s in the mail!”). As the technology evolves, the time it takes to do things, and the time we are willing to wait to do things has changed significantly (how do you feel when the company you are dealing with wants you to mail or FAX information to them?). Let’s look at some examples;

Mail – Before the 1980’s the only option for sending written communications was to write a letter and send it via the post office. Typically, you could send a letter and depending on how far it had to go, you could expect the recipient to get it in days, maybe weeks for long distances. In the 1980’s, the fax machine became a popular way of sending written correspondence. A fax could be sent and responded to instantly; however, in most cases, you had to go to wherever the fax machine was to pick up your fax. In the 90’s, e-mail became the standard and you could receive your message at your desk seconds after it was sent. Today, with Blackberry’s and iPhones, messages can be sent and received at any time of the day and night anywhere (almost) in the world.

Banking – Before the advent of bank machines, people used to need to stand in line to see a bank teller to access money in their account. You needed to get to the bank when they were open and make sure you took out enough money to cover your needs. Banking took hours and forget about getting cash on the weekend! With the move to bank machines, you could do most transactions using the cash machine and could do those transactions any time you needed to. Today, you can bank from your smart-phone, pay for items using a smart-card and even apply for loans over the internet.

Music – If I heard a song on the radio and wanted to listen to that song, I’d have to drive to the record store and get the album. If I was really anxious to get a song, I could get it within a few hours. With the advent of iTunes, I could download the song, move it to my iPod and listen to it in minutes. Today, I can download a song directly to my iPod touch or iPhone and listen to it immediately.

ERP – Before ERP systems we managed things by paper. Responding to changes took days, sometimes weeks. In the 70s, ERP systems became popular, but the systems were expensive, large and cumbersome, and very difficult to maintain. Responding to changes took days, sometimes weeks. Today…hmmm…let’s see…well, they’re still expensive, they’re still large and cumbersome, they are still very difficult to maintain. And responding to change takes days, sometimes weeks. So…where are the advances in ERP???

Well, maybe our expectations of ERP systems haven’t changed. Maybe my customer is happy to wait for days or weeks for me to respond, right? Not likely! Our customers want responses now. They NEED responses now because THIER customers are demanding a response from THEM!

ERP Systems aren’t the answer. They do what they do…provide a plan and track transactions. If you look at each of the examples above, the key changes were not evolutions, they were revolutions within their industry. We don’t have mail carriers capable of instantly delivering mail (even superman couldn’t do that!), we have completely different technology. ERP systems won’t evolve into something fast enough to meet our needs. We need a completely revolutionary technology. We need a response management system.

So…why wait?

John Westerveld is a product manager for Kinaxis, provider of the on-demand RapidResponse service that empowers enterprise and mid-market companies to continuously align demand and supply, thereby bridging the gap that exists between planning and execution. ]]> 21st Century Supply Chain Lori Smith http://forums.industryweek.com/showthread.php?t=13491 http://forums.industryweek.com/showthread.php?t=13491 http://feeds.penton.com/~r/21stCenturySupplyChain/~3/D8qyoH3b7ds/showthread.php Mon, 01 Feb 2010 14:18:59 GMT I am putting the final touches on my presentation for *SCM World Live (http://scmworldlive.raptureworld.co.uk/)on February 24th* – a free virtual event for cross-industry global supply chain executives. SCM World Live is bringing together an impressive group of global supply chain, operations... I am putting the final touches on my presentation for SCM World Live on February 24th – a free virtual event for cross-industry global supply chain executives. SCM World Live is bringing together an impressive group of global supply chain, operations and procurement industry leaders in an interactive format. There will 20+ speakers participating in the day.

I have the great privilege to present alongside Dr. Hau Lee of Stanford on a topic that I am particularly passionate about: Matching Supply and Demand with ‘Sensible Sense and Responsive Response’


It’s a timely discussion aimed at answering questions like:

• How can we correctly interpret demand signals and make sense of them smartly?
• How can we enable the entire supply chain to react accurately and quickly?
• What are the key elements of agility?
• What value does responsiveness offer to the organization?

I recognize that there are individuals who might still believe they can plan their way out of a volatile or chaotic supply chain. It is my hope that this presentation will serve to highlight the new innovations in process and technology that make response management a far more potent cure for companies living with supply chain pain.

Find out all the details here. Why wait? Register today!

John Sicard is EVP, marketing, development and service operations for Kinaxis, provider of the on-demand RapidResponse service that empowers enterprise and mid-market companies to continuously align demand and supply, thereby bridging the gap that exists between planning and execution. ]]> 21st Century Supply Chain Lori Smith http://forums.industryweek.com/showthread.php?t=13321 http://forums.industryweek.com/showthread.php?t=13321 http://feeds.penton.com/~r/21stCenturySupplyChain/~3/9ajihdhDPOo/showthread.php Thu, 21 Jan 2010 14:13:05 GMT Mark Pearson of Logistics Management wrote an interesting article (http://www.logisticsmgmt.com/article/443296-The_three_mantras_of_supply_chain_planning_masters.php) this month outlining “three of the most vital supply chain planning mantras”: 1. Supply chain planning works best as a... Mark Pearson of Logistics Management wrote an interesting article this month outlining “three of the most vital supply chain planning mantras”:

1. Supply chain planning works best as a high-level, enterprise-wide discipline.
2. Adaptability is key.
3. Speed matters.

Would you add or change anything?

One line from the article caught my eye –
“… by its very nature, forecasting is more or less imprecise—too many supply chain disruptions cannot be predicted. Instead, the business world’s increasing volatility means that companies should strive for highly flexible operating models, processes, and plans that help them respond rapidly to economic, political, and market-driven changes.”

So is this a supply chain planning mantra, or a supply chain response mantra? The lines are blurring aren’t they?

John Westerveld is a product manager for Kinaxis, provider of the on-demand RapidResponse service that empowers enterprise and mid-market companies to continuously align demand and supply, thereby bridging the gap that exists between planning and execution. ]]> 21st Century Supply Chain Lori Smith http://forums.industryweek.com/showthread.php?t=12591 http://forums.industryweek.com/showthread.php?t=12591 http://feeds.penton.com/~r/21stCenturySupplyChain/~3/uDkID4UnZyM/showthread.php Tue, 19 Jan 2010 13:56:24 GMT The latest edition of IndustryWeek’s Manufacturing Business Challenge (http://www.iwchallenge.com/0110/)has been published. This month’s challenge discusses a maker of wireless and radio frequency components that is starting to see signs of an economic recovery but is very concerned with the... The latest edition of IndustryWeek’s Manufacturing Business Challenge has been published.

This month’s challenge discusses a maker of wireless and radio frequency components that is starting to see signs of an economic recovery but is very concerned with the risks of overestimating or underestimating the resurgence of business. They are struggling with what is needed from a process and technology standpoint to get an accurate picture of demand going forward.

We were fortunate to have Dr. Larry Lapide, a research affiliate with MIT’s Center for Transportation & Logistics, join us in providing his take on a solution to the challenge as described below:

Hinnts Wireless has been fortunate to weather a bleak two years. As CEO, I watched annual revenues fall 20% to approximately $225 million. A maker of wireless and radio frequency components for OEMs and system integrators, Hinnts is highly dependent upon commercial and industrial markets. As they slowed, we slowed. Now we are beginning to see our sales trickle back, and our major customers indicate that within six months they expect their orders to get back to prerecession levels. In addition, we are launching a number of new products over the next six months that promise to hit new markets and bring in new customers.

While the severity of the market slowdown came as a surprise, I do not want us to be surprised when our markets rebound. Our management has always believed — perhaps, erroneously — that Hinnts has fairly level month-to-month sales volumes for all product lines, and so we relied on simple methods for scheduling production and triggering our supply chains. But as our markets get more complex, our scheduling will as well, and we cannot afford to overestimate or underestimate — as we’ve done in the past. I see now that every dollar counts, and the money we’ve lost on obsolete or discounted inventories, overstaffing, or missed sales would have made the last two years more bearable.

I would like to have a more accurate picture of our customers and their plans and forecasts, and use that information more proactively to integrate production with our suppliers and to staff our plants. With a recovery likely, is it time to invest in processes and technologies to help Hinnts and our suppliers sense and respond to demand quickly and cost effectively? Can I afford the investment, and what can Hinnts expect to gain?

What would be your recommendation? Here are ours….

Trevor Miles is director, industry and applications marketing for Kinaxis, provider of the on-demand RapidResponse service that empowers enterprise and mid-market companies to continuously align demand and supply, thereby bridging the gap that exists between planning and execution. ]]> 21st Century Supply Chain Lori Smith http://forums.industryweek.com/showthread.php?t=12311 http://forums.industryweek.com/showthread.php?t=12311 http://feeds.penton.com/~r/21stCenturySupplyChain/~3/BzipApb7qAQ/showthread.php Tue, 05 Jan 2010 13:34:03 GMT I was reading the article: “2010-Risk or Opportunity?” (http://www.supplychainbrain.com/content/nc/technology-solutions/saas-on-demand-systems/single-article-page/article/2010risk-or-opportunity/) on SupplyChainBrain.com and it got me thinking about 2010 and the author, Mark Woodward’s comments. ... I was reading the article: “2010-Risk or Opportunity?” on SupplyChainBrain.com and it got me thinking about 2010 and the author, Mark Woodward’s comments.

The first topic the author discusses is “Multi-Tier Functionality”. As more and more manufacturing operations are outsourced it is difficult for a company to have any control over their supply chain because they lack data. I agree with the author that this becomes an imperative in 2010. The economy is showing signs of improving however, all of the companies I speak with say the only sure thing is volatility. No one really knows how the business will be so they will need to be able to react and make decisions very quickly up and down the supply chain. This requires not only visibility into the supply chain data from suppliers, but the ability to simulate changes in demand and supply to determine how best to make business decisions based on fluctuations in a company’s business. Ideally, the customer would have the ability to explode the full BOM to be able to make decisions at any level.

As the author states there needs to be a focus on relationship building. The article talks about the relationships between trading partners and brand owners becoming true partners. I absolutely agree. Having visibility into data and the brand owner being able to make better business decisions should help the brand owner make better business decisions about what they need from the trading partner and hopefully improve the trading partner’s business as well. The customers I work with who do this well are able to create many different types of scenarios the simulate changes in demand which allow both parties to keep the lowest amount of inventory and lower their costs.

In addition, I think the brand owners need to focus on the relationships with their customers (as the author states). Manufacturing companies I talk to are very worried about any significant change in their relationship with their biggest customers. Typically, the biggest customers not only comprise a large portion of a company’s revenue, they also can be the engine for a company to acquire new customers. If a top company in a field is using someone, then smaller companies in the same field may want to use that company as well. So, the ability to collaborate with your biggest customers through a portal, VMI or just sharing data can be critical. These relationships are also important in the sales and operations planning function for a company. The best way to have true visibility to demand is a good customer relationship. I do believe in this volatile market that sales and operations planning for a company will be key to their success in 2010 and good relationships and collaboration will be key.

All in all, 2010 is going to be an unpredictable year for manufacturers and the more visibility companies have in their supply chains, the more they can simulate changes in demand and supply, the better relationships they keep, the better off they will perform next year. It will be interesting a year from now to see if the best performing manufacturing companies have implemented some of these capabilities.

Happy New Year!


Monique Rupert is VP, professional services for Kinaxis, provider of the on-demand RapidResponse service that empowers enterprise and mid-market companies to continuously align demand and supply, thereby bridging the gap that exists between planning and execution. ]]> 21st Century Supply Chain Lori Smith http://forums.industryweek.com/showthread.php?t=11651 http://forums.industryweek.com/showthread.php?t=11651 http://feeds.penton.com/~r/21stCenturySupplyChain/~3/0hy6HIaIcPU/showthread.php Mon, 04 Jan 2010 15:11:33 GMT Lora Cecere, while at AMR Research, published a list of predictions for 2010 that are CPG and retail focused, which is her specialty. What is interesting about the list, in my opinion anyway, is that we will see a lot of retail behaviour begin to percolate down the supply chain. This is my first prediction, but it is really an observation of an acceleration of this phenomenon, rather than a beginning. At the heart of Lora’s predictions is the shift of power over the last 20-odd years from the brand owner to the retailer to the consumer. This is associated with a big increase of online shopping, or as Lora states “What’s old is new again, with e-commerce rising from the ashes of the dot.com bubble.”

It is this re-emergence of e-commerce that has given the consumer the buying power. Of course, the recession has had a role to play by making price a key buying criterion, possibly the key criterion. But e-commerce allows the consumer to compare several alternatives, in terms of both brand and price, in a fraction of the time and with greatly reduced effort. While mall shopping isn’t going away any time soon, there is no doubt that e-commerce has shifted the buying power to the consumer through ease of use and ease of choice. For example, my daughter went to the mall with a friend and came home excited about a skirt she had seen in a store but couldn’t afford it. My wife called her friend to get a few more details and then spent about 20 minutes on the internet finding the best deal, which was 30% less than the store price, including shipping. It would have taken her at least 20 minutes to drive to the mall and the 30% reduction does not include the cost of driving to the mall. And it arrived in time for Christmas. What’s not to like about this story?

So how does this relate to our market, which is much more in the low volume, high mix and build-to-order category, rather than the high volume, low mix and make-to-stock environment typical of CPG? As has been commented by many people before me, retail-like behaviour is being adopted in more industrial environments. I visited a fab-less semiconductor manufacturer in late December that is wrestling with increasing demands for a much wider choice of product capabilities coupled with expectations of greatly reduced order to delivery lead times. The lead time expectation is a lot less than the manufacturing lead time so the semiconductor manufacturer is looking at postponement strategies including, very importantly, die reservations in the foundry, which of course they do not own. Because of a greater product portfolio they cannot afford to keep the same levels of inventory because of the associated risks of price reduction and obsolescence. As I stated in the opening paragraph, the adoption of consumer behaviour in a business-to-business environment has been increasing over the past few years, and will only accelerate.

Perhaps it is Lora’s point about the effect Wal-Mart is having on the supply chain that best captures the impact consumer and retail behaviour is having on the larger manufacturing sector. Because Wal-Mart is such a dominant player, initiatives enforced by Wal-Mart soon trickle down the supply chain through multiple tiers of supply and affect other industries too. Lora selects 3 initiatives: “sustainability scorecards, rethinking inventory strategies, and the initiation of the Supplier Alliance Program.”

Let’s start with inventory. For centuries, inventory has been used as a buffer between demand and supply, starting with grain silo’s and other food stores. The fab-less semiconductor manufacturer I mentioned above is, like many other manufacturers, adopting postponement strategies including reducing inventories to preserve cash, while at the same time being faced by the need for shorter order to delivery times. Obviously there is a lot that can be done to improve manufacturing flexibility and shorten change-overs, but the biggest gains are to be had in reducing the order processing times, especially the time it takes to determine if the order can be delivered on time and in full. Given the reduction in inventory, the issue has gone from available-to-promise (promising from finished goods inventories) to capable-to-promise (determining if the products can be manufactured in time), blurring the distinction between execution and planning.

The sustainability scorecard will perhaps have the biggest and widest long term effect on the supply chain. As stated in a New York Times article, “In the future they may also have information about the product’s carbon footprint, the gallons of water used to create it, and the air pollution left in its wake.” With the impact of environmental legislation also trickling through the supply chain, particularly the electronics supply chain, it will only be a short time before a full product sustainability scorecard will be required including “carbon” accounting. I think it is only some time before we will have a “carbon cost of goods sold.” And, as commented on in the NYT article by Tim Marrin, associate director of external relations for Procter & Gamble, “The last thing a supplier really wants is when you’re doing a separate index for every retailer.” Wal-Mart has the market “muscle” to see this through and to ensure a standard is adopted across the industry. For assembled products, such as consumer electronics, this means that the suppliers to the brand owners will also have to conform. Which is how we will see the “trickle down” effect influence the adoption of a sustainability index on labels permeate other industries. To be fair to high tech, particularly computing, they have had a start rating in effect for some years. But the Wal-Mart initiative will take this to a whole new level of detail and accountability.

Am I just still too full of Christmas “cheer”?

Trevor Miles is director, industry and applications marketing for Kinaxis, provider of the on-demand RapidResponse service that empowers enterprise and mid-market companies to continuously align demand and supply, thereby bridging the gap that exists between planning and execution. ]]> 21st Century Supply Chain Lori Smith http://forums.industryweek.com/showthread.php?t=11611 http://forums.industryweek.com/showthread.php?t=11611