909.630.3943

Manufacturing

Strategies for AI in Manufacturing & Supply Chain

What is All the Hoopla Over ChatGPT? If you haven't been living under a rock, you've heard about ChatGPT and other AI (artificial intelligence) competitors such as Google's Bard and Elon Musk's AI platform. Everyone has gotten into the conversation, from marketing professionals to tech experts to people like [...]

Scheduling Best Practices to Improve Service & Performance

The best companies focus on production scheduling. Even though Production Schedulers aren't typically highly paid positions, the function will make or break your ability to serve customers, improve operational performance and accelerate cash flow. Thus, it should be a key priority if you want to achieve profitable growth.

SIOP / S&OP: Balance Customer Orders, Inventory, & Profitability

If you want to serve your key customers successfully (with high on-time-in-full (OTIF), short lead times, and proactive service) so that you can take advantage of the opportunities coming down the pike while addressing the hard realities of the current business environment (potential recessions, high interest rates, and less access to capital), you MUST balance sales, operations and inventory.

Silicon Valley Bank’s Failure Kicked Off a Liquidity Crisis

Silicon Valley Bank's Failure kicked off panic in the financial markets and banking system. They had too much money tied up in long term bonds paying at low interest rates, and they didn't have the liquidity to keep up with the depositors requests to take money out of the [...]

Manufacturing Opportunities in e-Commerce

Originally published in Brushware, March-April, 2023 According to Insider Intelligence, the US B2B e-commerce sales will be over $2 trillion by 2024. Digital Commerce 360 said that manufacturers’ B2B e-commerce sales have been growing at an annual rate of 16% since 2016 which is almost 1.5 times faster than [...]

Inventory Management: Go Back to the Basics for Success During Today’s Volatility

Volatility is the New Norm If there is one thing that is certain in today's world, it is that volatility and change are the new normal. VUCA (volatility, uncertainty, complexity, ambiguity) is top of mind for every client. For example, clients ask the following questions: What will happen next? [...]

SIOP/ S&OP Playbook: Creating Predictability & EBITDA Growth

The "Solution" to Successfully Dealing with Shortages, Delays & Inflation Supply Chains: There is No "Return to Normal" There is no "return to normal". Non-stop disruptions are the norm. Proactive clients are still struggling to hire the "right" talent in the "right" place at the "right" time. Material lead [...]

Take Control of Your Manufacturing to Wrestle Volatility to the Ground

What is clear is that VUCA (volatility, uncertainty, complexity, ambiguity) is continuing in the forefront and will continue to be our "new normal". As I recently debated with the Wall Street Journal, we are in an era of non-stop disruptions. Look no further than the escalating war of Russia [...]

West Coast Ports Diminishing Volume

According to the The Journal of Commerce, the West Coast ports are losing volume. The West Coast share of imports coming from Asia is down from 61.1% in 2021 to 58.8% in 2022 while the East Coast and Gulf Coast ports rose. According to the JOC, the ILWU contract negotiations are causing this change although there are concerns about drayage and rail as well.

Labor Scheduling: How to Maximize Operational Effectiveness While Servicing Your Customer

At its simplest, labor scheduling is determining which people (and which skills) you should have at which sites at which work centers at what time (shift) to ensure the right products can be delivered to the right customer at the right time.
Go to Top