Do these hypothetical situations sound familiar? Acme Company has a large, priority customer called Wylie Company. Acme must service Wylie flawlessly to maintain the contract, so to ensure stock is always available when Wylie needs it, Acme agrees to a guaranteed safety stock level for Wylie. And, Acme ends [...]
With all the competing demands within a supply chain organization, a $1 Million Dollar Planner is the person that can see the bigger picture and communicate just how the company’s objectives can be achieved.
The key to effective cycle counting is to not get bogged down in resolving every dollar, but rather focus on the significant discrepancies. The main goal of cycle counting is to cycle through your inventory to ensure inventory accuracy on a consistent basis. (In contrast, a physical inventory is [...]
By definition, a forecast is always wrong, so why bother? The main reason is because your customers are key to your business, and your forecasts/ demand plans represent your customer demand. And, if you provide excellent service to your customers in the most efficient and consistent manner, you will [...]
Customer collaboration is always a good idea; however, leveraging customer collaboration during challenging economic times can be one of the keys to success. Pick up the phone - some of the largest successes I've seen result from simple yet critical conversations. It can be as simple as calling a [...]
In today's new normal business environment, characterized by sluggish growth, tight liquidity, elevated customer expectations and a general theme of "more for less", there's no doubt revenue has to be a top priority. Add demographic trends, and revenue becomes a critical priority. As baby boomers begin retiring, spending will [...]
In my experience in working with clients across multiple industries, geographies and sizes, I have no doubt that effective inventory management is far from a no-brainer, yet implementing a few secrets to success can yield dramatic bottom line results.
Inventory accuracy is often overlooked, but it is vital to to bottom line business results. Although a bedrock topic, inventory accuracy is often overlooked in operations strategy discussions as it becomes an assumption or something that just should occur. However, I am constantly reminded of its vital importance and [...]
The need for improved capacity and staffing analysis and decision-making arises frequently as a critical success factor with my clients, and so I thought a few tips would be beneficial: Start simple - Complex models don't drive results. Simple, easy-to-understand data will give you what you need to succeed. [...]
You wouldn’t think so from the way companies are hoarding cash; however, in general, they have a stockpile of cash and remain leery to spend it. Last year, there was a 2% decrease in days working capital (DWC), according to CFO Magazine.
