Making the appropriate business decisions will make or break success. Executives get paid the big bucks to make these decisions. Unfortunately, one poor decision can outweigh thousands of good ones rapidly. SIOP (Sales Inventory Operations Planning), also known as S&OP, is a tool that will optimize these tradeoffs for effective decision making.
A UPS strike was averted on the last day of the quarter, but it still hangs in the balance as the two sides are not on the same page! The head of the union said an imminent strike was likely when a counterproposal fell flat. Now that a new counterproposal was submitted, the imminent strike was called off with a new date set within a week.
It is not easy to expand your thinking, open yourself up to new ideas, and think creatively while completely focused on day-to-day execution. Yet it will be the most important ingredient to success in the next several years.
There are mountains of geopolitical threats going on with significant impact on the supply chain. Most, if not all of these also relate to natural resources.
According to an article in Foreign Affairs, the per capita available water supply around the Northern China Plain (253 cubic meters) is nearly 50% below the UN definition of acute water supply.
In manufacturing and supply chain, AR (augmented reality), VR (virtual reality) and digital twins (digital representation of an intended or real-world physical product, system or process) are a few exciting opportunities with a multitude of uses.
It is a whirlwind and confusing. Here is a quote that sums it up perfectly: From a salesperson at a client recapping the conversations at a recent industry conference - Everyone is skeptical, but we are all seeing orders and backlog remain pretty robust.
According to this week's GDP report, the real growth rate was minimal (around 1.1%) during the first quarter. On the other hand, inflation remains high, around 5.3%. This seems to reflect stagflation. Unfortunately, business equipment spending was around -7.3%, and inventories are down. PMI (Purchasing Managers' Index), an [...]
On a recent trip to Europe, I was fortunate to combine work with pleasure. Finland is diverse from Helsinki to the arctic circle, and we were thrilled to gain picturesque views of the northern lights. I was surprised there are multiple cruise ships that go from Helsinki to Estonia each day because the people and countries are interconnected.
According to PMSA (Pacific Merchant Shipping Association), the five big West Coast ports have lost volume - 702,083 fewer loads and empties were handled in January and February 2023 than in the same period pre-pandemic in 2019. This equates to close to a 16% reduction. Specifically, the Port of Long Beach was off by 18.7% from January 2019 [...]
