Executives are struggling to keep up with inflationary raw material prices, elevated customer requirements, margin pressures, and the lack of people to fulfill key roles. Thus, they are looking to their ERP system and related supply chain technologies for answers.
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.
Manufacturing has struggled to produce what customers want on-time without spending a fortune and tying up excess cash unnecessarily in the wrong, "just-in-case" inventory. It is a tough environment spiraling out of control with supply chain chaos.
Since the pandemic, it has been a constant battle to ensure material availability, let alone to proactively manage cost and service. Even the most proactive and successful clients have experienced brief shortages of key materials and extended lead-times. The rest have been plagued with these issues.
Capacity planning is the structured process of determining whether your organization has the resources required to meet your demand plan and support your revenue growth goals. Capacity plans analyze machinery and equipment, labor and skills, facilities and space, and suppliers and supply chain partner capabilities to ensure you can [...]
Every production planner has the challenging job of managing a complex set of conflicting priorities - meeting customer requested ship dates and new product trials, supporting manufacturing and logistics performance objectives, and addressing finance's objectives as it relates to inventory levels and cash flow.
Several clients are wondering, “Is JIT Dead?”. Definitely not. Just-in-time inventory planning is a best practice inventory management process. If you are literally ordering just-in-time from China and expecting to not experience disruptions without strategic stockpiles, capacity or agility built into the picture is not smart. On the other [...]
ore than 50% of client requests in the last several months have related to inventory. In fact, it seems to be a trending hot topic! In today's era of the Amazon Effect where customers expect more and have ZERO patience to wait yet we are in a volatile environment with tariffs and concerns about space, costs and more, more inventory is needed to grow the business yet businesses cannot afford it.
I cannot tell you how many disagreements I've seen over the years on the optimal planning method.
