According to the Wall Street Journal, consumer prices are the highest in 40 years. It certainly doesn’t seem to be letting up. In fact, with the Russia-Ukraine war, there will be continued inflationary pressures on products related to oil, gas, commodity, and food at a minimum.
If there is one thing in common with every client (big or small) in the current business environment which is characterized by significant volatility and uncertainty, it is the increased level of complexity of supply chains. As the old saying goes, you are only as strong as your weakest link in your supply chain!
Every client wants to support growth goals while improving service levels (OTIF, on-time-in-full), operational efficiencies and inventory turns. These are timeless objectives for every planner. During the pandemic, the priorities shifted to service levels because clients struggled to keep up with dramatic increases in demand and extreme volatility.
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.
A building products company missed several million dollars in revenue last year because they couldn't meet the demand. Unfortunately, this was a common occurrence. Sales increased dramatically, and they couldn't scale up their manufacturing operations and adapt their purchase requests quickly enough to take advantage of the opportunity.
As manufacturers and distributors emerge from the coronavirus pandemic, they are focused on how to grow revenue and become more efficient and profitable to offset the typically negative impacts of COVID. In the situations where business has grown exponentially in consumer industries such as B2C (e-commerce), home improvement and [...]
Embrace supply chain resilience strategies to thrive in the Amazon era, focusing on rapid delivery and collaborative service.
Manufacturers may not be competing directly with Amazon, but they are facing the impact of rising customer expectations for speed, service, and responsiveness. In this Manufacturers Summit panel discussion, Lisa Anderson explores how the Amazon Effect is reshaping lead times, inventory strategies, and supply chain decision-making.
According to ISM (Institute of Supply Management), manufacturing expanded more than it has in 14 years in February - it is on fire!
If you are not high performing in the food and beverage industry (and consumer products in general), you will not stay viable anymore.
