Posts by Alexa Cheater

What is concurrent planning?

AlexaCheater

Concurrent planning is the process of making and managing synchronized plans across time horizons, business processes and organizational boundaries at the same time.There are lots of organizations that claim to have reinvented supply chain planning. They say they simplify planning by aligning different supply chain processes or functions. There’s just one problem: None have truly reached their goal. None really do concurrent planning.

While many companies claim to solve the sequential planning issues of the past, few have. They have brought parts of the planning process into the cloud, added algorithms and machine learning capabilities, or simplified reporting procedures.

But most still rely on parts of the same vicious, siloed cycle that’s been in use forever: wait for someone ahead of you to generate a plan, create your plan using their results, try to reconcile these plans with one another and eventually recognize that everyone’s plans have become meaningless in the time it’s taken to reach a consensus…

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[On-demand webinar] How to stop planning in the dark

AlexaCheater

Stop [On-demand webinar] How to stop planning in the dark - WATCH NOWmaking decisions in the dark.

Some things are better in the dark. Fireworks. Watching a movie. Robbing a bank. Supply chain planning isn’t one of them. So why do so many companies still plan that way?

Managing a supply chain is tough enough without having to make decisions blind. Increasing cost pressures, growing customer expectations, expanding ecosystems—all add to the complexity you’re facing every day.

But today’s planning reality leaves way too much in the dark. Siloed data and processes don’t deliver the visibility you need. Cumbersome, disconnected systems don’t provide the flexibility and agility you want. The resulting lag time leaves you feeling like you’re jumping through hoops only to get to the wrong answer. Planning in the dark like that only leads to unexpected and unwanted results.

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Digital supply chain transformation: What was once disruption is now strategy

AlexaCheater

The debate over whether technology is required to run supply chains is over. It has been for a while now. In the next five years, we’ll see more innovation than the last century, and that’s staying a lot given in those 100 years we put a man on the moon, invented aerosol spray cans and saw the world revolutionized by personal computers, the internet and mobile phones.

Looking around on day two of the Gartner Supply Chain Executive Conference in Phoenix, AZ I see evidence of the world’s past innovation everywhere. From the phones and tablets in fellow attendees’ hands to the wireless earbuds and smart watches they’re wearing to the very screens presentations are being shown on. Innovation is everywhere. It’s inescapable. Even in the confines of your Excel-driven supply chain.

As Amber Salley and James Lisica, senior director analysts for Gartner, so poignantly put it during their keynote presentation on converging the physical and digital supply chains—if you’re still operating on the back of an Excel spreadsheet, it’s time for a reality check.

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From supply chain survival to leader: How you can follow Lenovo’s lead and find success during an acquisition

AlexaCheater

“Stand up if you know what it’s like to live through an acquisition, or if you’ve experienced a crisis at your company at some point in time.”

That was how Ben Massie, Vice President of E2E Supply Chain Execution at Lenovo, kicked off his presentation at the 2019 Gartner Supply Chain Executive Conference in Phoenix, AZ. Nearly everyone in the room was standing—myself included.

Massie’s story centered on his journey from IBM to Lenovo during the acquisition of System X—a seven-year process from sale to hyper growth.

There were layoffs. A lot of them. A revolving door of mangers. Seven in sixteen months. And a shift in culture that put the emphasis solely on the bottom line.

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[On-demand webinar] Slide into a new supply chain planning experience

AlexaCheater

[On-demand webinar] Slide into a new supply chain planning experience

Let’s face it. Managing a global supply chain is no easy feat. You constantly have to solve complex problems and manage shifting situations driven by things like regulation changes, growing consumer expectation and geo-political unrest. Tradeoffs and difficult choices are everywhere.

Add to that the fact that many of us are still using antiquated technology that just hasn’t kept up with the times and it’s no wonder we often feel stuck in firefighting mode.

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Are you sure you’re making the best supply chain decisions?

AlexaCheater

Successfully managing your supply chain means making decisions. A lot of them.

But the reality for many is that the tradeoffs and choices they’re making are based on outdated or inaccurate data.

How can you be sure you have the information and insight you need to make the best supply chain decisions possible for your business? Today’s planning reality leaves too much room for uncertainty. Siloed and sequential data and processes don’t deliver the visibility you need.

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Breaking down doors for the marginalized in supply chain management. Highlights from Kinexions ’18 day two.

AlexaCheater

Megan Smith - Kinexions '18Less than 15 percent of supply chain executives are female. Even fewer are women of color. That’s a sad state of affairs, and desperately needs to change. So how is it that with so many strong, courageous, talented women, so few have found a way to break through the glass ceiling?

Kristen LeBaron, Director of Supply Chain at Lippert Components, Heather Mason, Inventory Program Manager at Applied Materials, Tonia Chu, Global Business Process Owner at Sanofi Genzyme and Pamela Passman, a member of the Kinaxis Board of Directors, shed some light during the Women in Supply Chain Breakfast on day two of Kinexions ’18, our annual user and training conference.

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What matters next for supply chain management? An insider’s look at day one of Kinexions ’18.

AlexaCheater

Kinexions '18It’s not about the future. It’s about what’s beyond it. And when it comes to what matters next for supply chains and supply chain management, it’s all about two things: digital, and the people enabling it.

Hundreds of supply chain managers, planners, executives and experts gathered in National Harbor, MD on October 16 for the kickoff of Kinexions ’18, our annual user and training conference, to learn how to digitize, transform and revolutionize their supply chains.

The opening keynote presentations didn’t disappoint.

“We’re well on the journey to digitization,” said Kinaxis CEO John Sicard. A poignant reminder that despite all the hype recently, many of the ‘latest innovations’ people are screaming about have actually been around and available in products like Kinaxis RapidResponse® for years. But despite the differences between us – country, industry, age, gender and role – we’re all asking the same question. What comes next?

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