In its recent e-book, The Path to Modern Supply Chain Planning – Why the Shift from Siloed to Collaborative Is Worth the Journey, Kinaxis identifies the warning signs of ineffective planning as follows:
Of course, these symptoms or signs of ineffective planning are true for supply chains. But they are also true for almost everything else that goes on in the enterprise. Let’s look at them from the bottom up.
In its January 2019 Research Advisory report, 2019 Predictions for Industry and Global Supply Chains, The Ferrari Consulting and Research Group advised supply chain management teams to prepare for continued higher levels of global supply chain risk, complexity and overall uncertainty. At the same time, organizations must be prepared to meet industry needs for increased digital transformation and highlights benefits of concurrent planning in this period of business uncertainty.
Since the launch of the Kinaxis Certification Program in January 2016, we’ve steadily grown our certified user base. That base includes our technical employees, partners and customers, all of whom have worked to fortify and validate their RapidResponse skills in functionality, authoring and administration.
One question I often hear is, “Why should I get a Kinaxis certification?” It is no secret that having well trained, certified RapidResponse practitioners on staff means you have demonstrated the discipline to learn and master various aspects of RapidResponse, and can employ best practices. For a customer, they are able to derive the maximum value from their investment in a RapidResponse deployment. For employees and partners, it means staying at the top of their area of expertise.
Aldous Huxley had it right — it truly is a brave new world, and it is especially so when it comes to tariffs and trade. And for organizations with even moderately complex multinational supply chains, the mounting challenges are the most significant that they’ve faced to date. A fresh set of supply chain strategies are need, the quicker the better.
In addition to dealing with a forever multiplying list of SKUs driven by market demand, the trend toward engaging contract manufacturers continues to grow, and an ever-expanding list of commerce channels is making supply chain management more challenging by the hour. Combine this with an uncertain trade environment with unprecedented market volatility and the impact of ongoing legal, regulatory and taxation changes, and you have a perfect supply chain storm brewing.
![[On-demand webinar] Digital transformation for the automotive supply chain](https://blog.kinaxis.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/email-digital-transformation-automotive-webinar-kinaxis-1024x473.jpg)
Contrary to popular belief, the Ford Motor Company did not invent the assembly line.
But in 1913, Henry Ford did revolutionize it by adding a conveyor system to move the cars along the line, reducing the time it took to build a car from more than 12 hours to less than three.
Fast forward to present day to find the headlights of the electric car peeking around the nearest corner, with autonomous driving technology trailing not far behind. This fundamental shift in the automotive industry, when paired with the alternative energy expectations of the modern automobile consumer, brings the industry to an inflection point not entirely unlike the one Ford ushered in with the advent of mass production.
It sounds ominous, but it’s a brave new tariff-driven trade world out there – a reality senior executives whose organizations operate global supply chains are coming to grips with.
Navigating the latest tariffs, and the resulting ripple effects on currencies along with fluctuations in labor costs make it increasingly difficult for companies managing complex multinational supply chains to make effective sourcing, purchasing and production decisions fast enough to stay competitive.
And by staying competitive, we’re talking about the bottom line. Because at the end of the day, that’s how corporate leadership is measured.
According to Ventana Research in a report commissioned by Kinaxis, only 35 percent of companies with more than 1000 employees say they’re able to react quickly to changing marketing conditions – an astonishingly low number.
It’s getting harder and harder to get ahead—and stay ahead—of the constantly shifting realities of today’s interconnected world. Unstable markets, growing customer demands, emerging competition and deep-rooted reliance on outdated, legacy systems are causing chaos and complexity.
Traditional supply chain issues are only getting compounded by all of these new and emerging data sources. Everyone’s turning to digital for the answers. And it’s no wonder when companies with digital supply chains are seeing enterprise-wide results like 25% faster response times, 30% working capital reductions and up to 110% higher operating margins.
The EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is the most important change in personal data privacy regulation in 20 years. It’s aimed at tech giants and small and medium enterprises alike.
As we count down the days until the GDPR enters into force on May 25, it’s important to recognize how your supply chain is affected and how it can become GDPR compliant.
I’d like to take this opportunity to point out a few critical issues that will have a direct impact on your business and supply chain.
