Tag Archives: Supply chain

7 skills logistics leaders will need to manage the digital supply chain

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7 skills logistics leaders will need to manage the digital supply chain

7 skills logistics leaders will need to manage the digital supply chain

It took some time for the tech revolution to hit the logistics industry, but now that it’s here, everything is changing rapidly. Suddenly, it’s all about omnichannel commerce, digital transparency, and advanced analytics (among many other trends). And as the world of logistics changes, the leaders of the logistics industry will have to develop new skills with which to navigate it.

What skills will the logistics leaders of tomorrow (and today) need to effectively manage the new realities of the supply chain? These seven areas will define the success of a business’s digital supply chain operations and separate the organizations that can fuel their success with technology from the ones who must struggle to adapt to it.

To manage the digital supply chain, here are 7 skills logistics leaders need

1. Ability to adapt

Twenty-first-century logistics will require its leaders and managers to constantly learn how to use new tools and react to changing market conditions. The new logistics professional has to keep a steady hand at the tiller during times of big change and use solid data analysis to find the right path forward, even when market conditions aren’t perfectly clear.

2. Proactive curiosity

Adaptation is easier when a business pursues the right new tech, rather than waiting for it to come to them. Good logistics management will also increasingly require a commitment to proactively keeping up with technological and industry trends.

3. Strategic thinking

Thinking two steps ahead can be tough when the business environment is changing so rapidly, but that’s what the new millennium logistics professional has to do. They have to take the long view and keep a business’s core principles at heart when creating plans for the future.

4. Enterprise IT use and procurement

Enterprise IT is an increasingly critical skill set for logistics professionals. Almost all logistics companies now use enterprise IT software, such as ERP suites, to manage their supply chains, and digital logistics professionals must often make decisions about procurement and implementation of these sophisticated software products.

5. Project management

Today’s logistics professional often has to assume leadership roles on major projects. In order to be an effective leader, they must be skilled at tasks such as:

  • ● Identifying the strengths and weaknesses of team members and delegating tasks to them effectively
  • ● Working with upper management to structure project calendars and deadlines
  • ● Estimating costs and planning for the budgeting and deployment of resources

6. People skills

Speaking of managing people, logistics professionals must also remember that not everything in the digital supply chain is run by circuits in a plastic enclosure. On the contrary, old-fashioned people skills are as necessary in the logistics industry as they’ve ever been—perhaps even more so.

7. An omnichannel mindset

Business, both B2C and B2B, now flows through a multitude of channels. That means that for the 21st-century logistics professional, an omnichannel mindset is a must-have. Whoever your customers are, they’re now on mobile phones, tablets and even voice command services like Alexa. A business’s platform and its logistics operations must reflect this new reality.

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Risk,BI,Performance: Supply Chain Management

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Lecture Series on

Risk, BI, and Performance Management in the Context of Supply and Demand Chain

Supply Chain Institute, Article one – Risk Management

Greetings:


If I may, let me start my journey on this subject with some meaningful quotes from many greats:


“The person who risks nothing, does nothing, has nothing, is nothing, and becomes nothing. He may avoid suffering and sorrow, but he simply cannot learn and feel and change and grow and love and live.”

Leo F. Buscaglia quotes(American guru, tireless advocate of the power of love, 1924-1998)

“Man cannot discover new oceans unless he has the courage to lose sight of the shore.”

Andre Gide quotes (French writer, humanist and moralist, 1947 Nobel prize for literature, 1869–1951)

“Often the difference between a successful person and a failure is not one has better abilities or ideas, but the courage that one has to bet on one’s ideas, to take a calculated risk – and to act.”

Andre Malraux quotes (FrenchHistorian, Novelist and Statesman, 1901–1976)

“He who risks and fails can be forgiven. He who never risks and never fails is a failure in his whole being.”

Paul Tillich quotes (German born AmericanTheologian and Philosopher, whose discussions of God and faith illuminated and bound together the realms of traditional Christianity and modern culture. 1886–1965)

“Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go.”

T.S. Eliot quotes (American born English Editor, Playwright, Poet and Critic, 1888–1965)

Continue reading →

Risk, BI, Performance Management in the Context of Supply and Demand Chain Management

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Risk, BI, Performance Management

Greetings;Due to overwhelming demand from colleagues, customers, and market, we will start a new lecture series on Risk, BI, Performance Management, in the context of Supply and Demand Chain. These articles will appear as lecture series as well as the Latest News on this web site. Your participation and contribution is very welcomed and appreciated. We will try to address the said topics from Analytical Approach as well as Management points of view. I look forward to your input, contribution, and comments.Best Regards,Javad Seyed, Ph.D.javad@supplychaininstitute.com

Five Techniques to Manage Supply Chain Risk

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Risk has always been part of the supply chain. It’s a reality inside and outside the four walls of any organization. It’s no surprise then that as Enterprise Risk Management (ERM) programs proliferate, they have naturally begun to address anticipated and unanticipated events occurring both upstream and downstream in the supply chain.

Upstream of an organization are the suppliers who create goods and services used in a company’s own operations. These include raw components or materials that flow into direct manufacturing as raw materials. There are also indirect products and services that facilitate the company’s actual operations.

The downstream supply chain efficiently distributes a company’s products or services to its customers. All contracted suppliers, both upstream and downstream, must be proactively managed to minimize financial, confidentiality, operational, reputational and legal risks.

You don’t have to look any further than recent headlines to see potential fallout here. Did Equifax have proper data liability insurance coverage in place before 143 million accounts were hacked? And even if they did have coverage, how much was their reputation and customer account credibility damaged? This is still playing out, so not even Equifax management yet knows the impact of the risks taken.

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New DHL report reviews supply chain real estate

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Companies are re-thinking their go-to-market strategies and, as a result, making different choices about how they locate, design and operate their distribution networks.

This has created a new landscape for supply chain real estate, according to a report published by DHL. Global and regional supply chains are changing, as they adapt to the new realities of commerce and competition.

The findings are part of The New Landscape of Supply Chain Real Estate report, which has been authored by Lisa Harrington, President of the lharrington group LLC, in collaboration with DHL.

The report states that while a healthier global economy fuels the demand for supply chain real estate, it is not the only driver.

Four other forces are at work, and they are having a transformational effect on companies’ distribution center networks.

They include:

  1. The e-commerce revolution
  2. Globalization and right-shoring
  3. Mergers and acquisitions
  4. Technology innovation

“The face of global supply chain networks is changing,” said Harrington, author of the report.

“Gone are the days of operating a static real estate portfolio and tweaking it every five to seven years. Business is too dynamic and the stakes are too high.

“The fact is, the way companies manage their supply chain real estate portfolios has morphed from a tactical/operational concern to a strategic differentiator. Supply chains that operate more nimbly and at lower cost don’t just save money. They drive growth.”

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Three supply chain challenges and how to overcome them

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The modern supply chain is becoming more complex by the day. Businesses continue to struggle with keeping their supply chain under control but hidden risks still pose a significant threat to the industry. Even with all the new technologies making their way to the industry, businesses must be aware of these hidden risks and understand how to react appropriately.

Businesses of all kinds must keep supply chain visibility, cyber risk and natural disasters in mind at all times. All of these factors or even just one could have a significant impact on a company’s bottom line. In this current edition of the ‘Challenges and Solutions’ series, we will take a close look at the most troublesome issues in the supply chain and how businesses can avoid or plan for these risks.

New technology

Advancing technology is making its way into the supply chain, forcing businesses to constantly change systems. New services that provide an “Uber-Like” freight experience require supply chain managers to constantly hone their talents and adapt to these kind of digital disruptions. Not only with the Internet of Things be transforming the supply chain end to end, the way people utilize technology to create new processes will need to be monitored. The challenge is keeping supply chain managers and procurement professionals up-to-date and trained with all these new advancements.

Finding a solution can be challenging at first. It will take some time for a business to discover the right process that works for them. There is no one answer fits all, rather a unique, business specific training program must be developed. Some solutions may include putting together a team in charge of locating the latest supply chain innovations and coming up with a plan to train the rest of the staff. Others could be outsourced training programs funded by the organization whose employees will be taking part. Continuous training will be vital in order to remain effective in this transforming industry.

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How Big Data And Analytics Are Transforming Supply Chain Management

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Supply chain management is a field where Big Data and analytics have obvious applications. Until recently, however, businesses have been less quick to implement big data analytics in supply chain management than in other areas of operation such as marketing or manufacturing.

Of course supply chains have for a long time now been driven by statistics and quantifiable performance indicators. But the sort of analytics which are really revolutionizing industry today – real time analytics of huge, rapidly growing and very messy unstructured datasets – were largely absent.

This was clearly a situation that couldn’t last. Many factors can clearly impact on supply chain management – from weather to the condition of vehicles and machinery, and so recently executives in the field have thought long and hard about how this could be harnessed to drive efficiencies.

In 2013 the Journal of Business Logistics published a white paper calling for “crucial” research into the possible applications of Big Data within supply chain management. Since then, significant steps have been taken, and it now appears many of the concepts are being embraced wholeheartedly.

Applications for analysis of unstructured data has already been found in inventory management, forecasting, and transportation logistics. In warehouses, digital cameras are routinely used to monitor stock levels and the messy, unstructured data provides alerts when restocking is needed.

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Six Lessons In Supply Chain Strategy From Genghis Khan

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Supply chain strategy can be a squishy topic. Basically, we try to keep costs down and service up, but what does this really say about how to win in a competitive business? Working harder at the same things is not a sustainable strategic advantage.

True strategy means finding ways to use and combine tactics and resources to achieve a goal in conditions of uncertainty. For supply chain leaders, it demands thinking laterally about everything that happens from the customer back and then placing bets to gain an operational edge.

In addition to modern thinkers like Peter Drucker and Michael Porter, some of the best lessons on this topic come directly from the playbook of Genghis Khan, the 13th century Mongol who conquered nearly all of Eurasia.

Here are six that apply today.

1. Use the skills of others.

The Mongols made no products, farmed no crops, and built no buildings, but still saw the value of engineers, miners, doctors and scholars.

2. Communication is essential to power.

Having armies spread over thousands of miles led Genghis Khan to establish a sort of Pony Express that was designed and maintained centrally.

3. Embrace technology.

In the year 1206, when Genghis Khan was born, his tribe had no metal and lived in felt tents. Fifty years later, they had mastered siege technologies like catapults and trebuchets as well as early firearms and cannon.

4. Never stop learning.

Genghis Khan’s genius was not the result of some epiphany but came rather, in the words of biographer Jack Weatherford, “from a persistent cycle of pragmatic learning, experimental adaptation, and constant revision”.

5. Cherish diversity.

A typically among history’s great empires, the Mongols allowed complete religious freedom and employed almost all of their conquered peoples’ best minds in the imperial administration.

6. Swallow your pride.

Genghis Khan cared nothing for appearances and would often feign retreat to draw enemies onto more favourable ground.

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Two thirds of buyers not managing supply chain risk effectively

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Almost two thirds of buyers think their organisations are not managing their supply chain risk effectively.

Responding to a mini-poll held during a webinar organised by Supply Management in association with business information publisher Bureau van Dijk, 63 per cent of listeners said they didn’t believe their organisations managed threats in the best way.

Ted Datta, BvD’s strategic account director – London, said a majority of negative response underlined the increasing awareness among companies and buyers of the key importance of good supplier risk management. This was increasingly important because legislation was covering new and wider areas, said Datta.

“Know your suppliers, business partners and third parties,” he said, emphasising buyers needed to be up-to-date with new risks as situations changed every month. Datta said as there was so much information to monitor, companies could segment their supply base to identify key strategic suppliers and monitor those suppliers ‘in real time’ or as frequently as possible depending on their resources. Others could be reviewed in a more structured way, he said.

David Lyon, head of procurement at Cancer Research UK, told the webinar, Enhanced supplier due diligence: the implications for supplier risk management, reputation was vital for a charity and it had to ensure suppliers were aligned with its core purpose. “As an organisation that spends 80 per cent of every pound donated on our core mission of research, we must work hand in hand with all our suppliers,” he said.

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Tapping into the ‘big data’ that can help Greek supply chains to be more agile

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Supply chain platform provider GT Nexus has begun tapping into the big data that has accumulated in its system to help shippers, carriers and forwarders provide “assurance of supply”.

In an interview prompted by the possibility of a Greek exit from the Eurozone, GT Nexus’s EMEA director of marketing, Boris Felgendreher, said the Greek crisis bore all the hallmarks of major disruption – the sort that shows the limitations of supply chain planning.

“This sort of situation puts a premium on being agile, in respect of companies being able to move from one sourcing location to another, and that is always difficult. This particular disruption has an added element in that it is financial,” he said, alluding to the fears of a ‘Grexit’ and the problems Greek companies have with making and receiving payments.

And although Greece itself has accepted the terms of its bailout, a number of Eurozone countries have still to ratify the deal, meaning the threat of a Greek exit persists.

However, Mr Felgendreher explained that a recent development by GT Nexus could offer firms a way to circumvent these issues through a “fusion of the physical and financial supply chains”, following an agreement between the platform developer and trade finance solutions provider SeaburyTFX.

SeaburyTFX has developed a funding programme that leverages big data on the GT Nexus platform to deliver suppliers access to low-cost capital. The programme opens the flow of capital into the supply chain to reduce costs and risk by basing funding decisions on the trading partners’ performance history, instead of the buyer’s or supplier’s credit.

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