by Dave Frentzel | Apr 8, 2024 | Briefs, Consumer & Retail, Operations, Strategic Sourcing, Strategy, Supply Chain Management
You’ve probably seen the news – in 2023, Mexico became the top source of US imports on a dollar basis, beating out China for the first time since 2002 (Figure 1). Figure 1. US imports by origin, all commodities...
by Dave Frentzel | Dec 21, 2023 | Briefs, Operations, Supply Chain Management
As a supply chain manager, how do you spend your time? Managing day-to-day operations, addressing people challenges, budgeting, and fighting the inevitable fires might be top of mind. How about managing essential projects? In our experience, these SCM initiatives are...
by David Bovet | Nov 15, 2023 | Briefs, Consumer & Retail, Operations, Supply Chain Management
In a word: S&OP. Or even better, SIOP. What’s so magical about these processes? Sales and Operations Planning (S&OP), or SIOP by adding Inventory to the mix, is a critical business discipline. It drives service effectiveness and operating efficiency by...
by David Bovet | Nov 11, 2022 | Briefs, Strategic Sourcing, Supply Chain Management
Consumer brands have been badly buffeted, between supply shortages, shipping challenges and now weakening sales. Too little inventory or too much? Whither demand? Is supply assured? Supply chain (SC) management stands at the crosshairs of business success as never...
by Dave Frentzel | Oct 26, 2022 | Briefs, Strategic Sourcing, Supply Chain Management
Shippers are busy restructuring challenged supply chains today, including their third-party logistics (3PL) provider relationships. Importers face a seemingly never-ending list of concerns – geopolitical, inflation, interest rates, freight rates, network resilience,...
by Dave Frentzel | Oct 14, 2022 | Briefs, Consumer & Retail, Industrial & Distribution, Strategic Sourcing
Given today’s volatile costs and service levels across the global supply chain, complete and timely product costs are even more critical to your company’s sourcing strategies and day-to-day purchasing decisions. Make-vs-buy and supplier selection decisions depend on...