The Quantitative Supply Chain

Finding the equilibrium between costs and the amount of cash coming in is a constant battle for any modern day company that provides goods or services. This daily struggle can be captured with a concept called ‘The Supply Chain Triangle’. In today's episode of LokadTV, we meet The Supply Chain Triangle's creator, Bram Desmet, to learn more.

Here at Lokad, our commitment is to deliver the best forecasts that technology can provide. As a result, potential clients often ask if we can provide forecasts alone instead of a full managed solution. In this episode of LokadTV, we explain why these "naked forecasts" invariably introduce a whole host of different problems and how, even with better forecasts, a practitioner usually end up degrading the performance of a supply chain.

With the latest advances in crowdsourced data, we are now able to forecast the impact of traffic congestion and optimize our routes more accurately than ever before. For this episode of LokadTV, we are joined by Cédric Hervet to discuss how real-time route optimization has changed the way delivery companies operate.

Lean Supply Chain Management (Lean SCM) starts with a lean applicative landscape to support the supply chain. However, 'lean' in software is primarily a matter of architectural choices. Those choices define the class of problems where the chosen software design is a good fit, and where it isn't. Many supply chain problems stem from broken-by-design situations where core design choices conflict with real-world requirements.

Waste reduction has been the long standing goal of Lean SCM. During the 2000's and 2010's, the focus shifted from 'lean' to 'sustainable supply chains', but there are many points of convergence between these two visions. In particular, both require end-to-end supply chain analysis, as 'local' improvements (e.g. waste reduction) do not necessarily translate into 'global' improvements if inefficiencies are introduced in the process.

The proper preparation of data is critical to achieve success with difficult undertakings such as accurate demand forecasting. Bad data is usually the scapegoat of failed supply chain initiatives. Yet bad data usually reflects poorly understood software and processes rather than erroneous data entries.

The ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) is a misnomer, as it should have been ERM (Enterprise Resource Management). ERPs became prevalent back in the 80's to operate supply chains and remain the 'transactional core' of most larger companies. However, ERPs are now undergoing deep changes to cope with newer supply chain practices as well as newer IT practices that have emerged during the last two decades.

The supply chain optimization of the fresh food industry presents specific challenges, most notably the precise control of expiration dates that are very short and complex seasonalities that are typically more erratic than what 'non-fresh' supply chain practitioners would expect.

Willingness to pay is a basic economic concept that determines the maximum amount an individual is willing to pay for a specific good or service. This can be affected by many factors such as marketing and trends, and can often vary massively from consumer to consumer. While this notion is essential to understand market demand, it is too frequently ignored by supply chain practitioners.

Accurate demand forecasts for automotive spare parts is important to ensure high service levels that minimize disruptions for customers when their vehicles are in need of mechanical repair. However, the number of distinct parts and the number of distinct vehicles are high, which both complicate the forecasting process.