The Quantitative Supply Chain

Like most complex systems, supply chains are difficult to comprehend. Most naive measurements, such as the forecasting accuracy, only give a partial view of the problem. As a result, during the 90's and 2010's, multiple methods like ABC analysis or safety stocks have persisted while they had neither theoretical grounding nor empirical results to support them.

A/B testing is a method of comparing two options, or more, in order to assess which one yields the best outcome. Unfortunately, A/B testing performs poorly when confronted with supply chain challenges. In this episode of LokadTV, we learn why this type of testing is currently being used in a number of industries and why it has historically been so popular. We learn more about how this approach is profoundly weakened when applied to a supply chain and the complexities that mean that alternative approaches work much better.

The convenience of being able to return a product so easily has revolutionised our online shopping experience, with customers now able to shop for a multitude of items, which previously would only have been possible in physical stores. In this episode of LokadTV, we welcome Paul Bello from Revers.io, a company that aims to facilitate customer returns, to discuss with us this change of mindset. We go into more depth on how returns have become such a truly important part of the e-commerce industry and the various impacts that this ease of returns has on a supply chain.

The predictive optimization of supply chains relies on data that can usually be found somewhere in the company's existing applicative landscape. However, many of these systems may not be managed by IT as they arose from immediate operational needs that weren't covered by the 'official' systems. Shadow IT is the name given to IT systems that are created within a company without the explicit approval of the management.

The accuracy of demand forecasts is considered a critical ingredient to reduct stock-outs and improve service levels. However, when demand is strongly influenced by the weather, it makes sense to consider refining the demand forecast by leveraging a weather forecast.

The Stock Keeping Unit (SKU) refers to a specific product stored in a specific location. SKUs are central in most inventory control sytems. Many inventory methods are geared around the notion of SKUs. However, the SKU perspective is sometimes detrimental to the very problems that the supply chain is trying to address.

Comparatively to other fields, say software engineering or mechanical engineering, supply chain media during the 2000's and the 2010's decades has been dominated by the communications of big-name tech vendors to the detriment of innovation and actual supply chain performance.

Supply chains are so complex that regular configuration-driven software can't accomodate the sheer diversity of situations faced by practitioners. These limitations apply to inventory control problems as well as demand forecasting situations. Domain-specific languages (DSL) provide an answer to this class of problems.

The performance of a Supply Chain Management (SCM) practice is increasingly dependent on software technologies. The concept of digital transformation covers the complex process associated with the roll-out of a software technology into a large organization.In this episode of LokadTV we are joined by the Global Head of Terra Numerata at Roland Berger, Axelle Lemaire.

Due to a vast spectrum of factors, world trade as we know it is changing. From Europe to Asia to the United States, there are changes in the air that have resulted in political forces around the world leaning away from long-standing trends of economic globalization, such as Donald Trump's recent tariff stance against China.