The world is bloated with inventory that’s in the wrong places at the wrong time. The result is lower levels of customer service, working capital held hostage and lower operating margins for everyone across the trading network....More
Manufacturers devote considerable time and resources to managing their physical supply chain, but often it's their financial supply chain that needs the most attention....More
"In 1997, I thought $20 was reasonable. In 2006, I though $27 was reasonable," Saudi Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi told reporters in Kuwait City on the sidelines of a Gulf oil conference....More
The ultimate demand-driven supply initiative—consumption-based pull planning—affords protection against demand uncertainty by only building to a replenishment signal, not to a forecast....More
The push for sustainability has had a dramatic effect on reverse logistics services. Once considered a fringe activity, reverse logistics (also known as returns management) has in recent years become a key element in manufacturers' corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives since it encompasses the 4 R's of the green movement: reduce, reuse, recycle and recover....More
Over the last decade I have heard several interesting answers to the question, “Where does the supply chain fall short?” Most common answers include “forecasts,” “supplier performance” and “part shortages.”...More
Standing before an sPro selective laser sintering system from 3D Systems in the NAMII headquarters, Rep. Tim Ryan (D-OH) explains how Youngstown transformed itself a rust belt relic to the center of the 3-D printing revolution....More
Dialogue introducing new forecasting study on what the economy might look like in 2025 with a manufacturing resurgence. Video from the Aspen Institute....More
Manufacturing makes America strong. It makes families and communities strong. It provides national security. It gives us energy security. And for the 12 million men and women who work in manufacturing, it gives us pride....More
Christopher Barnatt of ExplainingComputers.com demonstrates how Big Data is transforming the business and industrial worlds and enabling new technologies and new breakthroughs that will help manufacturers work more efficiently than ever before....More
Beyond an initial novelty, 3-D Printing could have a game-changing impact on consumer culture, copyright and patent law, and even the very concept of scarcity on which our economy is based....More
Christopher Barnatt of ExplainingTheFuture.com illustrates the inner workings of additive manufacturing machines and provides some real-life examples of how 3-D printing technology could dramatically change the manufacturing and retail industries as we know them today....More
Engineers at NASA's Jet Propulsion Lab break down the engineering and design challenges they faced during the Curiosity rover's complicated landing near the Martian equator on Aug. 5, 2012....More
