The holiday shopping season is upon us – a time where supply chains need to be performing at peak. More than ever, customers today expect correct and on-time delivery of items they buy online....More
Amazon is your competitor, whether you like it or not. But are they also your friend?
I see some companies suffering from an Amazon anxiety factor, so they shun the wildly successful company, or they try to copy Amazon’s innovations in the hopes that this keeps them competitive....More
Pharmaceutical supply chain logistics are relatively complicated and unpredictable so managing forecasting is vital to the health of the business....More
Planning is one of the core functions of supply chain management, and yet by its very nature the concept of an “accurate forecast” is an oxymoron. All forecasts end up being wrong; the key is being able to minimize the errors....More
Manufacturers' reported prices were on the rebound after contracting for several months, but new orders continued to slide along with inventories....More
The feel-good story of the auto industry's comeback could take a dark turn if the OEMs don't take a hard look at their suppliers' abilities to ramp up in lockstep with demand.
That was the message from two speakers at the Center for Automotive Research's Management Briefing Seminars in Traverse City, Mich., where analysts projected that U.S. vehicle sales will exceed 14 million units this year -- up from 13 million in 2011 -- and will hit 16 million units by mid-decade....More
Mitsubishi Motors (IW 1000/221) said Wednesday that it has "temporarily" stopped shipments of its i-MiEV electric car to PSA Peugeot Citroen.
The firm said it would stop deliveries of the vehicles, branded iOn Peugeot and Citroën C-Zero in Europe, that began after the two firms signed a supply deal two years ago.
"This is a temporary stoppage for adjusting stocks (of inventory)," a Mitsubishi spokesman in Tokyo said, declining to elaborate....More
Manufacturing organizations have never faced so much complexity in their operations before. In response to global opportunities, these organizations continue to open new sales and distribution offices in various countries across the globe, set up joint ventures, relocate manufacturing to cost optimal regions and acquire other companies. Their supply chains also continue to become more loosely coupled and complex....More
There is no lack of good news in the U.S. economy. Automobile and housing activity are both positive and bode well for the economy, as does the rate of rise in overall retail sales. And while you may not know it because of the "weak" employment numbers reported in the general media, jobs are being added to the U.S. economy. When you strip away the seasonal adjustment factors, the number is terrific; the economy added 732,000 jobs in May....More
Many organizations have adopted sales and operations planning (S&OP) as a way to promote visibility within the enterprise and to foster collaboration among business functions. In fact, according to data from APQCs Open Standards Benchmarking in supply chain planning, 82 percent of participating organizations have a formal S&OP program.
With so many organizations using S&OP, what does the average S&OP program look like? Can organizations take steps to improve their supply chain planning?...More
When evaluating distributors, manufacturers should look for companies that can offer specialized in-house capabilities that will add value to the overall product offering, observes Bill Moore, senior vice president with SKF, a manufacturer of bearings. Examples could include machinery that performs custom functions, such as a cutting machine for made-to-order lengths of hose or chain....More
Manufacturing products in the United States or China or Timbuktu isn't the issue. Making fact-based decisions about what's right for your company and your global customers is what matters most today....More
Capable of generating up to 5,000kW, the locomotives will be coupled together and tasked with pulling loads of up to 850 tons up slopes with a 10.4% gradient which makes them 50% more powerful than those currently in use....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, 3D 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
