Welcome
We hope you enjoy the Fall 2010 issue of Supply Chain Directions, our quarterly e-newsletter linking you to a short list of leading, timely, and relevant white papers and articles in the areas of Supply Chain Design, Transportation Planning, Inventory Planning, Global Supply Chain Management, Sustainability and Performance Analytics.
Spotlight
Provider Enhances Efficiency of Kraft’s Transportation Network
Kraft Food’s partnership with Chainalytics has delivered both hard and soft benefits, enhancing efficiencies in its transportation network and improving relationships across the supply chain.
6 Network Redesign Tips
Successful network design will always come down to the specific needs of your business, the needs of your customers, and the types of products moving through its veins.
Supply Chain Design
Market-Driven Optimization
ChainLink Research, April 20, 2010
By Lucy West
Running a supply chain network optimization may save you money on inventory or transportation costs, but does it help you make money and reduce risk? Companies need to think in terms of Market-Driven Optimization if they want to grow.
Network Redesign Emerges As Top Priority in Tough Times
CSCMP’s Supply Chain Quarterly, August 24, 2010
By Staff
Companies see revising their distribution networks as one of the best ways to respond to challenging economic conditions.
Transportation
Time to Listen to the “Voice of the Carrier?”
Supply Chain Digest, July 7, 2010
By SCDigest Editorial Staff
Carriers are Rating Shipper Attractiveness Every Day, former Owens Corning Transportation Executive Says; Take the Quiz to See How Well You Understand what Carriers Value
High-Speed Railroading
The Economist, July 22, 2010
By Staff
America’s system of rail freight is the world’s best. High-speed passenger trains could ruin it.
Inventory
Consider This — Avoiding Obsolete Inventory
Industry Week, May 20, 2010
By Ray Pay, President, The R. Pay Company LLC
Possession is 9/10ths of the problem. Most companies are busy searching for ways to return, sell, give or throw away obsolete inventory, but the important question isn’t how to get rid of it, but how to avoid it in the first place.
Why Best Pick is Not Your Best Forecasting Option
SupplyChainBrain, May 28, 2010
By Rod Daugherty, Senior Director, Product Management, Manhattan Associates
Demand forecasting is complicated and a number of challenges come into play. Fortunately, psychic powers aren’t a prerequisite in forecasting demand patterns or overcoming these challenges.
Global Supply Chains
Offshoring to Mexico? Look Before You Leap
DC Velocity, May 24, 2010
By James A. Cooke
When they think about relocating offshore operations to Mexico, most companies focus on the supply chain benefits. What they should be looking at are the challenges.
Brazil Is Booming (and Maddening)
CFO Magazine, July 15, 2010
By Kate O’Sullivan
U.S. companies are keen to expand into Latin America’s biggest market, but CFOs report that Brazil poses unique challenges.
Ties That Bind: Sewing Up U.S.-Canada Trade
Inbound Logistics, July 2010
By Merrill Douglas
While security inspections and heavy traffic might needle shippers, new infrastructure projects could help keep cross-border trade from unraveling.
Sustainability
The Importance of Packaging in Supply Chain Management
Logistics Viewpoints, June 21, 2010
By Steve Banker
The core supply chain management issues involve choosing the right product, case, and pallet sizes in a manner that will help increase product sales while lowering inventory, transportation, and packaging costs.
Green Supply Chain News: Summary of the Annual BP Statistical Review of World Energy
Green SCM, July 20, 2010
By Editorial Staff
Energy Usage and Production Mostly Drop at Levels not Seen Since 1982; Coal, Surprisingly, Reaches Largest Share of Global Energy Since 1970
Minding the Sustainability GAAP
GreenBiz.com, August 27, 2010
By Janet Ranganathan and Linnea Laestadius
By failing to integrate sustainability into annual financial reports, businesses make decisions that are bad for the environment and their own bottom lines.
Performance Analytics
Analytics: An Overlooked Supply Chain Opportunity
Supply Chain Digest, August 18, 2010
By Ritu Jain, Global Marketing Manager for Supply Chain Solutions, SAS
Smarter Really Does Mean Better; Not Just for PHDs
About Chainalytics
Chainalytics is a professional services firm that enhances competitive advantage and shareholder value through optimized supply chain strategies. Chainalytics’ fact-based decision making approach improves and innovates our clients’ strategies and tactics with particular emphasis on supply chain design, transportation strategies, inventory strategies, and product and customer portfolio planning. Offered as both project-based and managed services, this approach is achieved via a unique combination of domain expertise, resilient methodologies, and exclusive research and content – all supported by the world’s most advanced decision sciences tools and techniques. Chainalytics targets enterprises with a high degree of complexity created by their unique combinations of scale, change and geography. With offices in North America and Asia, Chainalytics serves companies globally in a borderless fashion. Learn more at www.chainalytics.com.
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