The Supply Chain Blog
The StockIQ supply chain blog is a resource for any inventory based enterprise.
A Day In The Life Of A Demand Planner
When you’re in the business of supply chain management, nothing matters more than your inventory. Having enough of it at the appropriate times (while reducing unnecessary inventory levels) is a delicate balance and requires the expertise of a skillful demand planner. Demand planners are charged with predicting the amount of future product demands, based on…
Why Warehouses Need Data Visualization Tools
When you have an inventory-based warehouse, you know just how much data is behind your operation. This data gives you mission-critical insights into things like your products, how they’re performing, what type of inventory you need, and what your product life cycles are like. While this can result in a monumental amount of data, there…
How Production Management Software Impacts You
Production management software has the potential to immensely impact your day-to-day business operations. If you have high-quality production management software, you may find it easier to keep up with the needs of your business. On the other hand, if you’re trying to skip the production management software altogether, or you’re using a low-quality solution that…
4 Ways to Bridge the Sales and Operations Gap
Sales and operations are two sides of the same coin. Both need to fulfill their functions for the business to keep running as smoothly as possible. Unfortunately, in many organizations, sales and operations do not communicate as well as the business might hope. Due to that overall lack of communication, many businesses find themselves struggling…
6 Forecasting Errors and How To Avoid Them
Forecasting errors can cause serious problems for an inventory-based business. If you fail to correctly predict high demand for inventory, you will miss sales. On the other hand, if you fail to accurately predict a decline in demand, you may find it difficult to move out unwanted merchandise, which can mean that you end up…
Supply Chain Optimization in 2023
After the supply chain challenges of the past several years, many businesses are looking for strategies that will allow them to optimize their supply chains, improve resiliency, and ensure that they are prepared for whatever the future may hold. Are you interested in building supply chain resilience and optimizing your supply chain for whatever lies…
The Key Components of Replenishment Planning
Replenishment planning helps keep inventory flowing steadily through your supply chain. Ideally, in an effective business model, you have a steady stream of inventory moving through your business. Customers purchase the items you have put on the shelves, and you have the inventory needed to replace them in a timely manner. When you don’t keep…
Planning for a Short Product Life Cycle
Some products naturally have a shorter life cycle than others. While they may be highly popular from their introduction and grow quickly, they also have a much shorter maturity phase, and they may decline much more quickly than products with a longer overall lifecycle. Planning for those products may involve a number of key differences…
How To Improve Your Sales Order Fulfillment Process
Your order fulfillment process is a critical part of keeping your business moving forward smoothly. You want to receive orders, pack them, and ship them out in as effective a manner as possible to help improve overall customer satisfaction. Are you working to improve your sales order fulfillment process? There are several key steps you…
How Does a Proper Material Requirements Planning System Operate?
When it comes to your material requirements planning system, keeping up with the details is critical. You need a system that can help you keep up with all the details of the materials you need to keep running smoothly: where they are, when they’re running low, when it’s time to reorder, and even what supplier…
What to Expect From an Inventory Forecasting Solution
Effectively managing your inventory is a critical part of ensuring overall business success. With increasing supply shortages and other challenges across many industries, it has become necessary to carefully monitor your inventory needs, including forecasting future needs to provide for your customers. An inventory forecasting solution can deliver those critical insights and give you more…
The Strategic Advantage: How the Right People, Processes, and Tools Will Propel Your Team
Having the right people, processes, and tools can make a dramatic difference for an inventory-based business. Without the right resources, you may constantly scramble to keep things moving smoothly. It could result in lower production times, abysmal employee morale, and a decrease in revenue. Your business will be much more successful with the right people,…
What’s New From StockIQ? A Peek Into 2023
2022 has seen a lot of new releases from StockIQ as we aim to continue to provide the high standard of service and support our customers expect. We are constantly updating our systems and working to provide a higher standard of service so that you have the features you need to manage your inventory and…
How Does an Inventory-Based Business Truly Measure Success?
For any business, there are several critical metrics to take into consideration. As an inventory-based business, you may assume that your bottom line is one of the most critical measures of success. While that is certainly a metric to consider, there are other measurements of success to focus on as you determine how your business…
What is Multi-Site MRP Software?
Choosing the right system to help plan your purchasing is critical. MRP software is a key part of ensuring that you have the right materials coming into your business at the right time so that you can manufacture the goods you need, in the quantities needed. Having the right solution can make a huge difference…
Why Don’t All Technology Investments Pay Off?
Technology is often a major investment for your workplace. You may have spent considerable time researching available solutions and choosing the technology option that best fit your unique needs and budget. Unfortunately, not every technology investment pays off. There are several reasons your technology investment might not be working as well as you had hoped. …
Why You Need a Partner With You Through Implementation
Any time you adopt a new program or platform, there is a period of time during which your business must adjust to those new needs and expectations. You need to learn how to use that platform to its fullest extent, and you need a good idea of all its features and how they compare to…
Understanding the Bullwhip Effect and Avoiding Excess Inventory
Even a slight change in ordering behavior at the consumer level can lead to a much bigger impact up the supply chain. No matter where your business is in that chain, you may notice significant changes in buying behavior as retailers place smaller orders. That can, in turn, make it much more likely that you…
A Guide to Co-Manufacturing
A co-manufacturing arrangement allows a third party to take care of the manufacturing process for your goods. In many cases, those large businesses can manage the manufacturing process faster and more effectively than smaller retailers. However, to determine whether co-manufacturing is the most effective arrangement for your company and whether you have chosen the right…
6 Cost Cutting Methods You Might Not Have Thought Of (Supply Chain Edition)
With costs increasing everywhere, it has become increasingly important for many businesses to find ways to reduce costs and manage expenses. You may not think of your supply chain as a potential drain on your resources, but you may find that you have a number of supply chain inefficiencies that can increase your overall costs,…
How Can Inventory-Based Businesses Combat Inflation?
Inflation has become a genuine problem for businesses in a variety of industries. Increases in household demand, supply chain shortages, and a strong labor market have all contributed to inflation in recent days. As an inventory-based business, it may not take long for you to start feeling the strain. Fortunately, there are some things you…
Can You Shift Inventory Risk Onto the Manufacturer?
“Who should own inventory risk?” This key question has been asked by a number of businesses over the last few years. There are a lot of challenges that go into inventory management, made worse by supply chain shortages, delays, and other challenges to meet increased consumer demand in a variety of industries, many businesses have…
Navigating Fluctuating Inventory Priorities
Many inventory-based businesses have seen their priorities change in recent years. Prior to the pandemic, keeping the “right” inventory on hand meant keeping overall inventory as low as possible while still meeting consumer demand. In most cases, business owners felt confident in the overall supply chain and its ability to deliver the inventory they needed,…
What’s Involved With Hiring Supply Chain Talent?
A shortage of talent across the supply chain industry has posed significant problems for many businesses over recent years. Building out an effective supply chain team has become increasingly challenging. Finding supply chain talent can be difficult, but it’s also well worth the effort and investment as you work to build supply chain responsiveness and…
Top Down, Middle Out, Bottom Up: What’s Right For Me?
When it comes to stock and inventory management, there are a number of common strategies that can help you forecast demand and maintain the right level of inventory across your organization. Using the right strategy is critical. However, it can be difficult for many business owners and managers to determine the strategy that’s right for…
What Does an Ineffective Supply Chain Management System Look Like?
For many inventory-based businesses, supply chain management quickly grows inefficient and disjointed. You may find yourself struggling to effectively keep up with your inventory. Worse, you may discover that only a few members of your team know how to use the available tools, which can lead to serious problems if those individuals are not available. …
Should We Use a Blanket PO?
Choosing the right ordering style for your business is a critical part of your ordering process. In many cases, businesses may use more than one style of order to get the job done. Regular purchase orders are put in when you need a specific product at a specific time. They will include specific quantities of…
What Does the Next Gen Supply Chain Look Like?
The future is here. Technology continues to advance by leaps and bounds in many arenas, including supply chain planning and management. Throughout the supply chain challenges of the past couple of years, from shortages in truckers to strikes and inventory shortages, technology has continued to grow by leaps and bounds, increasing the way many businesses…
5 Transportation and Supplier Trends We’re Keeping Eyes On
The supply chain, like so many other things in the world, is changing. Technology has increased exponentially over the past couple of years, and the supply chain has become increasingly complex. Transportation issues have abounded for the past several years, frequently compounded by current events and the unique circumstances surrounding the last year. Having the…
The Importance of Supplier Diversification
Your supply chain relies on multiple factors to keep up the steady stream of goods you need for your business. Whether you’re bringing in raw materials or finished products, you need to know that everything will arrive to the right location, on schedule, to keep your business flowing smoothly. Unfortunately, disruptions happen all too often. …
Are You Thinking About the Chinese New Year Yet?
Throughout the year, there are a number of seasonal challenges that you have to plan for in order to ensure that you can keep your supply chain flowing smoothly. However, there are challenges you may not think to account for as you plan for potential supply chain delays, particularly if they are not common events.…
Product Lifecycle Management and Supply Chain Planning: Stronger Together
As an inventory-based business, you may keep track of a great deal of data that provides you with critical insights into how your products are performing, how much inventory you need, and where that inventory needs to come from. As part of that data, you must pay close attention to both overall product lifecycle management…
NetSuite Warehouse Management: How Can It Be Improved?
NetSuite is a robust program with several useful features that can make it easier to manage your inventory. It offers a number of inventory and warehouse management solutions, including: Mobile RF barcode scanning Defined strategies for picking and put away Task management solutions Return authorization receipts Cycle count plans With NetSuite, you’ll note improvements over…
7 Ways To Improve Your Strategic Sourcing in 2023
Strategic sourcing for your products and raw materials has become increasingly important, especially with supply chain challenges continuing across the country and around the world. Not only that, but strategic sourcing can also help decrease your overall costs, make it easier for you to keep inventory flowing, and improve your ability to keep up with…
Inventory Based Businesses and Product Development Strategies
Any time you create a new product, you need a product development strategy that will help you bring your new product to your target market and ensure that you have the right inventory on hand to help you manage your product. With the right, most effective product development strategy, you can do a better job…
The Importance of Building a Responsive Supply Chain
With supply chain disruptions continuing across the country and around the world, a responsive supply chain has become increasingly important for many businesses. Meeting consumer demand remains a challenge for many businesses across several industries. Creating a responsive supply chain, which can adapt quickly in response to changing customer needs, is a critical part of…
7 Ways Supply Chain Planning Software Improves Operations
Having the right supply chain planning software in place in your business can improve a number of operations. Some of those improvements may seem obvious. Others, however, become more apparent when you put those processes to work in your business. Does your business need supply chain planning software? If you want to see these critical…
Everything To Know About Seasonal Demand Forecasting
For most inventory-based businesses, demand naturally fluctuates throughout the year. Some businesses see primarily seasonal sales, with the bulk of their sales for the year taking place during specific times. Others may notice that they have peaks and valleys that occur at predictable rates. Still others may notice that the stock they sell changes dramatically…
How Do Businesses Use Inventory Forecasting Software To Prepare for Unexpected Downturns?
The last two years have seen unprecedented disruption across many businesses and industries. Businesses have found themselves struggling with inventory shortages and supply chain challenges. Not only that, many sources are warning of a potential economic downturn. Small business owners and large business owners alike are wondering how they can prepare for a potential downturn…
7 Reasons to Move Away from Spreadsheets to Manage Inventory
It’s easy to get attached to your current inventory management systems. After all, chances are, they have worked for your business for several years. You may worry about the learning curve of moving away from spreadsheets as well as the potential expenses associated with moving to a comprehensive inventory management system. However, spreadsheets may not…
How To Build the Right Inventory Management System
When you start looking into the best strategies for building an inventory management system for your business, you don’t just want a generic system that looks like anyone else’s. Instead, you want an inventory management system that takes the unique needs of your business and your supply chain into consideration. Look at the elements you…
What is Warehouse Automation and How Is It Evolving?
Automation has, in recent years, become a buzzword across many industries–but it’s also more than just a buzzword. Automation is a highly effective way to reduce strain on your employees and ensure higher levels of efficiency than you can, in many cases, accomplish on your own. Warehouse automation can help with a variety of processes:…
What is Inventory Control?
Your inventory control process is critical to making sure that your business can maintain the proper level of stock, keep up with the demands of your customers, and avoid potential delays. Do you have effective inventory control in place for your business, or are you struggling to maintain the stock you need to keep up…
Guide To Understanding Safety Stock Patterns & Antipatterns
Building a comprehensive supply chain is incredibly important for ensuring the steady movement of stock through your business. Unfortunately, supply chains can collapse all too easily. Understanding supply chain patterns and how they have the potential to impact your business certainly means understanding how they work, but it’s just as important to understand when they…
Benefits of an ABC Analysis in Inventory Management
As you manage the inventory for your business, there are several strategies you may use to help enhance your understanding of the inventory you need to have on hand and how to best manage your overall inventory needs, from seasonal changes in inventory to the regular stock you need to keep on hand for your…
Sourcing Raw Materials: A Better Process
This article was originally published in March 2022 and has since been updated in May 2023 based on new trends, discoveries, and research. Sourcing raw materials is a crucial part of many businesses, but it can come with some inherent risk, and you can face a variety of challenges. For example, some materials might not…
Supply Chain Trends to Watch for 2022
As the Great Supply Chain Disruption continues to roil the global economy in 2022, the imbalance of supply and demand caused by Covid-19 is likely to continue as more businesses battle empty shelves, labor shortages… etc. However, developments like the increase in digital procurement and reshoring, which have heightened due to the recession, are ultimately…
Seasonality and Supply Chain Management: A Memoir
Many people expect supply chain issues during the winter holidays. However, supply chain issues may vary by season–and there may be more of them than you expect. Not only have more people and businesses than ever become aware of potential supply chain challenges throughout 2021, when Covid-related disruptions have caused challenges across the globe, there…
What is Amazon FBA and How Does it Work?
Amazon FBA, or Fulfillment by Amazon, is a service offered by Amazon that allows you to sell your items through Amazon’s online platform and allows Amazon to manage much of the inventory associated with the process. By using Amazon FBA, many businesses have been able to grow their customer base and their sales, which can…
6 Tips To Build Supply Chain Resilience
There are few things more satisfying to a business than having plenty of orders coming in and shipping out. Every order that goes out represents increased revenue. But all it takes is one unexpected event to clog up the supply lines and all that motion halts. The world experienced this firsthand when COVID-19 hit back…
A Highlight of the Top 7 StockIQ Blogs for 2021
At StockIQ, we aim to provide the latest information on how to manage your supply chain challenges. We help you learn how to use the tools at your disposal, how to keep up with the challenges you may have faced throughout the year as supply chain needs change and shortages make it difficult to keep…
Acumatica and Intelligent Supply Chain Planning (for the Mid-Sized Inventory Business)
Acumatica is frequently promoted as a solution for large enterprises. However, it’s ideal for mid-sized inventory businesses, as well. In fact, when combined with Stock IQ’s intelligent supply chain planning solutions, Acumatica can prove even more essential for mid-sized businesses than large ones. There’s a reason StockIQ is a sponsor at Acumatica Summit 2022 in…
What Features Should You Look For in a Supply Chain Planning Solution?
Supply chain planning is becoming increasingly important for organizations. With frequent delays slowing down processing and leading to decreased inventory in many areas, businesses are learning that they must forecast demand, make arrangements for inventory planning and management, and manage the logistics associated with their supply chain. Are you looking for a supply chain planning…
Choosing The Right Supply Chain Software Partner
Picking the right supply chain partner is a critical milestone for inventory-based enterprises. The last two years have proven that anything can happen at any moment. Large swings in demand, supply issues, capacity constraints, and changes in how customers purchase are but a few of the challenges. Choosing the right supply chain partner is a…
Getting Everyone On Board With Your ERP Implementation
A new ERP system can make a huge difference for your business and your employees. From helping to automate common tasks to ensuring that your employees have the tools they need at their fingertips, an ERP can prove an immense blessing. Unfortunately, it does little for your business if your people won’t use it. Committing…
Top 6 New Microsoft Business Central Life Hacks
Microsoft Business Central is expressly designed to help streamline many of your business practices and make your life easier. Even if you’ve been using the platform for some time, however, you may have missed out on some of its most vital hacks and tricks: the strategies that can make the most out of the platform.…
When & Why to Barcode in D365
Increasingly, many people are looking for strategies that will allow them to use barcodes to help streamline specific processes across their business. D365 offers barcoding options that can make it easy for you to set up and track your products. Do you need to create barcodes in D365? There are several times when it might…
Understanding and Combating Retail Shrinkage
Combating retail shrinkage is an ongoing challenge for many businesses. If you manage inventory, you know that shrinkage can occur for a variety of reasons–and that managing it is a critical part of protecting your profits. Fortunately, StockIQ can help combat many of the challenges associated with retail shrinkage and make it easier for you…
Inventory Forecasting with Acumatica: Everything You Need to Know
Inventory forecasting is a critical part of keeping your business functioning smoothly. With supply chains currently struggling to keep up with demand and consumer needs changing on a regular basis, many companies are struggling to keep their products on the shelves. Accurate inventory forecasting, however, can help you determine what products you will most likely…
The Importance of (SaaS) ERP Upgrades
Keeping up with updates: for many companies, it seems like a lot more trouble than it’s worth. You must set a time for those updates when you aren’t in the middle of using the platform, deal with slowdowns while the update is installed, and make sure that everything is installed properly once it’s done. Is…
10 Tips on Moving from Microsoft Dynamics GP to Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central (BC)
Dynamics GP has been a workhorse of business accounting and finance for many years now. While Microsoft has pledged to continue updating the software with bug fixes, and security patches, they have decided that future development in the space will take place in the cloud-based Business Central instead of Dynamics GP. For companies who’ve decided…
As We Move Out of COVID, 8 Ways To Ensure Your Supply Chain & Forecasting Programs Are Protected
The COVID-19 pandemic challenged many assumptions we had about how businesses should operate. As employees were forced into their homes to reduce the spread of the virus, companies had to find new and innovative ways to allow their employees to continue working or risk going out of business. One of the biggest challenges came as…
Top 9 Microsoft Business Central Tips & Tricks
In a previous post, we discussed the benefits of moving from Microsoft’s Dynamics GP product to Dynamics 365 Business Central. If you’ve made the switch, you’ll likely want to make the most of it. Business Central is a powerful and intuitive tool, but, if you haven’t had any training there are likely some great features…
Navigating Supply Chain Issues and Increased Lead Times Due to Shipping Constraints
Over the past year, inventory-based businesses have faced a tsunami of supply chain frictions, forcing virtually every company to scramble, strategize, and worry. Back-of-mind topics like repatriation, supply chain diversity, and supply chain autarky suddenly became pressing, topics. And the entire world faced a convergence of shipping woes — fueled by globalized connections, unparalleled levels…
The Overview: Infor ERP and Inventory-Based Enterprises
Recently, we’ve been covering some of the leading ERP solutions for inventory-based businesses. So far, we’ve looked at solutions like Dynamics 365, NetSuite, SAP, and Epicor, which are all industry-leading solutions with massive market share. Continuing this trend, we’re discussing a unique solution today: Infor. While Infor doesn’t necessarily have the same market share as…
The Perfect Storm Causing Global Supply Chain Disruption
What is supply chain disruption? Disruption as defined in the dictionary, “disturbance or problems that interrupts an event, activity, or process.” A supply chain disruption definition is a breakdown in the manufacturing flow of goods and their delivery to customers. StockIQ’s clients voiced concern over supply disruption and wanted to hear what their peers were…
How StockIQ Provides Pitch-Perfect Inventory Accuracy for Stock Forecasting
Inventory frictions plague the modern goods space, creating frustrated customers, abandoned shopping carts, and billions of dollars in damages. But for 3PLs and distributors, inventory frictions aren’t just minor headaches; they’re torrential storms that minimize profits, destroy relationships, and degrade business growth. To be clear, inventory control is the heart of your entire operation. Over…
Microsoft Dynamics GP to Business Central
As Microsoft continues to shift its focus towards its cloud-first 365 ecosystems, many companies are struggling to understand the position of their current Microsoft solutions. Will Microsoft Dynamics GP continue to receive top-notch support and updates? Is Microsoft still committed to Dynamics GP, or is it on its last legs? And how do you migrate…
Two Problems: Long Replenishment Cycle and Tribal Knowledge
Almost every business has an “expert.” This employee has the tenure, knowledge, and technical capabilities to deliver excellence in a particular business function. Unfortunately, your experts will eventually retire or leave. In fact, 25% of the inventory and manufacturing workforce is over 55. And roughly 3 percent of the U.S. workforce outright quits their jobs…
How To: Distributors and Omnichannel Forecasting
Despite the seemingly never-ending swarm of digital solutions at our fingertips, inventory management is an increasingly challenging enigma. The unique convergence of customer demands, fulfillment speeds, and omnichannel shopping gateways has put immense pressure on distributors. How do you predict and react to demand-side inventory in an environment where 30 percent of items purchased online…
The Overview: SAP Business One and Inventory-Based Enterprises
Recently, we’ve been exploring the ever-expanding ocean of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) and Warehouse Management Solutions (WMS) on the market and how they provide tangible value to inventory-based businesses. As we all continue to grasp the unique operational challenges of this disruptive decade, adequate inventory planning continues to be the single most critical component of…
The Ultimate ERP Implementation Checklist
Whether your company is brand-new to the ERP space, or you’re looking to replace outdated, monolithic solutions that are wearing down your inventory ecosystem, implementing a new ERP is a challenging journey. Unfortunately, many organizations fail to win in the implementation stage. Many studies suggest that ERP implementations have high failure rates, and a shocking…
COO’s Need to Know: Democratizing Inventory Visibility
Inventory visibility, which converges demand forecasting with flexibility, management, and automation, is a key concern for inventory-based businesses. A recent Bain & Company report suggests that 40 percent of supply chain leaders expect to increase investments in real-time inventory visibility over the next few years, with demand forecasting (56%) and inventory management (49%) also making…
The Overview: Acumatica and Inventory-Based Enterprises
In the proverbial ocean of warehouse and inventory-based point solutions and platforms, it can be difficult to pinpoint ideal supply chain solutions. Between multi-billion-dollar Goliaths like Microsoft and Oracle and industry-specific solutions like Epicor, you have a buffet of available technology ripe for the picking. But, despite the massive influx in this tech, most companies…
What Can Omnichannel Reporting Achieve?
As we look towards the end of the COVID-19 pandemic, the world of inventory management and distribution has changed. Virtually every 3PL and distributor is inching into omnichannel commerce, with more than a handful crawling into this complicated and analytically-dense territory for the first time. While COVID-19 certainly accelerated the already-strong trend, omnichannel commerce is…
Epicor and Inventory-Based Enterprises, Part Two
This post is a continuation of Epicor and its relationship to inventory-based enterprises. Please see part one, which covers Epicor basics and demand planning. Epicor Inventory & Operational Analytics Inventory Optimization & Control This is the bulk of what most of you are here to read about. Retail businesses alone shed over $1 trillion…
The Overview: Epicor and Inventory-Based Enterprises
Inventory management — which involves end-to-end visibility across inventory, facilities, and transportation — is the single most critical component of the supply chain for inventory-based businesses. Yet, despite almost every supply chain manager practicing inventory management strategies, inventory-based businesses are still losing trillions of dollars due to stock-outs and overstock annually. Something isn’t working. Those…
Inventory Planning with NetSuite
Over the last few years, supply chain management — and inventory planning by association — have undergone significant structural, procedural, and philosophical changes. Many businesses are abandoning traditional models and processes in favor of tech-driven solutions drenched in agility, flexibility, and data. As a result, old-school inventory management processes (e.g., manual counts, ad-hoc picking systems,…
How To: Supply Chain Planning in Microsoft D365
Supply chains have the potential to connect people, experiences, and goods together in powerful ways. The total impact of your supply chain — from sourcing to shipping — isn’t just a value-driver that bridges your products and services to profits: it’s the foundational heart of your entire company. Unfortunately, managing that supply chain is a…
Inventory Forecasting Within Microsoft D365 and Business Central
Inventory control is the table stakes of supply chain management for 3PLs and distributors. At the end of the day, despite whatever pressures or short-term challenges are weighing on your supply chain, predicting inventory demand and managing inventory loss is your single most important responsibility. Here’s the problem: historical accuracy rates for inventory management stand…
How To: Extend the Life of Your Microsoft Nav
As part of an aggressive, cloud-first rebranding brigade, Microsoft put a fresh coat of paint over Microsoft NAV and created Dynamics 365 Business Central in late 2016. Since then, Microsoft and Microsoft partners have been dead-set on convincing businesses to join the Dynamics revolution. To be fair, Dynamics is an incredibly intuitive, powerful, and amazing…
Which is Correct (For You)? Microsoft Dynamics vs. NetSuite
For many supply chain managers, navigating the hyper-complex, increasingly-globalized supply chain ecosystem is a challenging and restless affair. From political tensions to tariffs, black swan events, and acute climate events, there are plenty of nuanced situations developing daily that require time, energy, and patience to solve. One of those situations shouldn’t be inventory. Unfortunately, the…
Sales & Operations Planning in Healthcare
This article was originally published in January 2021 and has since been updated in May 2023 based on new trends, discoveries, and research. The modern healthcare supply chain is filled with density, complexity, and layers of cross-regional trade. During the coronavirus pandemic, the need for a resilient and strategic healthcare supply chain came to light,…
Predictive Analytics vs. Predictive Forecasting
Both predictive analytics and predictive forecasting can be critical tools to use in your supply chain enterprise. Gaining an understanding of what they each are and when to use them can help improve your profit margins. With one tool, you get a look at the history of the items in your database, and with the…
Automotive Supply Chain Management & Best Practices
Over the past few years, the automotive industry has undergone significant changes in the wake of globalization and modernization. Consumer expectations are at an all-time-high, competitive and manufacturing power is shifting radically, and the way we think about cars, technology, and OEMs has completely transformed the way we understand parts, inventory, and supply-side manufacturing. Automobile…
3 Ways to Tighten Up Your Supply Planning Process
Supply planning is about managing and planning the inventory supply to meet customer demand. It’s the entire planning process, which includes distribution, manufacturing, and procurement operations according to demand forecasts, capacity constraints and material availability. There are a variety of gaps in the supply planning process where errors typically occur, but there are also concrete…
Predictive Analytics in the Food & Beverage Space
Using predictive analysis in the food and beverage industry is critical for growth, as it helps your enterprise ensure you have the right amount of food and beverage in stock. If you do not have enough, you run the risk of angry customers not being able to procure the products they want, but if you have too much inventory, you run the risk of wasting money and having to dispose of inventory. Not only that, but this type of analysis can also help you set the right price for your items and monitor trends in the industry.
A Thorough Look at Dynamics 365: Business Central vs. Finance and Operations
McKinsey suggests that next-gen supply chain management software like Dynamics can cut operation costs by 30% across-the-board. But how do you figure out which version of Dynamics works best for you? Despite Microsoft leading the charge in the ERP space, they’re versioning and naming isn’t always clear-cut. To date, there have been hundreds of versions…
Understanding Forecastability Analysis: How Does It Benefit Your Business?
How do you determine whether the forecasting approach you’re using is the right one for your business? Which is the appropriate product hierarchy level to begin forecasting? Which products demand the most significant attention and focus? Forecastability analysis has the answers to all these questions. Every forecaster understands that there isn’t any standard approach or…
Predictive Forecasting Predictions for 2021
2020 felt like a convergence of black swan events. From COVID-19 and the intense pressures of election night to the ever-growing regulatory ecosystem, navigating the competitive landscape this year has been treacherous. But, like all chaotic years, the real challenges aren’t happening today; they’re lurking on the horizon. How will all of these events impact…
Forecasting Your Supply Chain
McKinsey estimates that 16 to 26 percent of exports could be relocated and readjusted in the next year. That’s over $4 trillion in supply chain value that’s up-for-grabs, disconnected, and ultimately ready to be reaped. But, while that certainly presents an opportunity, it only presents an opportunity to a few key players. In McKinsey’s Reckoning…
How Netsuite Can Generate Value for Inventory-Based Businesses
Inventory-based businesses (e.g., warehouses, manufacturers, etc.) are grappling with a tsunami of challenges. From controlling labor costs, leveraging emerging technology, and navigating the ever-increasing pool of regulatory requirements to establishing solidarity in the globalized supply chain, the convergence of Industry 4.0 and Globalization 4.0 is creating a mountain of nuanced frictions that require time, attention, and energy. But, beyond the veil of this pressure valve of problems, everything comes back to liquidity and cash flow. And cash flow always comes back to inventory.
How to Best Understand Stock Planning
Stock planning is a concept that involves more than just maintaining adequate quantities of certain goods in the warehouse. It involves analyzing how your enterprise handles goods at every single stage of the supply chain. It’s an integral part of controlling costs and maintaining efficiency throughout an enterprise. Therefore, it’s critical for supply chain managers…
Understanding Microsoft D365 and Inventory-Based Businesses
Unlike IoT, neural networks, AR, and a swarm of other emerging technology, ERPs aren’t mid-horizon investments for massive companies with hefty R&D budgets and a nest of fancy “idea incubation” chambers. ERPs enjoy near-universal adoption across inventory-based businesses. Unfortunately, having an ERP isn’t the same as having the right ERP. The average ERP launch costs…
How Are Ethics and Supply Chain Management Related?
Ethics come into play in every business industry, and certainly in Supply Chain Management. For starters, vendors need to be ethically vetted before being used. And, what does a company do with its excess stock that it charged to a customer? A supply chain management company needs to make sure that every link in its…
Components, Best Practices, and Impact to Your Enterprise’s Growth
Managing the value chain is among the most complex tasks for supply chain executives due to several macro- and micro-factors. Concerns like material price erosion and fluctuating consumer confidence and spending habits have made things harder for leadership teams to ensure that all business functions align with demand and supply. The current pandemic situation has…
Demand Forecasting: How to Do It Successfully
Manufacturing and warehousing enterprises are full of complex, nuanced operations. They can feel completely unique to you, and it’s easy to feel isolated in your processes. With inventory based businesses, one of the most important things you can do is engage in successful demand forecasting. In short, demand forecasting is an essential tool that helps…
The Best Inventory Planning for Your Needs
Inventory is a precarious aspect of every company. The need to assess demand and supply curves is critical in advising the need for inventory in manufacturing and warehousing, hence the need for inventory planning to address these and other top inventory concerns. Types of Inventory An appropriate and effective inventory plan starts by factoring in…
The Ultimate Demand Planner Dictionary
Demand planning is an integral part of supply chain management. In short, this process is responsible for using analytical tools to predict consumer demand for products. A demand planner strives to find the perfect balance between having enough product to meet consumer demands without having an excess that eats into the company’s bottom line. Many…
How a Wholesaler Can Make an ERP Integration Seamless
Most wholesalers have to deal with numerous problems when integrating an ERP with their current systems. The complexity of the installation and other common but avoidable challenges like selection problems of the right ERP means that most wholesalers often have to deal with a variety of issues after the ERP integration. According to Panorama, 53%…