REFLEXIVE SUPPLY CHAIN
Leverage your Supply Chain
to get the
Decisive Competitive Edge

REFLEXIVE SUPPLY CHAIN

Leverage your Supply Chain
to get the
Decisive Competitive Edge

Read Our Success Story for Inspiration

Reflexive Supply Chain Solutions is a boutique consulting firm focused on supply chain transformation projects through agility improvement.

It’s founded by Dr. Rakesh Sinha, a well-renowned thought leader in the field of Supply Chain Management. His pioneering work in Theory of Constraints (TOC) has led to several industry benchmarks in customer service levels, product availability and product freshness.

About us


Our Approach

Deep expertise

All our assignments have the deep expertise and personal touch of Dr. Sinha

Customised solution

We believe the supply chain of your company should be designed in a unique manner based on your specific context. There is no one-size-fits-all solution. We will develop and finalize the design jointly with your company’s supply chain team

Focus on triple benefits

We are sharply focused on improving your customer service level, product availability and product freshness while simultaneously increasing profits and releasing capital employed

Co-ownership

We will own the creation, implementation and leveraging of the proposed solution jointly with your company’s supply chain team

Knowledge creation,
transfer and retention

Every supply chain transformation project creates a lot of new knowledge. This knowledge should be retained by your company’s supply chain team to improve its talent for taking up similar projects in future on their own

Our Services

FMCG

We will help improve your customer service level and profits through supply chain transformation. You should see accelerated sales through reduction in missed orders, improved availability of portfolio assortment at point of sale and reduction in obsolescence

We will also help you be the preferred supplier to organized retail with improved customer service levels while meeting their stringent quality and freshness norms

Organized Retail

We will help improve your on-shelf availability and bring down obsolescence through a pull-based replenishment system

Companies using TOC or DDMRP

You are a pioneer in implementing TOC or DDMRP to improve your operations. I am sure you have also benefitted from it immensely. If you feel that some of the benefits haven’t been realized or the benefits have stagnated, we will partner with you in the exciting journey ahead to get more juice out of your systems

3PL service providers

We will help you be the preferred partner to FMCG companies and move from a transactional relationship to long term partnership through win-win process improvements

Start-ups

Your start-up in the field of supply chain surely has a very promising business model but probably lacks the depth of industry experience. We will help you sharpen your business model to make your cherished dream come true

Consulting companies

We do not see you as a competitor. There is enough room for all of us to add value in our respective areas of expertise and improve overall industry competitiveness. If you need expert advice in designing and implementing effective supply chains, we will partner with you to fine tune and sharpen your delivery to clients.

Supply chain leaders

You are enthusiastic and passionate about making your company’s supply chain more effective and creating new benchmarks. However, your exposure to the latest techniques, processes and models is possibly limited. We will help you be more effective in your role through contextual coaching customised to your specific needs.

In The News

Supply Chain Tribe By Celerity - June 2024

What does leadership mean really? Proudly presenting our June 2024 issue. In this issue, we dedicate an entire section...

India's Role In The Global Supply Chain

SigmaEta - The Operations and SCM Club of IIM Trichy are delighted to announce that we conducted our first-panel discussion...

We Welcome A Legend In The Field Of Supply Chain...

We welcome a legend in the field of Supply Chain, Dr. Rakesh Sinha, as Executive Fellow, Woxsen University...

Leadership Talk Series - Industry Connect - 2022

PGPEX-VLM 16th Batch had the pleasure of hosting Dr. Rakesh Sinha, Founder and CEO of “Reflexive Supply Chain Solutions...

The 10x Effect – What Happens When A Company Grows By...

The 10X Effect – What happens when a company grows by an order of magnitude?...

Indian Institute of Management Jammu

In the 75th webinar of the Nav Samvaad series, IIM Jammu was delighted to host Dr. Rakesh Sinha, Founder & CEO...

Industry Interaction Cell, IIM Jammu

Indian Institute of Management Jammu had the privilege to host Dr. Rakesh Sinha, Founder and CEO...

Indian Institute Of Management, Sirmaur

IIM Sirmaur was honoured to host some of the top industry leaders for its third edition of the Annual Business Conclave...

We Will All Emerge Stronger

We need to find ways to be more helpful to our customers, take our people along in this journey by transparently discussing...

SCM Talk Show - Inventory Optimisation with Dr Rakesh Sinha

India 1st ever SCM Talk Show brought to you by KnoWerX Education India Pvt. Ltd...

PHD Chamber Bulletin

Another panelist, Dr Rakesh Sinha, Founder & CEO, Refelix, suggested that Industry should consider moving through driven supply chain...

Leaders Leading Logistics

As economic activity picks up, logistics services will come back to a reasonably high level. Last-mile delivery will undergo a significant transformation as consumers....

Professionals Speak AXIS | 2020

Global Head - Supply Chain, Manufacturing & It (Godrej Consumer Products Limited)...


Learn How to Transition to a Demand Driven Supply Chain In The Virtual Masterclass On

Most well-run FMCG companies operate at customer service levels of 80-85%, ...

Episode 2- Leadership Series : Bhavana Bhatia in conversation with Dr.Rakesh Sinha

Presenting the second episode of my leadership series in association...

How India's Manufacturing and Supply Chains are Dealing with Covid-19. Leadership Insights

Earlier this month, the Makers & Movers YouTube channel and MeshMix Media...

A front runner in Industrial Engineering

Maintaining its successful track record of 100% placement year after year, NITIE yet againrevels as it brings...

The Future of Supply Chain

An enthralling success story for NITIE Mumbai, to have witnessed a great webinar session where over 500 professionals and students from across...

Strategy for the Future - Building Agile Supply Chains

One of the biggest challenges firms face is the ability to anticipate demand and align their supply chains...

What Coronavirus Means for India’s Supply Chains & Manufacturing

There is growing panic globally about the Novel Coronavirus epidemic, and rightly...

Bicara Supply Chain - The Podcast & Webinar

Here is a podcast on ‘Reflexive Supply Chains’ released by Bicara Supply Chain. It’s a 10 minute conversation...

Supply Chain Excellence Contributing Towards...

In an era as fiercely competitive as ours, entrepreneurs aim to build a brand that is valued and remembered....

On a Nimble Footing...

Supply chains have come a long way from being reactive to responsive, moving now towords agile. As the consumers' tolerance time comes down..

Efficient logistics is at the heart of our strategy...

In FMCG enviroment, value is created for consumers when products are available on the shelves and are fresh...

Delving deep into Godrej’s Supply Chain processes

Dr Rakesh Sinha, Global Head – Supply Chain, Manufacturing and IT, Godrej Consumer Products Ltd in his career...

Mission Replenish

GCPL supply-chain's replenishment model holds many takeaways for peer companies And the man in the thick of the action is Rakesh Sinha...

Knowledge Nuggets

Agile forecasting

My previous article explained why the conventional monthly forecasts are sub-optimal for executing day-to-day supply functions, as they fail to recognize...

Forecasting in Replenishment Supply Chains

Do Replenishment Supply Chains need forecasting? Or can they function purely on the basis of frequent demand signals...

Dancing to the drumbeats

The current pandemic is a tough reminder for us to go back to the basics and focus on the fundamentals of supply chainAre we listening to the consumer...

Is panic buying really bad?

The current 21-day lockdown in India is witnessing consumers resorting to bulk purchase of many essential goods While many other consumers...

3 simple supply chain actions to control stockouts during a crisis

The current pandemic is putting tremendous pressure on the supply chains of several companies....

Enigma of sales loss

Current economic slowdown across the world is making it difficult for companies to accelerate their top line At the same time, it is an irony that we...

Small is beautiful

When you visit a shopping mall, do you prefer to take an elevator or an escalator? I have asked this question to many people and the answer...

Cost reduction - incremental or breakthrough?

Cost reduction is a common practice used by companies to improve their profitability. While it yields good results...

Antifragile supply chains

Participating in Tata Mumbai Marathon is an experience in itself, running with thousands of other runners and being supported by a super enthusiastic crowd...

Reflexive Supply Chains

Supply chains have continuously evolved over a period of time, in line with changing consumer preferences and expectations The two axes guiding this evolution...

Why does benchmarking often fail?

Benchmarking has been in vogue for a long time as an important tool to improve an organisation’s products and processes...

Building a sustainable supply chain in emerging markets

Emerging markets across the world are clearly the next growth engines. As packaged consumer goods companies...

Goodbye forecasting

If we look around in nature, there are several super-efficient supply chains which run day in and day out without the need for forecasting...

Why do forecasts go wrong?

A lot has been written about forecasting and the need to improve its accuracy. Despite our best efforts, the fact remains that improving forecast accuracy...

Agility in supply chain

For companies to succeed in today’s volatile world, it is imperative that their supply chains are agile in fulfilling the ever-changing consumer demand...

Managing new age operations

In the contemporary world characterised by frequent disruptions in technology and business models, it is imperative that organisations evolve...

The Power of Positive Thinking

It’s a fitting day to think about a game we have all played at least once in life. The eternal question when we think about our first tryst with Love...

TOC Learnings from Standard Chartered Mumbai Marathon, 2017

Running the Standard Chartered Mumbai Marathon is an experience in itself...

The Day After Tomorrow

The new year always ushers in hope and optimism for all business functions. It’s like getting things right, once again. A new chance to begin new processes...

Prime Nuggets

Demand Latency Is A Major Cause Of Supply Chain Underperformance

Supply chains in most companies follow a pretty uniform planning process, starting with a monthly Demand Planning...

Should You Allocate Stocks To Every Sales Channel?

Many companies now-a-days sell through multiple channels. The most common is Offline channel, catering to...

Major Supply Chain Improvements Require Just A Small Change In...

Improvement projects in supply chain need not be overtly complicated. In fact, most improvements require just...

Company Policies Often Pull Down Supply Chain Performance

When we look at improving the performance of a company’s Supply Chain, an area often overlooked is the impact of...

What Is Constraining Your Supply Chain?

Take some time to pause and reflect. Where is the current constraint in your Supply Chain? As it turns out, it’s...

Breakthrough In Supply Chain Performance Requires A Relook At...

Every Supply Chain team aspires for a breakthrough improvement in its performance. However, their initiatives...

Should You Break The Rules In Supply Chain?

There is a lot of hype these days that Supply Chain rules are meant to be broken. Unless we break the rules...

Absorbing Consumer Feedback - Like An Ostrich Or A Hawk?

Most companies claim to be consumer centric – actively engaged in gathering consumer feedback and acting on...

Supply Chain Planning Solutions – For Automation Or Agility?

Many companies are currently in the process of implementing sophisticated Supply Chain planning solutions...

Is Your Supply Chain Team Feeling Stressed Out?

When I talk to Supply Chain teams of various companies, I find many of them completely stressed out. Their team...

Is Your Quest For Efficiency Killing Customer Service?

Most businesses, being customer centric, claim to give high importance to their customer service levels. However...

Yo-Yo In Business Performance Narratives Point To Serious...

Most companies are declaring their quarterly and annual results now. It is interesting to find a repeated pattern...

Focus On Improving The Fundamental Supply Chain Capabilities

A company’s Supply Chain has the power to differentiate its business versus its competitors and even give it the Decisive...

What Causes Yo-Yo In Supply Chain Performance?

Several Supply Chain leaders struggle with their ever-shifting focus between improving product availability and system...

Can Your Business Improve Its OTIF Performance?

OTIF is an important metric of customer service. Most businesses have an undergoing initiative to improve it...

Improve Your Supply Chain At A Pace That The Team Can Sustain!

Teams working on Supply Chain improvements must sustain them over time. If the pace is too fast, some of the...

Promises Of A Fast Transformation In Supply Chain Often Lack Credibility

I have seen some experts promise quick turnaround of Supply Chain operations. Promises like ’30 day turnaround...

Quick Wins Are Important In Supply Chain Improvement Initiatives

Some Supply Chain initiatives take a long time to implement. Teams working on such initiatives need an early confirmation...

Designing Distribution Network With Deterministic Demand Assumption...

Consumer Packaged Goods companies spend quite some time and effort in designing their finished goods...

Frozen Production Schedules Result In Stockouts And Late Servicing

Companies working with assumption of deterministic demand often work out detailed production schedule and freeze...

Capacity Planning Assuming Deterministic Demand Often Leads...

Companies often plan their production capacity loading on the basis of their demand forecast. It is also a common...

Freight Optimisation Initiative Could Lead To Stockouts… Be Careful

Most Supply Chain teams working on cost reduction initiatives look at the freight incurred on finished goods logistics...

Consumer Demand – Deterministic Or Stochastic?

Market reality tells us that consumer demand is difficult to predict. Whatever models we use, even if these...

Why Do So Many Supply Chain Initiatives Fail To Deliver Their...

Supply chain leaders are full of stories when their well-designed initiatives failed to deliver the promised benefits...

Imagine Your Favourite Agile Cricketer Putting On 10-20 Kg Extra Weight!

Several cricketers in the Indian team are known for their agility. Their bodies are in shape to support agile performance...

How Should We Integrate Demand Sensing With Our Replenishment...

My last post laid out the importance of integrating Demand Sensing with Replenishment solutions. I got a few...

Adding Demand Sensing Capability To The Replenishment Solution Makes...

Many companies have now moved to replenishment in their Supply Chain, convinced that it improves product...

Minimize Stockouts Through An Agile Supply Chain

Supply chains work on the twin objectives of improving product availability and product freshness. There are several...

Are Your Internal Targets Ambitious Enough?

I have seen many Supply Chain teams setting internal targets which are ‘achievable’. This implies that the...

Not A Penny More, Not A Penny Less!

The primary function of a supply chain is to ensure that its goods and services are available to consumers...

Masterminding Supply Chain Improvement Projects

Supply Chain teams typically work on several improvement projects at any given time. This leads to bad Multitasking...

Interdependencies And Inherent Variability In Supply Chains Must...

Supply Chains are complex systems with inter-dependencies and variability. I have come across some designs which...

Flow Improvement Must Include Throttling, Wherever Necessary

There seems to be a misconception in some supply chain teams that flow improvement means increasing the flow...

Flow Is The Most Important Concept In Supply Chain

If we want to develop an intuitive understanding of the entire supply chain and the problems on hand, we should...

Resilient Supply Chains Use Disruption Specific Mitigation In...

There has been a lot of discussion, of late, about designing Resilient Supply Chains. We should appreciate that the design...

Humility Is A Fundamental Trait Essential For Supply Chain Excellence

Companies at the forefront of pursuing supply chain excellence have developed ‘Humility’ as a differentiating...

Do SOPs Stifle Creativity In Supply Chain?

Line functions like supply chain involve several repetitive tasks, which must be performed efficiently, day in and day out...

Supply Chain Solutions – ‘Simple & Elegant’ Or ‘Complex & Difficult’?

It’s a dilemma that consultants often face. Supply Chain teams would love simple and elegant solutions to their pressing...

Is The Bottleneck In Gemba Misplaced?

When we visit Gemba (actual place of action), it’s important to identify where its bottleneck is. This is done by looking...

Where Is The Bottleneck?

I was at the Delhi airport a couple of days back and saw a huge line for Security Check. When I finally reached the...

Design Of Resilient Supply Chains Involves Multiple Perspectives

Resilience in supply chains is gaining importance, of late. Teams feel that disruptions and uncertainties, both...

Winning Supply Chains Love Market Surprises!

Markets will continue to surprise us, despite our best planning methodology. How do we treat these surprises?...

When Was The Last Time You Offered Faster Delivery To Your Customers?

B2B businesses compete on delivery lead time and reliability, assuming that quality and price are at par. Promising faster...

What Differentiates Winning Supply Chains From Others?

Most leading companies and a whole lot of their competitors have now adopted the ‘best practices’ in their industry...

Supply Chains Should Develop Capability To Deal With Surprises

Most supply chain leaders focus on improving efficiencies, so that they can excel in handling the several repeatable...

How Serious Is The Impact Of Stockouts On Retail Shelves?

Supply Chain teams focus on ensuring product availability at the Point of Sale. However, despite our best efforts, there...

How Should We Approach Supply Chain Transformation?

Supply Chains are complex systems with many inter-connected entities, from vendors to the end consumers, and...

How Do We Tackle The Biggest Obstacle In Improving Forecast...

Several leading companies use demand forecasting to run their supply chains. Their biggest pain point revolves around...

Agile Initiatives In Supply Chain Build On Each Other To Produce Amazing...

Taguchi, in his famous work on ‘Theory of Experiments’, distinguished between ‘Main effect’ of taking an initiative...

Are We Comfortable Sharing Our Demand Information With The...

We know that vendors should be treated as partners. Is it just a sweet talk or does it reflect in our actions...

What Should Be The Focus In Designing Resilient Supply Chains?

Several companies are working on initiatives to make their supply chains more resilient. However, the objective...

Are We Playing Only Half-Court Tennis To Manage Our Supply Chain?

Most large companies still operate on monthly demand forecasts to derive various supply chain actions of procurement...

Management Should Focus Its Attention On The Leverage Points...

If we look at the improvement projects in supply chain of a company, we are likely to find a plethora of projects...

Resiliency In Supply Chain Can Be Improved In A Cost Effective Manner

If we want to make our supply chains more resilient, the common perception in many teams is that it would be...

Agility Is A Function Of The Fundamental Supply Chain...

A question I have been asked often is… ‘How do we get more agile?’ When I ask them about their thoughts on it, the...

We Must Actively Partner With Our Vendors To Make The Supply Chain...

Companies contemplating agility and resilience usually start with demand sensing and move on to agile...

Does AI/ML Help In Reducing Persistent Noise In Consumer...

A common question I have been asked in multiple meetings and conferences is… If the consumer demand is...

Disruptions In Supply Chain Can Be Mitigated Through Either...

When supply chain teams talk of various types of disruptions, their mitigation measures usually revolve around...

How Do We Design Resilient Supply Chains?

The topic of resilient supply chains was discussed at the ISCM conference a couple of days back. What struck me the most...

How Well Does Your Supply Chain Handle Disruptions?

Mumbai got its first significant rainfall of this season today morning. And the disruption to city life is clearly visible...

Should We Deploy AI/Ml In The Demand Sensing Engine Of Supply...

Most leading CPG companies have started using Demand Sensing for deployment of finished goods across their network...

How To Embrace And Befriend Murphy In Supply Chain?

We saw in the last post how Murphy is neither a friend nor a foe. It strikes everyone in a random manner...

Is Murphy A Friend Or A Foe?

Supply chain professionals are full of stories on how Murphy has hit them over all these years. Since these stories talk...

Leave Supply Chain Execution To The Front Line People

Supply Chain teams carry out two important activities on a regular basis. The first one is done by planners to create...

Customer Obsession In Supply Chain Teams Needs To Be Cultivated

Amazon is known for its focus on Customer Obsession. The entire company takes customer needs, their problems and...

How Aggressive Should The Supply Chain Improvement Targets Be?

Most supply chain teams work on improving their company’s supply chain. They also set targets for improvement...

How Much Should We Push The Envelope In Supply Chain?

Most teams are busy with projects to improve their supply chain in terms of pushing the envelope for better customer...

Applying TOC Principles To Improve The Voter Experience!

I recently had the opportunity to vote in my constituency and used it to observe how the overall voter experience...

Sales And Demand Are Two Completely Different Parameters

Integrated Planning in supply chains typically starts with Demand Planning. Most companies use some version...

Supply Chains Are Run By People And Must Be Designed Accordingly

We know that supply chains should be designed for the specific context of a business. There is no ‘one design fits...

How Do We Experiment Improvements In Supply Chain?

Supply chain teams are generally flush with improvement ideas, properly analysed on paper and in simulations...

Is Logistics The Game Changer In Future Supply Chains?

Supply chains require seamless synchronisation and harmony among various functions such as planning...

Why Do Many Supply Chain Transformation Projects Revert Back...

If we look around, there are many instances of major supply chain transformation projects, undertaken by leading...

Are We Improving Our Key Supply Chain Capabilities?

The three key supply chain capabilities for improving product availability and freshness are:

Are The Feedback Loops In Your Supply Chain Fast Enough?

Supply Chains are complex systems involving multiple entities with inter-dependencies and inherent variability...

Poor Stock Availability Distorts The Sales History In Several Ways

Most companies take past sales as a surrogate of consumer demand. In CPG companies, several companies are still...

Are We Solving The Right Supply Chain Problem?

Supply chain teams engage in solving a lot of customer problems, some of which pertain to major customers with...

Improving Efficiency Of Supply Chain Processes? Be Careful…

Most supply chain teams seem to be working on efficiency improvement projects, hoping to get net cost savings...

When The Going Gets Tough...

How does your supply chain team respond when the going gets tough? Let’s face it, the going is likely to get tough...

It Takes Courage To Simplify Supply Chain Processes

Most companies have improved and fine-tuned their supply chin processes over time. These are now firmly set in their...

Is Your Supply Chain Team Overwhelmed With Day-To-Day...

It’s a common feedback I get from many supply chain leaders. Their team seems to be busy firefighting everyday… talking...

Have We Instituted ‘Value Sensing’ In Our Supply Chain?

Many companies have instituted Demand Sensing in their supply chain. It helps them understand the demand coming ...

Is Your Supply Chain Slowing Down In Responding To Market Needs?

I have heard from many supply chain leaders that they have noticed a marked drop in responsiveness of their supply ...

Replenishment Systems In Supply Chain Must Be Designed Specifically...

Many companies are embarking on initiatives to implement replenishment in a leg of their supply chain to start with...

Smooth Flow In Supply Chain Operations Requires Trust Amongst...

Any company’s extended supply chain is operated by multiple partners. It is impractical for any one entity to direct...

Cost Reduction And Profit Improvement Are Completely...

It’s a new fiscal year and many supply chain teams have embarked on cost reduction initiatives. A word of caution...

Are You Affected By The ‘Year End Syndrome’ In Supply Chain?

My interactions with several supply chain leaders indicate that year ends, like today, cause a lot of additional work and stress...

Major Improvements In Supply Chain Require Challenging The Current...

Supply Chains for most companies operate on certain basic assumptions, which have hardened into current practices...

The Underlying Problem In Most Supply Chain Issues Is High Lead...

Some of the most frequent comments heard from Supply Chain teams: ‘Last month end saw very high overselling...

Are You Comfortable With Your Current Supply Chain Performance?

Supply chain improvement is an ongoing journey. Whatever be the current level of performance on key parameters...

Is The Use Of AI/ML In Supply Chain Overhyped?

We hear a lot about using AI/ML in supply chain design and planning. Many companies are experimenting with it...

How To Build Capacity Buffers In Supply Chain?

Business constraints typically manifest in the areas of demand, capacity, supply, or cash. In case a resource capacity...

Focus On Only A Few Carefully Crafted Improvement Projects In...

I mentioned in my last post that supply chain teams should focus their time, effort and resources on only a few carefully...

Are You Struggling With Too Many Improvement Projects In Supply...

Supply chain teams are full of improvement ideas. When I talk to any team, they typically list down hundreds of...

Are Multiple Supply Chain Objectives Causing Stress In The Team?

I have heard from many Supply Chain teams that they are chasing several objectives. Some of these seem to...

If It Ain’t Broke, Don’t Fix It… Really?

I have heard it from a lot of Supply Chain teams, when we discuss fundamental improvements or transformation...

Impatience In Getting Supply Chain Results Is A Major Cause Of Chaos

Many Supply Chain teams, in their journey of improvement and transformation, often experience chaos from...

Impact Of ‘Leap Year’ Is Often Ignored In Supply Chain Planning

Today is a special day which reminds us that 2024 is a leap year. Does is have an impact on Demand Planning...

How To Manage Frequent Plan Changes In A Demand Driven Supply...

Companies with a Demand Driven Supply Chain encounter frequent changes in the suggested plans. This is expected...

While Helping Others On The Job, We Must Balance Inquiry And Advocacy

I have seen far too many supply chain professionals hesitating to take help from others, even if it comes willingly and...

What Can Supply Chain Professionals Learn From ‘Smooth Drivers’?

Many supply chain transformation projects fail to take off due to the ‘Fear of Unknown’ in team members as well as in top...

Handle The ‘Fear Of Unknown’ Carefully In Supply Chain...

Many supply chain transformation projects fail to take off due to the ‘Fear of Unknown’ in team members as well as in top...

Is Your Production System Flexible To Synchronize With Current Demand...

Many companies are in the process of implementing Demand Driven Supply Chain and I have been helping them...

Are You Planning A Major Investment In Supply Chain Planning Software?

Many companies are looking at substantial investments in a new supply chain planning software. Here are a few pointers...

Consumers Are Predictably Irrational... Are They?

I was intrigued when I read Dan Ariely’s pathbreaking book ‘Predictably Irrational’. I thought only a few consumers...

Supply Chain Execution In The Near Term Should Focus On Maximizing...

If the goal of a business organisation is to make more money, now as well as in the future, the near term focus of the supply...

Restricting Product Assortment To Consumers Has A Significant Impact...

FMCG marketers know it well. If a product variety has been offered to consumers and it has a good traction, taking it...

Fast Feedback Loop Is An Important Part Of Supply Chain Design

Supply chain teams in most companies are working on making their supply chains more agile and responsive to actual...

Can We Disprove Our Hypothesis?

Supply chain professionals use several hypotheses to run and improve their operations. These are often rooted...

‘Inventory Days’ Can Be Misleading As An Indicator Of ‘Product Freshness’

The twin objectives of Supply Chain are ‘product availability’ and ‘product freshness’, both of which should be...

Agility Is Not A Binary Indicator

I am often asked by Supply Chain leaders questions like ‘How do we know whether our company is agile or not?’ or ‘What...

How Active Is Your Demand Feedback Loop?

All consumer companies have some sort of demand forecasting in place. They also track actual demand manifesting against...

Empowerment Of Customer Facing People Is Crucial For Improving...

Companies in consumer industries face a lot of volatility in demand. There are often instances when customers need higher...

Early Detection Of Googlies Is Only Half The Solution

We discussed in my last post how important it is to spot googlies early enough and how the real expert...

How Soon Can You Spot A Googly?

Cricket lovers have long been intrigued by the concept of a googly, which is a highly deceptive ball bowled to confuse...

How Should We Balance Agility With Stability Of The Supply Chain?

Many leading companies have designed their supply chains for stability. They have found a working mechanism in monthly...

Entry Into D2C Channel Must Be Accompanied By New Set Of...

We discussed in the previous post how leading FMCG companies have struggled to leverage the D2C channel for...

Established FMCG Companies Face Significant Challenges In Adding...

I have seen many leading FMCG companies trying to get into Direct-to-Consumer (D2C) channel, as it looks quite lucrative...

Should We Make New Year Resolutions For Our Supply Chain?

This is the time of the year when we see New Year resolutions floating around, from our friends and colleagues...

Are The Inventory Buffers In Your Supply Chain Forward Looking?

The purpose of inventory buffers in supply chain is to ensure that we have enough stocks to meet the maximum demand...

Demand Sensing Helps In Faster And Continuous Testing Of Assumptions

Demand Planning process in consumer companies is based on various assumptions, some with a major impact...

Cost Reduction Programs In Supply Chain Often Miss Out On Major...

A lot of companies are embarking on cost reduction programs. These initiatives typically look at various cost elements...

Are We Jumping Into Digital Transformation Of Supply Chains...

Supply Chain teams of leading companies try to deploy the latest tools and technologies available in the market...

What Should You Do When Your Differentiated Agile Offering Stops...

FMCG companies at the leading edge are improving their flexibility and responsiveness for better customer...

Absence Of A Demand Signal Is Also A Signal, Often Missed In Demand...

The science of Demand Sensing is based on deciphering signal from noise around the demand data we get continuously from...

Flexibility Is Often More Important Than Efficiency

Most supply chain teams work on various efficiency improvement projects. However, single minded focus on efficiency is often...

Dynamic Supply Chains Work On Heuristics

Supply chains work in a dynamic demand environment, where plans need to be refreshed daily. Leading supply chain...

Inertia In Demand Forecasting Leads To Higher Errors

S&OP process in most companies requires demand forecasting to be done monthly. It’s a practice which is rarely questioned...

Why Do FMCG Companies Struggle To Improve Both Availability And...

Almost every FMCG company I have interacted with has a major initiative to improve product availability...

How To Make Your Supply Chain More Agile And Efficient?

My interaction with several supply chain teams indicates that they love their current design, even when it is sub-optimal...

Our Favourite Supply Chain Design Can Still Be Improved

Many supply chain professionals fall in love with the design of their supply chain, especially if it has been done or tweaked...

Are We Open To New Ideas In Design Of Our Supply Chains?

I have seen many leading companies with their cutting edge supply chains. The teams often get complacent and feel that their...

Why Do We Take Smaller Steps On A Slippery Road?

When we walk on a slippery road, we intuitively take smaller steps. We may like to explain it through Physics that angle...

How Long Should We Forecast The Demand?

Supply chain teams in consumer companies often have an elaborate process for forecasting consumer demand...

Demand Is Always Stochastic

Many companies have developed their entire demand and supply planning processes on the assumption that...

How Should We Manage A New Product Introduction Which Is Super...

Imagine a situation where a new product is introduced by our company. The supply chain team has ensured that enough...

Supply Chain Transformation Is Not Just A Technology Initiative

I have seen many leaders approach their supply chain transformation project as a technology initiative. They firmly believe...

How Do We Respond To Customers Asking For Expedited Delivery?

Supply chain teams often mention that they get requests from customers to either expedite delivery of an existing order or...

Our Quality Improvement Initiatives Must Involve Workmen

I was recently working with a team which was struggling to control process variability on an important plant operation...

How Do We Create Focused Work On The Shop Floor?

We come across so many suggestions for creating focused work for our employees. The book ‘Deep Work’ by Cal Newport...

Quality Parameters Should Be Quantified For Consistency And...

Companies selling consumer products track a set of quality parameters important for their consumer experience...

Demand Sensing Makes Financial Planning More Dynamic And...

Companies at the leading edge of Supply Chain transformation are incorporating Demand Sensing in their planning...

Stockouts On Retail Shelves Indicate The Need For Fast And Flexible...

I was recently at a leading pharmacy chain in San Diego and saw that milk cans were completely stocked out. Seeing empty...

How Tightly Should We Integrate S&OE With The S&OP Process?

Conventional S&OP operates with a ‘feed forward’ mechanism, wherein procurement plan, production plan, and finished...

How Dynamic Are Your Inventory Buffers?

A key initiative to make supply chains far more responsive is to deploy Demand Sensing at the front end and couple...

Consistency In Flow Has A Significant Impact On The Overall Supply Chain

A major lever for improving the performance of supply chains is to improve the flow, for which TOC offers a good...

Simple Is Not Easy

Supply chain improvement projects should result in simplification. However, as we know, simplification is not easy. It requires...

Elegant Supply Chain Solutions Rely On Simplification

I have seen several Supply Chain improvement projects which introduce quite complex processes to solve a supply...

Should We Use ‘Best Practices’ For Designing A Company’s Supply...

Companies facing recurrent issues with their supply chain should have a relook at their supply chain design. It is...

Sequencing Is Important In 5s Implementation

Several progressive organisations have embarked on 5S to improve their process and product quality. While most of...

5S Is A Pre-Requisite For High Quality

I have come across several companies who have undertaken large scale quality improvement projects. Some of these...

Are Your Supply Chain Improvements Taking You Closer To Your Goal?

Supply Chain teams undertake various improvement initiatives. Each of these initiatives should take us closer to the...

How Do You Know Your Supply Chain Is Better Than The Competition?

Supply Chain teams seem to be in a continuous assessment mode to check how effective their supply chain is. I have...

What’s Coming In The Way Of Adopting Demand Driven Supply...

Let me start by saying that I am a strong advocate of Demand Driven Supply Chains (DDSC), which help in aligning supplies...

Is The IOT Data Overwhelming Your Supply Chain Team?

I recently came across a company which had an initial success with their IOT pilot implementation. Encouraged by this...

‘Stocked Out’ Or ‘Sold Out’?

I had an interesting conversation at a leading retail store recently. My favourite brand was stocked out on the shelves...

Do You Experience Yo-Yo In System Inventory Of Certain Fast Moving...

A common problem faced by many supply chain teams is the yo-yo in the overall system inventory of their fast moving...

Where Should You Prioritize Flexibility Improvement In Supply Chain?

Most supply chain teams recognize that the backend supply chain needs to be more flexible. They launch a host of initiatives...

How Should We Handle The Sensitive Issues Of Transparency And...

It’s a tricky subject. Supply chain works efficiently if various partners share information in a transparent manner...

Is Your Supply Chain Initiative Removing A Significant Limitation...

Supply chain teams run several initiatives during the year. Do these initiatives remove a major limitation, which is coming...

Many Wrong Beliefs In Supply Chain Are Based On A Limited View Of...

During my discussions with various supply chain teams, I have come across so many widely held beliefs. In most cases, these...

VMI Implementation In Supply Chain Often Falls Short Of The Promised...

Many companies have gone ahead with Vendor Managed Inventory (VMI) for their input materials. It started in automobile...

DDSC Works Best When ‘Measurements’ Are Changed...

I have seen many implementations of replenishment based supply chains where the improvements are only marginal...

Sales Team’s Alignment Is A Pre-Requisite For Moving To Demand...

I was recently talking to a leading foods company who want to switch over to replenishment based DDSC. They were...

Does The Word ‘Constraint’ Evoke A Positive Or A Negative Feeling In You?

'Constraint' has been one of the most misunderstood and misinterpreted words. Many supply chain teams want to get rid...

Why Do Some Change Management Efforts In Supply Chain Fail To...

Dr. Goldratt has emphasized that all change management efforts should follow the 3-step process, answering the...

Does Your Supply Chain Execution Require Too Many Manual...

I have seen certain supply chains where every action regarding stock deployment, production schedule and purchase...

Does Intuition Play A Role In Supply Chain Improvements?

We have a divided opinion on this topic. Some supply chain teams mention time and again that a lot of their improvement...

DDSC Impact On Production And Procurement Functions Must Be...

I have seen Demand Driven Supply Chains (DDSC) getting implemented in many companies across various industries...

How Should We Help Supply Chain Teams To Overcome Inertia?

When I speak to supply chain teams across industries, I notice a lot of inertia, a tendency to maintain status quo and not...

How Should We Facilitate Change Management For Supply Chain...

Most supply chain initiatives require significant change management efforts. Many of these initiatives involve external...

Never Say I Know

These are the words of Dr. Eli Goldratt, which mean a lot to me. I have seen time and again that supply chain professionals...

How Do You Approach The Design Of Your Supply Chain?

Every company’s supply chain is unique in the context in which it operates and the goal the company is pursuing. I have...

Do We Need Detailed Cost Benefit Analysis For Every Supply Chain...

I have seen many supply chain teams spending months in carrying out detailed cost benefit analysis for every...

Do You See Obstacles In Moving To Demand Driven Supply Chain?

One of the most frequent comments I have heard across various supply chain teams relates to underselling or overselling...

Do Sales People Undersell Or Oversell?

One of the most frequent comments I have heard across various supply chain teams relates to underselling or overselling...

Is Your Production Schedule Getting Out Of Tune With Market Demand?

Many companies use the monthly demand forecast, finalized at the S&OP meeting, to prepare the Master Production Schedule...

Fast Feedback Loops Are At The Heart Of An Agile Supply Chain Design

Agile supply chains require capabilities of sharp demand sensing, operational flexibility and responsiveness. I have seen...

How Do We Know When The Current Supply Chain Processes Need A...

I have met several supply chain leaders who feel that their current processes have stabilized and should not be tinkered...

Inherent Simplicity Leads To Simpler Processes

Most supply chains run on complex processes, since we haven’t understood the inherent simplicity in the system...

Inherent Simplicity Points To Capability Improvement Areas

We saw in the previous post how Inherent Simplicity is different from simplification of supply chain. While simplification...

Inherent Simplicity In Supply Chains Is Not Simplification

One of the key concepts in TOC is the Inherent Simplicity of complex adaptive systems like supply chains...

How Useful Is Long Term Planning In Fast Replenishment Systems?

Many companies adopting Fast Replenishment systems across their extended value chain have done away...

How Should We Treat ‘Outliers’ In Supply Chain?

Supply Chain teams often struggle with outliers in their data. These are found in all data sets… demand data, supply data...

Should We Use Monthly Forecasts For Finished Goods Deployment?

Many supply chain teams use the monthly sales forecast for their finished goods deployment. The practice is quite...

Asymmetric Behaviour Around Supply Chain KPI Review Leads To Low...

Supply Chain teams work on several KPIs. Some of these are truly customer-facing while many others are internal in nature...

Forecast Accuracy As A KPI Can Lead To Wrong Behaviour. Beware!

Many businesses use Forecast Accuracy (FCA) as a KPI for their Demand and Sales teams. However, the implications are...

The Myth Of A ‘Single Number’ In Supply Chain Planning

Many businesses work on the concept of a ‘single number’ as a target for various functions. This ‘single number’...

How Should We Handle Frequent Changes In Supply Chain Plans?

Many supply chain teams start their production, procurement, deployment planning from the monthly demand...

FOMO In Supply Chain!

Of late, I see a lot of interest in implementing some planning solution for the entire Supply Chain. When I speak...

‘Best Practices’ Are Passé

Most Supply Chain teams actively look for benchmarking their processes with leading players in their industry...

Nature Doesn’t Build Dams To Control Flow

Dams are used to control flow to downstream entities. Strange though it may sound, we don’t find dams in nature...

How Much More Can The System Constraint Deliver?

Companies using TOC are familiar with the ‘5 Focusing Steps’ to identify and manage the system constraint. The first step...

Who Influences OTIF In Your Organisation?

Many organisations are adopting OTIF as their primary supply chain measure, as it is directly customer-facing...

Push Sales Lead To Turbulence In Product Flow

It’s quite common to see large chunks of push sales happening at the month-end, quarter-end, and year-end. How does...

Is Your Sales Team Customer Focused Or Calendar Focused?

Let me admit that this is a touchy topic, which is widely prevalent but rarely discussed. When I interact with the...

‘Replenish To Consumption’ Is Suboptimal In Certain Situations

Many companies, implementing inventory replenishment system for the first time, often take the easier route of...

How Do We Compress Supply Lead Time For Key Vendors?

Companies who are moving to a Demand Driven replenishment based supply chain often struggle with long lead times...

Do Vendors Prefer Monthly Or Weekly Rolling Orders?

Many companies have the practice of raising purchase orders on vendors on a monthly basis. This practice has been...

How Frequently Should S&OE Give Feedback To S&OP?

If we want to design the Supply Chain with a dynamic equilibrium between S&OP and S&OE, an important design element...

How Does Your Demand Planning Tool Handle ‘False Positives’ In New...

Actual demand for a new product at the granular level has high variability and is difficult to predict. On top of it, there...

People Are Good, Improve The Process!

Supply Chain teams undertake improvement programs on an ongoing basis. Is the focus of these programs...

How Is Your Interface Between S&OP And S&OE?

Most companies have separate systems for their S&OP and S&OE processes. Their differences in approach range from...

Supply Chain Teams Often Suffer From Vendor Reliability Issues

Vendor reliability, in terms of timing, quantity, and quality has been a cause of concern in many companies. The problem...

Flexibility In Production Is Key To Develop High Performance Supply...

The holy grail of supply chain design is to match supplies with demand on an ongoing basis. If the demand goes down,...

How Should Companies Improve Their Sales Forecast Accuracy?

Most companies struggle with improving the accuracy of their sales forecast. They try different forecasting software, using...

Management Policies Often Come In The Way Of Breakthrough...

When we work on improving a supply chain to substantially enhance product availability and product freshness, we...

What Catches Your Attention On Gemba Walks?

All supply chain professionals undertake Gemba walks from time to time, be it on the shop floor, in warehouses, or in...

What Is Constraining Your Organisation From Reaching Its Goal?

This question looks simple, but the fact remains that most teams find it difficult to answer it in simple terms. If you...

Experimentation Culture In An Organisation Needs Guard Rails

We have heard far too often that companies should experiment more, fail fast, learn from failures. I have seen the...

Simplify The Customer Facing Processes

This relates to my recent experience at the sales return counter of a leading supermarket in Powai. The counter...

Should You Balance The New Production Line?

When companies expand their capacity by installing a new production line, they try to balance the capacity of various equipment...

Is Your Production Line Running At Full Capacity?

Many Supply Chain teams aim to run their production lines at full capacity. It is advisable only if the constraint is internal...

Technology Solutions Can Sometimes Turn Into A Disabler!

Technology solutions in various cases are deployed to serve a specific purpose. It is often to expedite the transactions...

Benefits Of Improvement In Supply Chain Come In Several Layers

While considering improvement in certain critical customer-facing processes, supply chain teams do consider the potential...

Go With The Flow

The market forces at play are generally stronger than what individual companies can influence, especially when it comes...

Are You Consciously Reducing The Improvement Latency In The Supply...

Improvement latency is hardly ever discussed and tracked in companies’ supply chains. Even the definition is not clear...

How Is Our Knowledge To Assumption Ratio For Supply Chain...

Companies use various methodologies to get the demand outlook for different time horizons. Short term outlook...

Demand Outlook Across Different Time Horizons Often Give...

Companies use various methodologies to get the demand outlook for different time horizons. Short term outlook...

How Do You Handle An Unusually Large Order In An MTS Environment?

FMCG companies generally design their supply chains for an MTS (Make to Stock) environment. The design works...

MTS In MTO Environment Is An Important Part Of Supply Chain...

Supply chains in most companies are designed as primarily ‘Make to Stock’ (MTS) or ‘Make to Order’ (MTO)...

Focus On Asset Utilisation Often Has An Adverse Impact On Supply Chain...

I have seen umpteen instances where an expensive asset is under-loaded by planners. It happens when demand...

Collaboration In Supply Chain Is Key To Success!

Supply chains function through an active participation by several important players… vendors, manufacturers,...

Is The Annual Budgeting Exercise Affecting Your Supply Chain...

Most companies are currently in the process of finalizing their next year’s budgets. It is quite an effort-intensive...

If You Don’t Push, You Won’t Face Resistance!

Sounds pretty obvious, doesn’t it? It is also confirmed by Physics. However, we see it happening all the time ...

Empower The Last Mile For Agility!

Conventional distribution systems in FMCG have CFAs invoicing to distributors, who in turn sell to retailers. A prevalent...

One Way Streets Are Such A Delight For Motorists!

Cities struggling with traffic congestions often resort to the time tested initiative of making certain streets open to only...

When WIP is not work in progress!

If you visit a factory, it is quite common to see large chunks of WIP lying on the shop floor, waiting to be processed by the next...

Is OTIF An Integral Part Of Our Organisation Culture?

Most companies are now focusing on OTIF improvement… Deliver their customers’ orders on time in full. They are...

How To Approach Supply Chain Transformation Projects?

Many companies undertake Supply Chain transformation projects and find them expensive, time consuming and...

Murphy And Serendipity In Supply Chain Are Two Faces Of The Same...

Supply Chain professionals often talk about Murphy hitting them from time to time. They also sometimes, though much less...

Do Push Sales Really Work?

Most companies, even with replenishment systems in place, end up pushing sales at the end of each month and...

Dashboard Design Should Focus On The System Constraint

If you look at the performance dashboard of a company, can you locate the system constraint? Well-designed dashboards...

How Dynamic Is Your Supply Chain Dashboard Design?

Most companies have designed and implemented their Supply Chain dashboards, which keep them updated...

‘Employee Of The Week’ Database Is Full Of Insights For Supply Chain...

Many companies celebrate ‘Employee of the Week’ or ‘Employee of the Month’. It’s a good practice and serves as a great...

How Do We Develop Our Ability To Respond To Market Shifts?

When companies notice a significant shift in demand for their products, most teams struggle with shortages and inventory...

Fast Feedback Loop On Supply Chain Improvement Projects Helps

Supply Chain teams work on several improvement initiatives. A key element often missing in these projects is the...

TMM 2023 Was Quite A Unique Experience!

Every marathon run provides a different experience, a new perspective and lots of learning. I was eagerly looking...

Let’s Keep Our Eyes Open To Emerging Demand Patterns In...

Companies working on a monthly forecast based supply planning look at the demand patterns once a month and a lot...

Supply Chain Is Not Rocket Science!

I have seen some experts talk about increasing complexity of supply chains. However, if we look at the fundamentals...

Exception Monitoring Is Fundamental To Sustained And Ongoing...

Most Supply Chain improvement initiatives, including the large scale transformation projects, promise improvements...

Profit Improvement Initiatives In Supply Chain Often Leave Out Some...

Supply Chain teams identify profit improvement initiatives from time to time. While some of these pertain to revenue...

How Do We Know That We Have Identified The Right Actions For...

Improvement initiatives in Supply Chain are typically aimed at eliminating certain Undesirable Effects (UDEs). These could...

‘Fear Of Success’ Is Often An Obstacle In Supply Chain Improvements!

Many supply chain improvement initiatives don’t live up to their promised benefits. For example, the direction of solution...

New Year Resolutions Often Reflect A ‘Large Batch’ Mindset

I have observed New Year resolutions of so many people and wondered why they try setting such ambitious...

Measurements In Supply Chain Have A Huge Impact On The Direction...

I was recently working with a pharmaceutical company where the team was grappling with the twin issues of...

How Frequently Do You Improve Your Supply Chain?

What really differentiates excellent supply chains from others is the direction and frequency of improvement...

Large Scale Digital Transformation Of Supply Chains Often Fails To Deliver...

We have heard of many companies going in for a large scale digital transformation. The benefits promised by the...

How Should We Manage A Sudden Surge In Customer Waiting Times?

We have seen the recent surge in customer waiting times at certain large airports in the country. This is just a symptom...

Who Should Mastermind The End-To-End Supply Chain Planning And...

Our objective of creating harmony amongst various supply chain partners can be fulfilled only if all supply chain actions...

How Do We Create Harmony Among Supply Chain Partners?

Supply chain professionals acknowledge the importance of harmony amongst various partners, both internal as well...

The ‘Power Of One’ In Supply Chains Is Incredibly Powerful

While a few supply chain teams strive to customise their service offerings to individual MT or ECom chains...

Do Mass Customisations For Customers Increase Supply Chain...

Supply chain teams often experience increasing pressure from customers for tweaking the delivery parameters...

Should You Improve The Flexibility Of Your Production Lines?

How frequently do Supply Chain teams discuss this topic? Moreover, does it lead to a conclusion? My experience...

Supply Chains Have Inherent Simplicity

Supply chain teams often remark that their own supply chains are inherently complex and the complexity has gone...

Why Do So Many Change Efforts In Supply Chain Fail To Deliver?

Management teams roll out so many supply chain improvement projects every year. Many of these are well thought out...

Why Do Vendors Offer Quantity Based Discounts?

We have seen across organisations that Procurement professionals take pride in getting quantity based discounts...

How Do We Reduce Our Dependence On Sales Forecast For Supply Chain...

In consumer goods companies, consumers’ tolerance time for product availability is practically zero. If a brand is stocked...

Are Stockouts And Inventory Pileups In Supply Chain Caused By Poor...

Supply chain professionals rarely think about this question, as the answer seems so obvious to them. There are hard...

Do You Believe In The Weather Forecasts?

I have asked this question to many people over the past few years and met with a similar reaction. People laughed...

Should We Predict Demand At The Granular Level Or At An Aggregate...

I am again stirring up a hornet’s nest. There are strong views on either side. Most practitioners of TOC and DDSC avoid...

Current Practices In The Apparel Industry Supply Chain Lead To...

Our work with companies in the apparel industry indicates the need to question many prevailing practices. One such...

Assumptions Behind Prevailing Industry Practices In Supply Chain...

Every industry has certain prevailing supply chain practices which are taken as given. Most teams don’t question these...

Is Your Supply Chain Designed For Resilience During Disruptions?

Supply chain teams struggle with various types of disruptions, be it internal or external, as it affects their customer...

Do Brand Promotions Perform Uniformly Across Geographies...

It looks like a trivial question but has profound impact on how supply chains perform when brands roll out consumer...

How Do We Deal With Conflicting Objectives In Supply Chain?

I have heard it quite often from Supply Chain leaders that they are struggling with several conflicting objectives. They are...

Are You Leveraging The Asymmetry In Cost Of Stockouts And Excess...

There are several cost components that are left unleveraged in a conventional cost mindset. One such common...

Are We Questioning The Various Assumptions Made In Supply...

Supply chains run on several assumptions that we need to make from time to time. A few of these are explicit...

Chaos Theory Has Good Learnings For Supply Chain Leaders

Supply chains are expected to face environmental chaos from time to time, which can’t just be wished away...

Order And Chaos Are Like Yin And Yang In Supply Chains

Every supply chain experiences bouts of orderly performance, interspersed with spells of chaos. Innumerable efforts...

Are We Imposing Certainty On Uncertain Events?

Most supply chain professionals aren’t comfortable with uncertainty. As a result, they try imposing certainty on some...

Adaptability Of Supply Chains Is The Key To Sustained Excellence

History has a lot of lessons for us. Dinosaurs were once the most successful species and considered invincible...

Move Beyond The Comfort Zones To Excel In Your Supply Chain...

My interaction with several supply chain leaders across various industry sectors indicates that their teams develop...

Are Functional KPIs Preventing Your Supply Chain To Become More...

I have seen several Supply Chain teams struggle to improve flexibility in their backend operations. They...

Are We Aligned With Our Customers On Key Business Performance...

All supply chain professionals aspire for a harmonious relationship with their business partners, especially...

Fast And Reliable Delivery Does Command A Premium!

I have often discussed with various supply chain professionals the need for crashing supply lead time and ensuring...

How Should You Design Your Supply Chain To Improve Its Effectiveness?

Most companies endeavour to improve the effectiveness of their supply chain and the questions they often grapple...

Vendors Are More Flexible Than We Assume

I was working with a medium-sized FMCG company. The procurement function had conventional processes like monthly...

Should The Safety Stocks Built In Supply Chain Inventory Buffers...

Inventory buffers in Demand Driven Supply Chains are set at ‘Maximum demand during RLT, adjusted for supply reliability’...

What Lies At The Root Of Frequent Firefighting In Supply Chains?

Supply chain teams are often seen indulging in several firefighting efforts. Why is firefighting so common...

How Assorted Are Your Supply Chain Distribution Consignments?

Companies working on monthly forecasts and serving their depots directly from factories often send large quantities...

How Should We Deal With Variations In Supply Chain?

In my last post, I mentioned that certain variations should be minimised and certain others embraced...

How Do You View Variations In Various Supply Chain Processes?

Many Supply Chain teams work towards minimising variations in their processes so that the outcomes are more...

Are You Still Searching For The Perfect Supply Chain Planning...

Many companies are on the lookout for a good supply chain planning solution. The process seems to be pretty...

How Soon Do You See The Impact Of Your Supply Chain Improvement...

Supply chain teams have several ongoing improvement projects at any point in time. Some of these are expected...

How Should You Prioritise The Supply Chain Improvement Initiatives?

Most supply chain teams work on continuous improvement of their operations. However, the way...

Focus On Improving Forecast Accuracy May Lead To Perpetual Stockouts...

Let me start with the companies which run their supply chains based on monthly forecasts. Most of these companies...

Why Is Bottom-Up Granular Demand Sensing So Much Better For Supply...

Most FMCG companies depend on aggregate demand forecasting for their supply chain planning. Many of them...

How Stale Is Your Demand Data For Supply Chain Planning And...

One of the important parameters often ignored by supply chain professionals is the latency of demand data, which...

Move Faster With A Few Focused Initiatives In Supply Chain

Most companies have a plethora of improvement initiatives in their supply chain. Each of these initiatives tries...

Why Do Dieting People Often End Up Gaining Weight In The Long Run?

Many of my friends and acquaintances have been on diet for weight reduction. Does it help? Most of them ended up...

Do You Treat Stockouts As Exceptions Or Norms?

The question looks trivial, but the implications are profound. Most companies with product availability issues have...

Are You Cutting Down The Latency Between Demand Data, Supply...

Most Supply Chain teams focus on improving the accuracy of their planning process and the discipline in execution...

How Insightful Is Your Root Cause Analysis Of The Performance...

If the Supply Chain performance falls short of the ambitions or expectations, most companies carry out some sort...

Supply Chains Must Adapt To The Changing Business Realities

Charles Darwin made the profound discovery ‘It is not the strongest of the species that survive, nor the most...

If You Want To Improve Flow In The Supply Chain, Decide When Not...

One of the main reasons for poor product flow in the supply chain is overproduction or early production...

Why Do Supply Chain Functions Resist Frequent Forecast Changes?

If we want to design a supply chain which is demand driven, hence responsive to any changes in consumer demand...

The Primary Objective Of Operations Is To Improve Flow In The Supply...

Most companies have some difficulty in coordinating the actions of various functions to meet consumer demand...

Are You Aiming For 100% Utilization Of Your Supply Chain Resources?

There are many Supply Chain professionals who aim at improving the utilization of various resources under them...

Give The Slow Movers In Your Supply Chain A Chance To Accelerate!

Every company has a few products which are slow movers, and we often wonder why these aren’t picking up in the market...

How To Spot Violation Of The Flow Principles In A Supply Chain?

When I speak to supply chain professionals, they agree that the entire supply chain, from vendors to consumers...

Focus On Production Efficiency Often Leads To Lower Profits… Be Careful!

Production teams in most companies have a razor-sharp focus on improving their production efficiencies. This is...

Benchmarking Efforts In Supply Chains Often Lead To Suboptimal...

Many companies undertake benchmarking initiatives from time to time. The objective is to see how their supply chains...

Capacity Constraints In Supply Chains Need ‘Flow’ Solutions

Supply Chain teams often struggle with certain capacity constraints in the system. It may be in input material availability...

Only A Few Performance Measures Impact The Business Profits

I have seen companies operate with a multitude of performance measures, which take a lot of effort to target...

How Rigid Is Your MTO-MTS Classification Of The Portfolio?

Companies often segregate their product portfolio into Make to Order (MTO) and Make to Stock (MTS). The classic...

Profitability Improvement Projects Often Fail To Deliver Sustained...

Many companies take up improvement projects to improve the company’s profitability as a % of sales revenue...

The Biggest Cost Element In Supply Chains Is Often The Cost Of Lost Sales

It is intriguing that the biggest cost element in supply chains is often ignored in our profit improvement projects...

Beauty Lies In Simplicity Of Supply Chains

Most companies have made their supply chains so complex that customer service takes a beating. Their employees...

Are We Launching ‘Minimum Viable Products’ For Early Experimentation?

Of late, the practice of experimentation and iteration in launching new products and services has gained significant ground...

Quantum Of Inventory Buffer Change In Supply Chains Is Key To...

We have discussed in the last three posts how inventory buffers should be sized, what should be the trigger for buffer...

How Frequently Should We Resize The Supply Chain Inventory Buffers?

Frequency of resizing various inventory buffers in the supply chain is a critical parameter which decides how responsive...

What Should Be The Trigger For Buffer Changes?

We discussed in the last post that buffer sizes should be based on the forward demand prediction at the level where...

Sizing Of Inventory Buffers Is A Key Parameter To Improve Both....

Most consumer businesses operate in a scenario where consumer tolerance time is much lower than the supply...

Is Your Current Inventory Buffer Management System Dynamic...

Dynamic Buffer Management (DBM) is a widely used technique by TOC practitioners to ensure that product...

Poor Response Is Often Caused By Ineffective Supply Chain Design

Supply Chain professionals often struggle in a fast-changing marketplace. They wonder why supplies are not responding...

Should We Aim For Perfection?

Whenever I ask this question to Supply Chain professionals, I get a polarized response with each side having strong...

How To Overcome Inertia For Major Supply Chain Improvement Initiatives?

Many Supply Chain professionals have good improvement ideas but fail to implement them. What gets in the way...

Does Your Major Supply Chain Initiative Compromise Any KPI?

Companies undertaking any major improvement initiative often focus on improving an important performance...

How Effective Is Your Company’s Biggest Initiative?

Most companies have a plethora of initiatives at any point in time, overwhelming the employees...

Why Do We Love Google Maps?

Most of the users of Google Maps love it. The underlying reason is its accurate prediction of ETA. Though it does change...

Consumer Messaging Must Be Clear, Unambiguous, And Non-Conflicting

It sounds quite trivial, isn’t it? Why should I even write about it? If we look around us and deeply observe various...

Customer Fulfilment Issues Are Systemic, Not Functional

Most Supply Chain teams spend a lot of their time and effort in improving customer fulfilment. Gaps in fulfilment...

Teams Learning Together Perform Better

While Learning & Development efforts in companies are largely focused on individual learning, the holy grail...

Are You Stressed During Consumer Promotions?

Most supply chain teams get stressed during execution of consumer promotions. When the promo starts, many sales...

Who Stole My Precious Semiconductor Chips?

Semiconductor chips have been in short supply for quite some time. The tight situation is likely to continue...

At What Level Of Granularity Should You Predict Demand?

We know that consumer demand patterns evolve at the most granular level. The same product may witness a highly accelerating...

Who Is Stealing Your Critical Production Capacity?

If the system constraint happens to be a specific equipment on the production line, we must use that equipment to...

Capacity Shortages Don’t Need Fresh Investments!

I have come across several supply chain teams who must deal with capacity shortages – be it in production...

How Do You Respond To Surprises In Your Supply Chain?

Supply Chain professionals encounter numerous surprises in their daily planning and execution. Many of these are quite...

At What Granularity Should We Plan Various Supply Chain Activities?

Supply chain execution in the short term needs to be planned at the most granular level. The planning horizon for this...

Are Your Supply Chain Improvements Focused On The Major Impact Areas?

Most Supply Chain teams have a list of improvement projects. The list can be quite overwhelming and take a lot of time...

Selecting Vendors On Least Cost Basis Is A Costly Affair!

Purchase managers in several leading companies use cost as the basis for vendor selection, as they are possibly evaluated...

Does Intuition Play A Role In Supply Chain Execution?

This topic normally ends up in a hot debate… Scientists insist on proper cause-effect analysis and logical solutions...

Supply Chains Have A Lot Of Grey Areas

When I interact with various supply chain professionals, they tend to define their current issues in black and white...

Root Causes Of Various Supply Chain Symptoms Converge!

Most supply chains have quite a good amount of scope for improving their key parameters of product availability...

Is Product Freshness Important Only For Perishables?

I have often heard from supply chain professionals that product freshness on the retail shelves is important...

How Should You Handle The Noise In Demand Signals?

Demand signals coming from the market on a continuous basis carry some amount of noise with them. Supply chain...

Why Do We Resist Frequent Forecast Changes?

Most supply chain teams I have interacted with, resist frequent changes to the demand forecast. Once the monthly...

Improving Teamwork Amongst The Supply Chain Members Needs...

I have often heard from supply chain teams of various companies that their company has organized an offsite to improve...

Do You Have A Cost Reduction Target Next Year?

This is the time of the year when many companies finalize their ambitions and goals for the coming year...

Less Is More In Supply Chains

Many Supply Chain professionals struggle with too many interventions and improvement projects...

Why Do We Have So Many Firefighting Instances In Supply Chain?

Most supply chain teams struggle with too many issues on a day-to-day basis. Many of these are of a firefighting type...

Is Your Production Plan Truly Demand Driven?

Most supply chain professionals feel their production plan is driven by actual consumer demand. While it may be...

Tweaking The Planning Frequency Can Result In A Substantial...

Most companies practice a monthly frequency for their supply chain planning, starting with S&OP or IBP...

Cost Of Stockouts Is Often The Biggest Cost In Supply Chains

I have seen many supply chain teams working on supply chain transformation or cost improvement projects ignoring...

OTIF In Conversations Is Important For Supply Chain Excellence

Supply Chain professionals now understand the importance of On-Time-In-Full (OTIF). Improving OTIF is one of the...

Do You Classify Your Product Portfolio As ABC?

ABC classification of the saleable product portfolio is a common practice prevailing across industries. Companies often...

How Should We Set The Supply Chain Improvement Targets?

There are two important considerations in setting the targets – the parameters on which targets should be set...

Is Your Supply Chain Getting Increasingly Complex?

Most supply chain professionals feel their supply chains are getting more complex to manage – both on the demand side due...

Should You Segment Your Supply Chain?

Companies often segment their market based on consumer behaviour. Quite a few of them end up segmenting it...

For Eliminating Bullwhip Effect In Supply Chains, Transparency Of...

Most supply chain professionals think that transparency of consumer demand across the value chain will...

Is Your Supply Chain Cost Cutting Project Hurting Your Customers?

Supply chain teams generally take care to ensure that any cost cutting attempted by them doesn’t hurt the customers...

How High Are Your Supply Chain Ambitions?

This is the time of the year when many Supply Chain teams set their ambitions for the coming year. I have seen the...

Reliability Of Supply Chains Is Often Affected By Seemingly Innocuous...

I have seen quite a few supply chain teams struggling with reliability improvement. While they have redesigned...

When Should You Allocate Stocks To Various Customer Channels?

Most companies selling across several customer channels have separate revenue teams to focus on revenue generated...

Production Targets And Inventory Targets Have An Inherent Conflict

I have seen many companies having a well-defined finished goods inventory target for their Planning team...

Do You Compromise On Flexibility To Gain A Reliable Supply Chain...

Many companies prefer to design their supply chain processes to improve the value chain reliability...

Do You Witness A Gap Between Your Supply Chain Planning And...

Moving to an agile and demand driven supply chain requires a redesign of various supply chain processes...

Do You Know The Short-Term Demand?

Most companies have their supply chain planning and execution processes designed for a deterministic demand...

Is Your Supply Chain Stressed During New Product Introductions?

New product introductions are tricky for supply chain planning. Even agile supply chains often lose out on product...

Have You Tried To Move Out Of Your Comfort Zone For Supply Chain...

Most supply chain professionals prefer to work within their comfort zones, without attempting to fundamentally...

Work Expands To Fill The Lead Time Available

Agility focuses on reducing lead time to fulfil customer requirements, while improving the customer service measures...

Can Your Supply Chain Handle Grey Swan Events?

The current pandemic is described by many as a Black Swan event, which occurs rarely and is difficult to plan for...

Where Should You Start Your Supply Chain Transformation Journey?

The pandemic has nudged many companies to fast forward their supply chain transformation projects. However,...

The Most Powerful Supply Chain Solutions Are Based On Inherent...

Supply chain improvement is not a rocket science. If we stay focused on improving the consumer relevant parameters...

Is Your Supply Chain On A Continuous Improvement Path?

Every supply chain is designed to excel in a specific market construct and a set of consumer needs. As the market...

Should FMCG Companies Switch From Primary To Secondary Sales...

Many FMCG companies continue to predict primary sales for working out various supply chain actions. They don’t see...

When Should You Relook At The Design Of Your Supply Chain?

Every supply chain is designed for a specific context… customer segments served by the company, their specific...

New Year Resolutions – Why Some Of Them Stick While Others Don’t?

This is the time of the year when many supply chain professionals and teams make their fresh new year resolutions...

Challenges In 2021 Pushed The Boundaries Of Agility Even Further

Every year brings new challenges and helps in improving the supply chain capabilities. As a result, supply chains...

How Should The Q-Commerce Companies Look At Assortment...

Success in q-commerce requires a good Demand Driven Supply Chain design, coupled with high level of agility...

Is Consumers’ Purchase Intention Influenced By Product Freshness?

The answer seems obvious, but its implications are profound. Most analyses ignore it, and I don’t remember...

Pushing Extra Stocks To Your Channel Partners Is A Win-Lose Strategy

Many consumer goods companies indulge in recording extra sales at the month-end by pushing stocks...

Refrain From Jumping Straight Into The Optimization Models!

Supply chain professionals often struggle with delivering on so many seemingly conflicting objectives...

Agility Of A Supply Chain Is Tested During Consumer Promotions

New product introduction is a major initiative for consumer goods companies. While success of new product launches...

Give Your New Products A Chance To Succeed

New product introduction is a major initiative for consumer goods companies. While success of new product launches...

Is Your Distribution Network Optimized For Agility? Or Cost?...

Network optimization is an important initiative undertaken by supply chain professionals. My experience...

How You Share The Value Surplus With Your Customers Is Key...

Service providers, such as consultants, aim at maximizing the value created through their projects...

Is Your Solution Customized To Solve Specific Pain Area Of The Customer?

Customers look for solution to their pain areas and they feel that their pain is unique. If we offer...

Should We Perform ABC Analysis On Emerging Trends?

Supply Chain professionals are adept at applying ABC analysis to various parts of supply chain operations...

How Do You Navigate Speed Breakers?

Anyone who loves driving would have found his own way of navigating speed breakers en route. A speed breaker...

Who Is Your Most Demanding Customer?

Most supply chain professionals are aware of their most demanding customer, who keeps tightening the requirements...

Who Should Publish A Company’s Supply Chain Scorecard?

Supply chain professionals in most companies have well defined KPIs, which are aligned with their internal...

Can Quantum Theory Provide A Solution To Multitasking?

We have heard from several experts that multitasking is bad, as it brings down the efficiency and effectiveness of our work...

Success In Q-commerce Requires The Highest Level Of Supply Chain Agility

Quick-commerce, promising grocery delivery in 10 minutes, is getting popular in several cities where it has been launched...

Embrace Uncertainty

The evolution process has wired our brains to think of uncertainty as fear, which possibly explains why so many...

Good Habits Die Hard

Supply chain transformation involves changing many of the habits hardened into the current processes and ways...

Handling Diverse Functions Early In The Career Helps Supply Chain...

Many supply chain professionals would like to specialize in a particular field. While specialization helps...

Transparency Across The Value Chain Is Important For Faster Response

Supply chain professionals have endeavored to make their supply chains robust to handle various disruptions...

Thank You, Murphy For Making Our Supply Chains More Robust

Supply chain professionals have endeavored to make their supply chains robust to handle various disruptions...

Company Policies Often Come In The Way Of Faster Response

Supply chain professionals often experience a sudden surge in demand for a particular product. If the inventory...

Replenishment Orders Are Often Understated

A typical multi-echelon supply chain has material flowing from vendors to consumers through various nodes...

How Do You Make Your Supply Chain More Responsive?

Responsiveness is a key capability required to synchronize supplies with demand on an ongoing basis. While most supply chain...

How Should You Balance A Serial Production Line?

You should not. A serial production line is defined as a series of machines working sequentially on the input material...

How Effective Is Your Exception Monitoring Process?

The importance of exception monitoring is gaining ground in managing supply chains. Defining exceptions and monitoring...

Are You Comfortable In Sharing Your KPIs With Consumers?

It appears to be a simple question, but the answer could lead to profound insights in making your company truly...

Do Supply Chains Suffer From Murphy’s Law?

Murphy’s Law, which states that if anything can go wrong, it will and precisely at the wrong time, is often quoted...

Supply Chain Improvement Projects Yield Benefits With A Time Lag

Benefits from a supply chain improvement project often come with a time lag. While a few projects would...

Supply Chain Excellence Requires Managing By Exception

We have discussed the two basic building blocks of a good supply chain – consumer-focused design and an agile execution...

Why Should We Forecast Consumer Demand?

The answer looks obvious. However, thinking about this question and applying the 5 Whys technique leads to one...

A Journey Of A Thousand Miles Begins With A Single Step

It’s an important lesson that we learnt in our childhood, but do we use it in our work life? Many supply chain...

How Do You Break A Brick With Your Palm?

I am amazed to see Karate practitioners break a solid brick with a single stroke of their palm. It is a skill which takes...

How do we internalize OTIF?

OTIF is increasingly gaining importance as a customer-facing measure of supply chain performance. However, some teams...

Are You Succeeding Too Often?

It sounds pretty odd, doesn’t it? Why should we be concerned if we excel at customer defined parameters consistently...

Is Your Supply Chain Designed For Concurrent Response To...

Most supply chains are designed for sequential response to changes in demand patterns When consumer demand...

Some Of Your Customers May Ask For Difficult Commitments

Successful companies with a well-run supply chain often face this challenge. Since they consistently meet customer...

Customers Love Consistency Of Your Delivery

If you ask me for one thing that gives peace of mind to customers, it is consistency in delivery performance...

Constraints Are Useful

No system performs without constraints. We either know where the real system constraint is or we ignore...

Would You Help Your Sales Team With A Disruptive Offering?

Most consumer companies have their major sales coming through the distributor - retailer channel...

Is Your Quest For Perfection Delaying Certain Decisions?

Many companies segment their supply chain for differential treatment in service levels, distribution network, production...

Do We Need Segmentation In Supply Chain?

Many companies segment their supply chain for differential treatment in service levels, distribution network, production...

The Third Step Of A Change Management Effort Is The Key...

Every improvement effort needs to answer the three universal questions. The first question of ‘What to change...

Resisting Change Is Like Holding Your Breath!

While every change may not result in an improvement, every improvement effort does require a change. How the teams...

Does Your Supply Chain Focus Toggle Between Conflicting Priorities?

Many supply chain teams struggle for long term focus as the top management priorities keep toggling between...

Can A System Operate Without Constraints?

When we ask industry professionals regarding what is constraining their overall business, the response ranges...

When The Demand Patterns Change, Who Walks Away With The...

As the demand volatility increases, shifts in demand pattern have become quite common. Pandemic has only...

In Case Of A Sudden Demand Surge, Fast Response May Not Be Sufficient

There are instances from time to time when demand for a particular product in a specific territory surges manifold...

How Do We Improve Flexibility In Logistics, Production And...

Most supply chain teams are unaware of how inflexible their supply operations have become over a period of time...

Are You Struggling With Too Many Initiatives?

I have spoken to a lot of supply chain professionals and most of them complain about too many initiatives...

Is Your Supply Chain Designed To Win At The Marketplace?

Companies now compete at the marketplace with the strength of their supply chains. More effective...

Agile Supply Chain Helps In Meeting Your Customers’ Ever Tightening...

It’s a common industry practice for customers to tighten their requirements from time to time. It can be in the form...

A Major Cause Of Supply Chain Issues Is The Rigidity In Forecasting

The process of demand forecasting and consequent supply planning has become quite rigid over a period of time...

Tell-Tale Signs Of A Real Capacity Shortage Are Easy To Spot

Many supply chain teams often complain about shortage of production capacity. They cite evidence like product...

Have You Identified The Right System Constraint?

I have often heard from supply chain professionals that they identified the system constraint, improved its...

What’s Holding You Back From Achieving More Of Your Goal?

The first step in improving a system is to identify what’s holding it back from achieving more of the goal...

Should We Motivate The Supply Chain Team For Excellence?

Many companies resort to various motivational techniques to encourage their supply chain team to aim for excellence...

Excess Inventory Causing Stockouts?

Sounds counterintuitive? Well, that’s because it’s amongst the least understood phenomena in supply chain...

What’s The Thread Connecting Your Integrated Planning Process?

Many companies have evolved from a functional planning scenario to Integrated Business Planning, where various...

Have You Created Inter-dependence With Your Supply Chain Partners?

For creating a sustainable and resilient supply chain, it is important that we create inter-dependence between various...

Are You Leveraging The Power Of PDCA In Supply Chain Improvement?

The PDCA (Plan-Do-Check-Act) cycle, propounded by Deming, is a powerful tool for stabilizing and improving...

How Much Inventory Should You Push Close To Consumers?

Strategic inventory buffers work as shock absorbers in the supply chain and help companies meet the ongoing...

Do You Monitor Stockouts Over The Weekends As Well?

I know this is a controversial topic with strong views on either side. Why should the supply chain team work...

Are You Affected By The Shiny Object Syndrome?

Shiny Object Syndrome refers to the tendency to get attracted by the latest management thoughts and practices...

Replenishment Process Creates Harmony Between Sales And...

Implementing Replenishment process is largely seen as a Supply Chain initiative. However, the major beneficiary...

How Quickly Can You Decipher A Shift In Demand Pattern?

If we are working to make our supply chains agile, it is important that we decipher any change...

MTS / MTO Classification Should Be Dynamic

Most companies classify their products as either Make-to-Stock (MTS) or Make-to-Order (MTO). Regular running products...

Are We Managing The Current Chip Shortage As Per Toc Principles?

The constraint in many industries like automotive has shifted from market demand to the key input component...

How Transparent Are Our Vendor Relations?

One of the key requirements of an agile supply chain is transparency amongst partners. While a lot is proclaimed...

What’s Common In The Goals Of Your Supply Chain Team Members?

I have seen the goals of various supply chain team members across several organisations. In most cases...

Production Scheduling Holds The Key To Product Availability And Freshness

Let’s consider the entire finished goods distribution network as a system and apply Little’s Law. If we want to control...

Maharashtra’s Unlock Policy Is A Good Lesson In Segmentation

The unlock policy announced by Maharashtra government yesterday holds quite a few learnings in customer...

Do You Remember Little’s Law?

My interaction with supply chain professionals indicates that most of them don't remember the all important...

Are You Externalizing The Cause Of Supply Chain Underperformance?

There are times when the supply chains underperform - missing customer orders, having stockouts of certain products...

People Are Good, Question The Process!

Many supply chain leaders feel that their operations are underperforming due to either their employees not putting...

Believing Is Seeing!

Supply chains of most companies have a tremendous scope for improvement, but the operating managers are so engrossed...

Véjà Du - Open The Doors To Unlimited Improvements

No, it’s not a spelling mistake. You probably thought I meant Déjà vu, which is a common phenomenon and refers...

Forecast Accuracy Continues To Be A Pain Point

Supply chains which depend on monthly forecasting often find that poor forecast accuracy is their major pain point...

Are You Visiting The Gemba Often?

When we come across a problem, our normal tendency is to think about the possible root causes and work out...

Do You Encourage Multitasking?

Professionals in the corporate world are often fond of multitasking and feel that they can focus on several activities...

How do we define product availability?

Product availability is an important supply chain performance measure and appears as a KPI in most companies...

Are We Living With Compromises?

Working with supply chain professionals across various industry sectors shows that the community is living...

Flow Principles Would Help In Improving The Vaccination Experience

The end-to-end vaccination process is actually a supply chain process which can be improved using the Flow principles...

Problem Definition In Supply Chain Improvements Is Often Too Narrow

It is true that companies find so many improvement levers in their supply chain. However, the way they convert...

Rated Capacity Of An Equipment Is Often An Obstacle In Releasing...

TOC advocates that capacity of the constraint resource should be exploited to the full. If the constraint resource happens...

Pharma Companies Should Improve Their Production Flexibility...

Most of the pharma manufacturing companies in India have the goal of saving people’s lives, which is the right approach...

JIT In Supply Chain Works Only Under Certain Specific Conditions

Many companies have tried using JIT concepts in managing inventory in their supply chain and experienced certain...

Quality Is Not Free

We have been conditioned since our childhood to think that higher quality is going to cost more. It is now so deeply...

Stepping Into Your Customers’ Shoes Is Often Sub-Optimal

We are often advised that we should step into our customers’ shoes to understand their problems and offer solutions...

Improvement Efforts Need To Be Directed And Targeted...

Companies have several ongoing improvement projects at any point in time. While most of them have only...

Do You Face Occasional Shortage Of Components On Assembly Lines?

Automotive companies are currently in a high demand scenario, where the system constraint is internal and is often...

Why Is OTIF Such An Important Measure?

I have often been asked why we emphasize on OTIF (On Time In Full) over other supply chain performance measures...

Quality Inspections Are Often Error Prone

Many companies have an elaborate Quality Control function, which inspects various incoming raw materials...

Cutting Lead Times Actually Accelerates The Business

Businesses should aggressively cut lead times in all parts of their supply chain - procurement, production, distribution...

Improvement Is An Ongoing Process

Observing supply chain teams of companies on the first day of a new fiscal year gives a lot of insights on the strength...

Is Your Team Stressed At The Year End Today?

Today is the last day of the fiscal year and the supply chain teams of most companies are working at full speed to ensure...

Do Demand Disruptions Cause Chaos In Your Supply Chain?

Companies face high levels of demand volatility quite frequently, when actual demand coming from customers is much...

High Inventory Norms At CFAs Could Hamper The Service Level

Many companies strongly believe in pushing their finished goods from plants to the CFAs, which are the last inventory...

Setup Times Can Be Reduced

One of the impediments often encountered by manufacturing organisations in improving the agility of their...

Impact Of Adding Regional Warehouses On The Overall...

Many companies think that adding more nodes in the distribution network would increase their overall inventory...

Good Supply Chain Solutions Look Simplistic ‘In Hindsight’

I have been helping companies move their supply chain from forecast-driven to demand-driven. A remark I have often...

Do You Worry About Slips Between Supply Planning And Execution?

Working with supply chains of so many companies over the past few years, I have noticed that all of them worry...

Are Your Freight Contracts Agile?

Many companies are taking active steps to improve agility in their supply chain planning and execution....

How Do You Measure Lost Sales?

I was recently working with a pharmaceutical company and was surprised to find that their supply....

Does Nature Buffer All Our Critical Requirements?

When we face an emergency situation, our body needs to produce Adrenaline on an urgent basis....

Does Nature Keep Inventory Buffers?

I have often been asked this question, whether inventory buffers would be redundant when we achieve full agility...

Convergence And Divergence Points Serve As Good Nodes...

If we are designing an agile distribution network working on replenishment principles, we need to identify locations...

Inventory Nodes In The Distribution Network Should Be Properly...

If we look at the finished goods distribution network of various FMCG and Pharma companies...

Inventory Compensates For Our Agility Gap

Well-run Demand Driven Supply Chains need inventory buffers at select nodes in the network. Inventory has a specific...

Frequency Of Execution Planning Is A Key Determinant Of Supply...

Supply chains execute three different activities on a daily basis – moving finished goods stocks across various nodes...

Concept Of ‘Month’ Is Detrimental To Supply Chain Performance

We have seen umpteen cases of seemingly irrational actions taken by companies towards the end of every month....

‘Future Ready’ Initiatives Often Fail To Deliver The Intended Benefits

Most companies are currently busy making plans for the next year and a lot of them want to implement...

Focus On Functional Excellence Often Leads To Supply Chain...

Many companies put a lot of emphasis on individual functional excellence, hoping that excellence in each function...

‘Stockouts And Obsolescence Are Caused By Poor Forecast Accuracy’...

One of the most prevalent erroneous assumptions in supply chain is the belief that stockouts...

Erroneous Assumptions Can Make Your Supply Chain Look Very Complex

Western astronomers struggled to predict the path of various planets for a very long time. As seen from the Earth...

Supply Chain Transformation Is An Art

Supply chain transformation projects deal with large scale changes to the underlying processes to make them consumer...

How Should We Implement Large Scale Supply Chain Transformation...

Many companies are currently looking at large scale transformation projects to make their supply chain more...

There Are Two Distinct Needs To Improve Supply Chain Performance

Supply chain improvement projects are undertaken for two different reasons. One is, of course to improve its...

Should We Improve Everything That Can Be Improved?

It looks like a simple question but has quite a bit of polarized reactions. Most professionals I have posed this question...

What Do Companies Do With The Rich Stream Of Data...

Companies usually get extremely rich customer order data at sku-customer-day level of granularity What do they...

Agile Supply Chains Help In Brand Building

Agile supply chains focus on improving availability and freshness of products on the retail shelves. Competitors working...

Full Negative Impact Of Stockouts Is Rarely Understood

Stockouts on retail shelves have a whole lot of negative impact on the brand, the obvious one being loss of sales...

Lag Between Actual Demand Shift And The Requisite Supply Actions...

We know that the actual consumer demand at a granular level has high level of variability, which requires placing...

Is Your Team Aligned On The Direction Of Solution?

Supply chain transformation requires certain fundamental changes to the underlying processes...

Are You Settling For Mediocrity?

I know it sounds a bit harsh, but the fact is that most supply chain leaders aim for only a marginal improvement...

Demand Driven Supply Chains Also Experience Bullwhip Effect Due...

As consumers, do we consume more on the last day of the month as compared to the first day of the next month...

Bullwhip Effect Is Quite Prevalent In Most Supply Chains

Bullwhip effect can’t be just wished away, let’s be sensitive to it and look for it. Many companies feel that they have got...

Successful Supply Chain Transformation Projects Strive...

Many Supply Chain transformation projects require new processes to be introduced with new relevant...

Demand Driven Supply Chains Help In Accelerating New Product Success

New product introductions are characterized by higher level of uncertainty in consumer demand patterns...

Demand Shaping Has Been Hyped, How About Supply Shaping?

During times of mismatch between consumer demand and the ability to supply, companies are many-a-times...

Dashboards Should Be Actionable To Improve The Supply Chain Processes

Dashboards with multiple KPIs displaying the latest value and trends are just nice-to-have things...

Is Your Supply Chain Dashboard Too Cluttered?

I have seen supply chain dashboards of many companies and they look very cluttered, with several bar charts...

Good News Travels Faster Than Bad News

Supply chains generate a lot of data every day. These include several important pieces of information...

Fast Feedback Loops Are Important To Control And Improve Supply Chains

Feedback loop is an important concept in Systems Dynamics, where the output of a process is fed back to...

We Need To Press The ‘reset’ Button At Times For Major...

When companies redesign their supply chain to make it agile, resilient and consumer focused...

How Do Your Conversations On Supply Chain Start?

Many companies have regular conversations about their supply chain performance, issues and improvements...

Disruptions Are Good Opportunities To Make Our Supply Chains...

Naseem Taleb, in his book Antifragile, describes how certain systems emerge stronger after facing a major disruption...

Supply Chains Should Adapt To The Ever-changing Market...

Darwin’s Theory of Evolution explains very well why some organisms survive and thrive over millions...

IOT Will Help In Ensuring That Efficacy Of Covid 19...

Covid 19 vaccine needs to be stored and transported at controlled low temperatures...

Blockchain Technology Will Get Into The Mainstream With Covid 19....

Covid 19 vaccine distribution is a complex supply chain task, as the vaccine shelf life is low...

Implementing DDSC Solution Package Doesn’t Make A Company’s...

Many companies, in their quest to make their supply chain demand driven, look for an IT solution for...

Every Stockout Tells Us A Story

Every instance of a stockout provides a sharp critical feedback on our supply chain capabilities...

We Should Respect The Consumer Feedback

We have seen businesses emphasizing the need for listening to consumer feedback, whether it is a part of...

Cost Focus Can Be Detrimental To Your Business Profits

Many companies resort to too much focus on cost, thinking that it would lead to higher profits...

Frequency Of Planning Impacts Supply Chain Resilience

Of late, some companies have resorted to less frequent planning to save their team’s effort...

Supply Chain Problems Should Be Defined As Experienced...

It is important that we work on the most important problem constraining the supply chain from reaching...

SMED Must Be Internalized For Best Results

Many companies identify SMED as an important initiative to reduce setup time, thereby improving flexibility...

Extended Value Chains Should Be Designed For Harmony

If we consider a company’s entire value chain, including its vendors, contract manufacturers...

Supply Chain Transformation Should Begin With Process Streamlining

Several companies start their supply chain transformation by implementing a specific technology currently in vogue...

Supply Chain Improvement Initiatives Should Be Simple...

Some of the supply chain improvement projects, currently going on in various companies...

Credit For Improvement In Customer Service Level Should Go To...

Responsibility for improving customer service level rests with the supply chain team, comprising Planning...

Supply Chain Improvements Should Move Us Closer To The Goal

Many supply chain improvement projects aim at improving a specific leg of the supply chain on a specific...

Transparency Of Consumer Demand Helps In Building Resilience...

Retailers are the consumer facing partners in the supply chains, who have access to actual consumer...

Cost Benefit Analysis For Active Interventions In Supply...

Many of the improvement projects undertaken in supply chains are evaluated by the management...

Supply Chains Are Getting A Lot Of Management Attention These Days

I have heard many supply chain leaders boast that their function is drawing considerably higher management...

Copying Others’ Improvements Builds A Great Organizational Culture

Many organizations encourage their employees to create their own unique improvements ...

Only A Few Supply Chain Improvement Models Are Sustainable

There are many models floating around to improve supply chain performance. We should be careful...

Quality Inspection Of Finished Goods Creates A Bottleneck...

Many companies have the practice of their finished goods go through the tedious process of Statistical Quality Control...

EOQ Models Seem To Conflict With The Flow Principles

Models to determine Economic Order Quantity (EOQ) of materials focus on cost reduction, possibly at the expense...

Most Factories Have Substantial Hidden Production Capacity

The way we look at the productive capacity of a plant is limited by our own point of view A plant seemingly running...

Frozen Period In Production Schedule Adversely Impacts Availability...

Many companies have the practice of keeping the first few days of the production...

Large Production Batches Negatively Affect Availability And Freshness

Many production managers prefer large production runs to improve their local measure of plant productivity...

Weekly Closure Of Warehouses Disrupts Flow

Many companies have the practice of keeping their Regional Distribution Centres (RDC) and CFAs closed on a day...

Infrequent Supplies Could Potentially Cause Flow Disruption

Goods should flow smoothly through the supply chain for achieving the twin objectives...

Consumer Centric Supply Chains Focus On Flow Improvement

Flow of goods from factory to consumers is at the heart of the twin consumer objectives...

Supply Chains Need To Be Consumer Centric

Consumer centricity efforts in organisations are often confined to R&D and Marketing teams...

Agile Supply Chains Thrive On Flexibility In Production

Imagine if the supply chain is forced to work without any finished goods inventory. This is done under the stream of work...

Optimisation Efforts In Supply Chains Are Mostly Sub-Optimal

Planners tend to compromise between the twin objectives of higher service level and lower inventory...

Synchronised Response Of The Entire Supply Chain Is Vital

In case of an unusual demand surge of an item in a geography all the constituents of the extended supply chain...

Inventory Control Actions Are Often Misdirected

Finished goods inventory is committed when a production run is scheduled. If the schedule...