Posts Tagged ‘scm’

Relational Architecture   "the appropriate linkage between a supplier, the organization and its customers for maximum benefit; includes internal supply matter relationships throughout the organization."  If you haven't ever read the Silk Road International Blog, today is the day to start. The posts there consistently provide great insight into on-the-ground business in China. Earlier ... Full story

The most exciting thing about working for Manhattan Associates is the opportunity to positively impact the evolution of a client's business through supply chain improvement and innovation. As part of this experience, I am also in the position to have some impact internally on the evolution of the next generation of supply chain software by ... Full story

As one of the Australia project managers involved in the deployment Manhattan Associates supply chain solutions, I have been in the trenches with a key 3PL client as they evolve through a strategic transformation in the way they manage the supply chains of their customers. Beginning with MA's transport planning and execution solution, the goal is to make advances in digitizing internal, operational processes within a single solution, integrate with key customers through a single interface layer, leverage powerful reporting and analysis tools to enhance regular and periodic decision-making and present a scalable, holistic logistics solution to the marketplace. Part of this effort involves the formation and deployment of a mobility solution that acts as part of the client's nerve center from which a portion of the information that drives supply chain intelligence is increased, aggregated and transformed for reporting and analysis. Full story

In my 2.5 years with Manhattan Associates, I have had varying involvement with the hardware upon which our software is installed and implemented. So far, I believe that the major issues around hardware fall into the categories of procurement, performance and maintenance. Since procurement essentially precedes performance and maintenance, it is only common sense that the poor procurement of hardware can result in downstream performance and maintenance issues. Hardware does not necessarily always equate with servers and data centers when implementing supply chain execution software. With warehouse management systems, for example, it is common to also have some form of picking technology, such as RF guns, voice-picking devices, pick-to-light devices, etc. as well as a variety of material handling equipment. Hardware Procurement On the projects I have managed or worked on so far, below are the common problems I have seen around hardware procurement: Indecisiveness around the overall hardware strategy--do you want to go with an in-house data center or proceed with a hosting solution (outsourced)? Indecisiveness around the type of platform to procure (i.e. OS upon which your application and database will run) Insufficient research and analysis around the true costs of a particular hardware decision in relation to the requirements to support a particular application, or set of applications Lack of knowledge about the operations the hardware is intended to support Insufficient planning around the future hardware requirements and the scalability of the short-term hardware sizing (i.e. memory and disk space capacity, chip set constraints, etc.) Lack of proper hardware expertise being available to participate in the procurement process Poor internal processes for executing hardware decisions Lack of planning considerations around the need to procure hardware and services from overseas sources Full story

Already weak from years of disfunction, the nation of Haiti and its physical, financial and human architecture has been devastated by this week's massive earthquake. Buildings, roads, all the physical means of commerce, aid deployment, and support services has been crippled; tens of thousands of people, including the people required for Haiti ... Full story

Back in 2006, I wrote a few posts commenting on China's multiple ports, including the newest project at Yangshan near Shanghai. On my most recent trip to Shanghai earlier this month, I took the opportunity to personally visit Yangshan's Deepwater Port and ask questions about its progress and success, especially in the face of the Global Financial Crisis (GFC). I recommend first reading what I wrote in 2006: Previous posts on China's ports One of the concerns early on with Yangshan was whether it would: too directly compete with Shanghai's existing ports, be too far for transport of goods exported from the mainland or goods imported to the mainland, build in too much capacity, contributing to lower utilization across all ports, etc. My personal visit to Yangshan helped to alleviate some of these concerns, but need to be reconsidered in the face of impacts resulting from the GFC. Full story

Anyone who has worked across borders will tell you how difficult it can be to maintain supplier and customer relationships from one end of the supply chain to the other. The resources required to do so are often taken for granted, even in a growing economic environment. But in a recession, these resources become even more constrained as many businesses recoil and dig in for a tough stretch of lower revenues, tighter or non-existent margins, and over-worked staff. As consumers who overspent the past few years restructure their lives and finances, so are the businesses and organizations that benefited from that spending restructuring. Most businesess, depending on their individual situation, will have already reviewed, and made decisions about, how to focus and deploy their supply chain architecture over the next few months and even years based on the sudden changes in the global economy since the incredible downturn experienced just over one year ago. When reviewing supply chain architectures that stretch across borders, there are a variety of measures that businesses, large and small, will take to survive: exit a particular market, or number of markets, entirely re-allocate and re-focus resources from one part of a region to another maintain existing architecture, but at a reduced scale Full story