@ Supply Chain Management » Supply Chain Software

Manhattan Associates sees uptick in supply-chain business

(Chris) Jacob Abraham — Wed, 15 Sep 2010 12:39:00 +0000

That sort of view should warm the cockles of anyone inhabiting this space but what is it based on? In this article Manhattan Associates sees uptick in supply-chain business, an interview with the CEO of Manhattan Associates is presented.

If you read the article, you would be able to immediately grasp the underlying thought process that produces this sort of view namely the theory of business cycles and the availability of new technology. Perhaps that is sufficient to warrant the intimation that there is going to be an uptick in the supply chain business but color me the skeptical – me thinks only green (i.e. dollars) indicate that.

Even though that lesson has been drilled into CEOs time and again, many aggressively cut R&D and key projects during tough times, just like they do with operating expenses.

But when important capital investments are put on the back burner, companies risk future growth in what can be a penny-wise, pound-foolish move.

Still, many did just that during the height of this recession — if one bellwether firm’s experience is indicative. Some had no choice, given the credit crunch.

“Companies didn’t know where they would get cash, so they postponed investment,” said Pete Sinisgalli, president and CEO of Manhattan Associates.

That’s business cycles right there – nothing more. As for new technology, well, it’s the same old technology – just different this time.

Instead of focusing on just one part of a company’s supply chain, such as inventory control, Manhattan Associates is now selling software that ties together the different stages. The software can maximize efficiency throughout the entire process, from planning to inventory control to distribution.

That’s in contrast to individual software packages that can produce the optimum result in one area, but neglect to factor in others. Without stitching the software together, a company could arrive at the right inventory solution, but it might be tying up too much capital.

I did find this particularly humorous though

“We’re constantly inventing new math and science to help companies operate more efficiently,” said Sinisgalli, who has headed Manhattan Associates for the past six years.

Maybe, we could do with less “new math and science” in the business world for a little while longer until we’ve recovered some business-skeptical sense, given how that just “old math and science” did just a few years ago.

I’ll take the time now to laugh : A very dignified guffaw.

Technorati Tags: Manhattan Software,Business Cycle,New technology for the Supply Chain,New math and science

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APICS Webinar to Answer the Question: Is your Inventory a Competitive Advantage?

(Chris) Jacob Abraham — Tue, 14 Sep 2010 15:16:53 +0000

Logility Inc is hosting a Webinar on September 28th on this very topic : Is your Inventory a Competitive Advantage? The write up of the webinar promises:

Every supply chain faces inventory challenges which impact the bottom-line. High inventory levels tie up working capital, and stock-outs decrease revenue. When inventory levels need to be optimized across a multi-echelon manufacturing and distribution network, the complexities become even more challenging. Inventory optimization right-sizes inventory levels, boosts competitive response and grows market share during the economic recovery.

The webinar is presented by:

Sean Willems Ph.D. Associate Professor of Operations Management, Boston University

and

Michael Martin Manager, Global Supply Planning Strategy, Stanley Black & Decker

My quick take on the subject is that neither Inventory nor Inventory Optimization (which I think will be the focus of this webinar) are competitive advantages. Competitive advantage has a very specific meaning and I’ve spent considerable time and effort delving into it. The simple reason that these actions don’t qualify as competitive advantage is that their easily duplicated across the breadth of the competitors.

For my views on Competitive Advantage and the Supply Chain:

Supply Chain Network Optimization and Competitive Advantage – Part 1

Supply Chain Network Optimization and Competitive Advantage – Part 2

Technorati Tags: Webinar on Inventory and Inventory Optimization,Logility Inc,Michael Martin,Sean Willems,Boston University,Competitive Advantage

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JDA acquires i2

(Chris) Jacob Abraham — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 18:14:31 +0000

JDA is all set to acquire i2 Technologies for approximately USD $346 million – the huger for scale is relentless, it seems but whether or not it succeeds is a different matter altogether.

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How supply chain metrics are used?

(Chris) Jacob Abraham — Fri, 16 Feb 2007 15:57:00 +0000

SDExec.com reports on the results of a survey carried out by Maxager. The principal finding of the survey was,

Many manufacturers believe that it is important to measure the speed at which products are made, but very few have systems in place to do so

The survey results amply show that while everyone is aware that there is a problem, few have a solution:

The survey results showed that although respondents overwhelmingly (92 percent) believe that analyzing the speed with which they produced profitable products was important, 71 percent don’t have software or systems in place to do so. The result is that very few manufacturers (5.7 percent) have the ability to use a metric that is aligned with return on assets (ROA).

Here is a snapshot of Maxager’s solution to the problem:

Combining production velocity with margin produces a profit-per-minute metric. Being time-based, this metric is directly linked to ROA. It can be used at an operational level to measure the profitability of individual products, customers, deals, markets, sales regions, salespeople and production facilities. Then, everyday decisions about which products to make, who to sell them to and where to make them can be made collaboratively to maximize annual corporate profits and ROA.

What do you think? Does it work?

Tags: Metrics, Maxager survey, SDExec.com, Production velocity, ROA, Return on Assets

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Is an IBM and SAP Marriage in the Works?

(Chris) Jacob Abraham — Tue, 13 Feb 2007 17:00:08 +0000

SCDigest reports on strong rumors about merger talks between IBM and SAP.

These are just rumors, to be sure, and have been circulating at some level for almost a year.
SAP has strongly denied the rumors during that time, though chairman Hasso Plattner unintentionally put some fuel in the fire last May by saying to the German Financial Times last year that: “There are only three potential buyers [of SAP]: IBM, Microsoft and Google. Of all companies, I don’t see anyone else. If shareholders think that a combination, and not independence, is better, then it will happen.”

From the services model that IBM follows, it makes sense to acquire a behemoth like SAP purely for its installed base and then sell all sorts of services to them. But the larger question is – what’s the room for growth here? From a software sales point of view, the market is pretty much saturated. My own view of the ERP behemoth is that given the utter complexity of something of the order of SAP/Oracle and the implicit insistence that the firm adapt to SAP’s version of reality – there is quite an opportunity for an intelligent class of enterprise software to make deep inroads.
Whatever the big honchos at IBM are thinking, I’m skeptical of such a merger simply because of revenues from any sort of installed base growth. The market space where there is some growth potential seems to be:

IBM and SAP have an existing partnership to bring ERP to the small and mid-sized company market. Penetrating these smaller companies has been a key marketing goal of SAP for the past few years.

The question is – why pick an elephant (or a sheared down version of an elephant) to run what needs to be, strategically and execution-wise, a nimble organization? Any new entrant in the enterprise software space needs to enter via the small and mid-sized company market because that’s where the behemoths are concentrating their efforts.
Old Chinese (Confucius) saying: “Do not use a cannon to kill a mosquito.”
This makes for an exciting few years ahead.

Tags: ERP, Rumors of merger between IBM and SAP, IBM, SAP, SCDigest

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