Jun 27, 2006 0
Supply and Demand Chain Executive has on their website an interactive global supply and demand chain map that has identified enablement options and solution providers for the different functional areas in the SCM space. (Note: The map requies Macromedia Flash Player to work properly).
Look at the map here.
Jun 26, 2006 0
What is the scope of mySAP’s solution space? While dealing with SCM, one has to meddle with the ERP system that one finds within a firm. mySAP is one of those leading ERP providers that is making inroads into the SCM space as well. Here is the solution space of mySAP as outlined on their website.
The main solution function areas are captured in the figure below (which I shamelessly copied from their site – I wonder where the jury of copyright matters rests on the matter?).
Each of the solution areas has its own mini-web site which explains some of the capabilities ensconced therein. So let’s go one by one starting bottoms up:
1. Strategic Supply Chain Design: Three areas under this category.
- Supply Chain Definition : You can model every part of the supply chain (such as locations, transportation lanes, resources, products, and so on.) using the Supply Chain Engineer in SAP APO. The Supply Chain Engineer allows you to place locations on a map and link them with the corresponding transportation lanes and product flows. Furthermore, you can drill down to all elements belonging to the supply network, or request information about single or combined elements in the network. For example, you have the ability to see which products belong to a particular location. You can also add products to this location or modify the location’s master data. Master data can also be transferred from SAP R/3 bzw. SAP ERP using the Core Interface (CIF). Materials are limited in their validity and availability. This has to be taken into consideration throughout the entire supply chain management solution. A central maintenance instance for interchangeability relations is offered that provides information for all planning applications. This secures consistent planning of discontinued material stock before using follow-up material stock. For a service parts supply chain, the supply chain definition is extended with the Bill of Distribution, which not only describes a location hierarchy but also allows the modeling of virtual locations (which are physically the same locations as aggregation locations in the location hierarchy, but are logically only used to model the direct customer facing demand of those aggregation locations), virtual consolidation regions (to consolidate the demand of several locations for slow moving parts) and inventory balancing regions.
The Supply Chain Engineer in SAP APO sounds a lot like the tool that I developed (based on the transshipment model) that allows for strategic level planning for supply chain components. The great thing about the Supply Chain Engineer is the integration that it provides with the ERP system which is how it should be ideally.
- Supply Chain Monitoring : The Supply Chain Cockpit (SCC) consists of a highly intuitive, graphical interface that acts as the top enterprise planning layer covering all planning areas such as manufacturing, demand, distribution, and transportation. All employees in the Plan -> Source -> Make -> Deliver cycle of supply chain management can use it to their advantage. As the gateway to SAP APO, the SCC makes dealing with a vast supply chain easier and more manageable. SCC allows you to:
Jun 22, 2006 0
I am currently watching a webinar sponsored by the Electronics Supply Chain Association (ESCA) on Dynamic Inventory Optimization from IBM. The Center for Business Optimization (CBO) group has two individuals – Terry Gleason and Michael Datovech, presenting their DIOS (which I suppose stands for Dynamic Inventory Optimization System) tool in a brief manner.
According to the service template that IBM’s CBO uses for consulting with clients, they have a timeline of working through an entire engagement in a 6 week timeframe, reporting back the potential savings that could be had i.e. ROI analysis. The actual implementation of the recommendations i.e. to inteface with a SC planning tool or ERP tool takes about 12-20 weeks.
Beth Enslow of the Aberdeen Group also presented during the webinar (before I actually logged into the presentation). According to the slides that she presented:
Interest in advanced inventory optimization is especially strong in electronics and high tech, retail, consumer goods, industrial distribution, make-to-stock mfg, medical distribution, chem/pharm and aftermarket parts.
Update: Just finished the webinar. Was alright – got some more fact based market research, so to speak. The IBM tool had a degree of sophistication that will be lost on line managers who will resort to doing what they know or “tinkering” around to see what fits. Ideally, that makes for contracts for supply chain consultants who can adjust the appropriate distributions to use for modeling and the like.
Let me reiterate a commandment of successful change practice – “Thou shall not confuse those you upon whom you wish to impress change.” Perhaps, it should be changed to – “Thou shall not confuse” but that is sometimes too restrictive because in confusing others, sometimes, I see very clearly what the problem is with the issue at hand- call it: a mental clarification through numerous what-ifs that lead only to error.
Jun 20, 2006 0
SupplyChainDigest reports on what i2 plans as its “Next Generation” solution in the supply chain space.
Whatever i2 is pushing is based on its Agile Business Process Platform (ABPP) – so it helps to ask what exactly is the ABPP? ABPP is explained on i2’s website as:
The i2 Agile Business Process Platform is a finely tuned, synergistic development suite designed to support new-generation supply chain management solutions.
Alright, what does that distil down to?
This new-generation platform functions much like a “factory”, in which standardized application components such as data models, business rules, user interfaces (UI), and business workflows can quickly be assembled and then adapted to meet company-specific business and market needs. The platform can bring greater speed, agility, quality, and cost-efficiency to any supply chain.
I have a lot of experience, way back in 1998-2000, working with Labview from National Instruments which is a prototype systems software development tool that I used in the R&D labs. And the above description by i2 sounds a lot like a Labview type of environment within which a business can structure its supply chain planning, design and development processes. More details about the ABPP:
The platform makes up a comprehensive environment for supply chain management application development, including:
Core platform services. Including distributed process modeling, execution and monitoring, business rules definition, and web and rich-content UI generation.
Data services. With extensive supply chain data models and processes for validation, synchronization, staging, and aggregation.
Integration services. From bulk data transport and mapping to web services support for messaging and generic EAI.
Application development. With a proven studio environment for the integrated development, modeling, testing, deployment, and maintenance of new solutions.
Now, that is something to look forward to and I suppose it was bound to happen sooner or later. However, I would like to see how successful i2’s efforts are going to be in bringing a client’s organization up to speed on using even half of the functionalities described above. Will it turn out that i2 itself would have to invest a significant portion of resources to develop templates that will be adapted by the end-user. Or will there be special programmers such as ABAP programmers who do such customization. Time wil tell.
Back to the SupplyChainDigest article:
John Cummings of i2’s chief marketing officer says, “Historically, not enough of customer spending on SCM solutions went to true process innovation. Next generation supply chain is also about trying to change that.”
So here we have the notion that process innovation is going to be spurred within a firm by bringing in a tool from i2. Really? I don’t think so. What could happen is that in firm’s that have truly grasped and implemented process innovation is going to find i2’s tools more than helpful in building up a significant competitive advantage. But the source of that competitive advantage resides in the process innovation that prexisted the arrival of a tool but the extent of success derived would be greatly assisted by a tool such as that envisioned by i2.
John Cummings continues, “If you look at the Plan-Do-Check Act model, we’ve always been able to deliver the “Plan-Do” part, but not necessarily been able to close the loop on that and get to “Check-Act”.
All he is saying is confirming the view expressed above. The success of the PDCA model, a continuous process improvement methodology, is that it is a competency that pre-exists any tool that is brought in from the outside. In fact, I’d think that it is not dependent on any tool. But the next sentiment gets my undivided attention:
Now we like to do what I call “managing while tuning” the supply chain, tuning all the parameters in the planning cycle to make sure you’re getting the right answers.
I’d hazard a guess that John Cummings has a systems background of some sort, either in education or in some previous work experience capacity. “Managing while tuning” is so fine an art which is unfortunately not taught in any school except in control theory and perhaps then only for control systems and not for general systems that abstract control models – such as the activities of the firm. However, in the world at large, we usually “Manage while tinkering” which is just about the opposite of “Manage while tuning” which implies a strong grasp on the fundamentals of how to structure and execute the firm’s activities. But I’m impressed at the sweep of what i2’s tinkering with here.
More from John Cummings:
What struggled a little bit with what to name it, but it
Jun 19, 2006 0
Supply Chain Execution Applications Lead SCM Market Growth, says Arc Advisory Group.
What are the key takeaways?
1. Supply Chain Execution (SCE) solutions that include Collaborative Production Management, Warehouse and Transportation Management is a key growth area.
2. Supply Chain Synchronization – The role of a manufacturing plant is becoming the focal point in a supply chain network and is often the determining factor of its overall performance. While costs remain an important issue of performance in the customer-centric and demand-driven environments, other factors such as time-to-volume, determining the correct product mix, and having the flexibility, adaptability, and responsiveness to exploit market opportunities are increasingly becoming important to success. Supply chain synchronization depends on supply chain solutions that provide accurate real-time information from operations to enable improved decision-making at all levels of the company and for trading partners in the supply chain.
Jun 14, 2006 0
Says Patricia E. Moody in the May 1, 2006 edition of Supply Chain Management Review (…)
Technology may not necessarily be the be-all and end-all. But in the supply management space, it’s certainly the quickest and most direct route to cutting costs and improving profitability. The companies profiled here show how – with the right people and processes in place, technology can deliver stunning performance results.Technology may not necessarily be the be-all and end-all. But in the supply management space, its certainly the quickest and most direct route to cutting costs and improving profitability. The companies profiled here show howwith the right people and processes in place, technology can deliver stunning performance results.
Reading on in the article, she outlines the following in three companies
1. Hewlett-Packard
E-sourcing – A new buzzword for what was always the aim of upstream (or downstream if you were a supplier) supply chain collaboration with a bit of bidding/auctions thrown in. But think about this for a minute, what might the unintended consequence of this mode of supplier collaboration be? As users of this mode of procurement adopt this technology, all that it involves is poring over competitive bids of the “widget” being delivered – wouldn’t a computer be able to do this as well, faster and more efficiently if there are a number of competing “widget” characteristics. A supplier relationship might be transformed from a people based process to a people-computer process.
Procurement risk management – This is one of the innovations (incidentally, also won an award ) that makes working in supply chain management exciting. As the article elaborates:
The software helps HP tackle uncertainty in demand, supply, price, and material costs. It quantifies the risk and the likelihood of certain changes and allows the company to manage risk over a longer time horizon.
