Route to Market & Supply Chain Blog

For a long time the sky above our house has seen very few vapour trails as COVID kept thousands of flights grounded. I can see they are slowly but surely returning but would you want to fly, anyway? I wouldn't. Flying stopped being fun a long time…

If you are being honest you have probably sat bored in an airport lounge waiting for your inevitably delayed flight and listened in on a nearby conversation. Go on, admit it! If the discussion topic on which you are eavesdropping is not one with…

I recall laughing out loud when I was first exposed to FMCG BS Bingo – I leave you to work out what is meant by BS but as a hint you may step in it on a farm. This game was designed for boring business meetings where people would pepper their…

Performance monitoring Balanced Scorecards are invaluable in FMCG, Brewing and Coatings companies but they are also appropriate for any business leaders serious about improvement. Whatever your business size or product offering, you will benefit…

On 23 April we celebrate St George's Day and the birthday of William Shakespeare (also the date he died!). William wrote on many diverse subjects but here is one piece you will not find in a collection of his greatest works. I wonder what would the…

I cannot reveal the name of this specific organisation for obvious reasons but their Supply Chain is one very impressive, slick machine. Across the Source, Plan, Make and Deliver SCOR Supply Chain disciplines we see excellence, leading edge systems…

Please bear with me for a while on this one; I will get to the Supply Chain stuff eventually. Do you know that on average 85% of a sample of expectant mothers suffer food cravings during pregnancy? Apparently, the top 5 must-haves are: Pickles 5% -…

There are many ways to link all the different planning activities in your FMCG/Pharma company. This could be done with one single tool like the SAP Advanced Planning Optimiser or a host of other tools and packages. As with all IT youneed to know how…

Rather a lot of blogging going on around the area of Digital Supply Chain and Analytics at present. Amongst all the serious stuff I thought it about time we took a well-earned break and enjoyed a bit of Supply Chain Comic Relief. A very catchy tune…

Laurel and Hardy, Morecambe and Wise, Abbott and Costello, Little and Large, Hale and Pace, May and Johnson. These are examples of double acts where one party plays the straight/stooge and apparently serious man while the other plays the…

Christmas is coming around faster than ever and who better than Noddy Holder and Slade to celebrate Sales & Operational Planning (S&OP). This festive song has been heard at Christmas every year since 1973! If you have been living in a cave on a…

Dear Father Christmas,, I have been a very good FMCG CEO this year, I promise. If you want, you can check with my colleagues and shareholders. They know how good I have been this year. Apart from the out of stocks of course, oh and the little…

“Dashing through the snow In a one horse open sleigh…” How many of you started to sing then? Yes, the festive period is fast approaching and the biggest and best supply chain in the world is almost ready to activate. This is always the most…

I have never been a fan of budget airlines and certainly not since one left me sleeping overnight in the back of beyond that is Luton Airport. That may be an exciting addition to a student’s back-pack holiday itinerary but when you have a glass back…

American sit-coms. With very few exceptions I personally do not find them at all funny. At times the funniest part is hearing the hilarious canned laughter when nothing in the least bit humorous occurs. MASH, Taxi and Cheers are the only sit-coms…