Route to Market & Supply Chain Blog

Hello pop pickers, here is this weeks’ top 10 smash hits in this important but often forgotten part of the FMCG Supply Chain. At number 10 is All Systems Go by Donna Summer – Do not cut costs on your Warehouse Management System (WMS) and avoid any…

When I first came across Total Productive Maintenance (TPM) I was sceptical of yet another ”blue sky” approach to pursuing manufacturing excellence. Surely, this would soon be replaced by the next set of buzz-word initials dreamed up by smart-suited…

What made me think of that? Do you remember that playground game called Statues? One person is the “museum” Curator and stands at the end of a field or yard. Everyone else stands an agreed distance away from the Curator. The aim of the game is for a…

That is an astonishing amount of food waste. Tesco in the UK has held its hands up and admitted it has generated 30,000 tonnes of food waste in the first 6 months of 2013. If that waste rate continues unabated it will reach an enormous 60.000 tonnes…

We took a weekend break in Prague recently. I have been there before but only saw the inside of a taxi, a hotel and a soap factory that also makes margarine so this was a real tourism opportunity with the family. These days I do actually relax on…

Do you remember those long running TV advertising campaigns for probably/possibly the best lager/beer in the world? The specific advert from the UK that sticks in my mind is the one where Mr. Middle Manager is leaving the office for the evening when…

I crossed a border in Eastern Europe recently and although the private and car traffic sailed through without delay there were a surprising number of trucks parked in a snake on the approach roads. Both countries are in the EU so I guess someone was…

You could hear the groans around the room when the CEO announced to the company that they had decided to finally implement Sales & Operational Planning (S&OP). Enchange was asked to facilitate the implementation - no, they were not groaning at…

Back in the days when the only reality TV was live sport, a tablet got rid of your headache and a mobile was a normal phone with a longer cable, I used to run a large FMCG factory. Long before TPM was implemented the factory cost base was huge and…

Nearly the year end. Have you started planning for that party? Are the presents all sorted out? Cards ready before the final posting date? No, I thought not. All the fuss will be over before you know it and then January will see the usual raft of…

This post on migration and return of retailers to the high street had me thinking about a similar effect in manufacturing. No, I don’t mean FMCG companies are now placing factories in towns and villages next to post offices and fast “food” outlets.…

The student house. What a great idea to join with some university friends and rent a house together. This is far better than university halls as you can have parties 24/7 without security telling you to keep the noise down. Ok, if you are still all…

The English dictionary lists the definition of complexity as “the state or quality of being intricate or complicated: an issue of great complexity”. Wikipedia defines complexity in great detail and starts with “In general usage, complexity tends to…

Ok, I know I should not have gone there. It was a Sunday and well before the live football on the TV. The weather was cold and the air was full of drizzle and as I turned off the roundabout the scale of the folly dawned on me; the IKEA car park was…

The ink is dry on the deal, the celebratory corks have been popped and the lawyers have gone off to bank a small fortune. The projected negotiations to thrash out a deal to buy or merge with another FMCG or other sector company are finally over.…