Route to Market & Supply Chain Blog

You have completed your weekly shop at one of the well-known International Key Accounts (IKA). Pushing your trolley around the well stocked aisles you selected what you needed and piled up the goodies. A full trolley this week as there were several…

During the summer months I am partial to a pint of the foaming ale with a solid, woody name like Woods Quaff served from a hand-pulled pump. Add a bag of pork scratchings and a village green cricket match and there you have what would approach the…

Increasingly, most multinational FMCG/Brewing/Pharmaceutical companies have implemented some form of Sales & Operational Planning (S&OP) or further integrated planning. They will have gone through the undoubted pain of getting people together to…

This latest blog is unashamedly about football or soccer depending on where you live, but with a Supply Chain related theme. If football -the correct term, actually – is not your cup of steaming Lipton then thanks for clicking and see you next time.…

Is your Route To Market (RTM) network sluggish? Does your system frequently stall and cause frustration? Sales performance not going to plan? Competitors streaking ahead of you? Is your boss at Corporate HQ giving you a rough time? What can you do?…

Whether your deployment of Sales & Operational Planning (S&OP) is as solid as a fine old Cheddar or is more like Emmental, you will benefit from This new free e-book. The Enchange S&OP e-book tells you what S&OP is, does, how it works and how to…

For people of a certain age from the UK the high calorie, nutty chocolate bar in a brown-blue-yellow wrapper made by Mars Inc will always be a Marathon (before you ask, the USA Marathon was a Curly-Wurly type product). Snickers just does not work…

I took a look at how technology has changed the way Supply Chains work in a previous blog. During my recent trip to foreign parts – yes, Birkenhead and most of UK is foreign to me now – I saw modern technology in action like I have never seen before…

When I was managing an FMCG factory in Saudi Arabia one of the most frustrating challenges was the lack of factory capability understanding of Sales & Marketing colleagues and some detached Board members. People who have never worked in factories…

I spent Easter in UK suffering the bitter cold, visiting the heiress and once more watching Tranmere Rovers lose live. Whether on TV or in person I have not seen them win for several years now so I am developing a jinx complex. This season they have…

I like S&OP. You have probably gathered as much from previous blogs but I genuinely do. I see the value in its implementation and more importantly, maintenance in numerous FMCG, brewing and pharmaceutical companies. Once you have taken the plunge…

The Oxford versus Cambridge University boat race took place at the end of March and Oxford emerged as the victors. This is an historic event which has taken place every year since 1829 with the exception of the 2 World Wars and teams have contained…

I have tried to understand how the USA presidential election system works and even after several elections I still struggle.The last few months when it comes down to one against one is fairly straightforward but the earlier jostling for position is…

Out of stocks? Excellent news and a huge relief for all! A celebration party or at least a few drinks would be the next immediate priority but only after a bath or shower. Being sentenced to the stocks in medieval times was a very public humiliation…

In my D&E career I have lived and worked in many different countries on all continents except the Australia/New Zealand bits. Oh, and the North/South Poles of course – not a lot of demand for FMCG there, yet. There is one recurring theme that seems…