Route to Market & Supply Chain Blog

I am not going to pretend I wrote this blog once again but when I came to sit down and look at the last quarter of the year I could not really see any difference from last year. The same challenges are clearly there and what is astonishing is that…

The summer of 2004. It was 3 weeks after I had changed the job and the company. It was a new (Supply Chain) position in an FMCG company with many people speaking native French. At that time, the mayor of Bucharest- the future Romanian president…

The municipality in Voluntari near Bucharest is not noted for its town planning excellence. Our local Silicone Valley of Str Erou Iancu Nicolae contains at least 11 education establishments. There should be no surprise at all that twice per day…

The unrest – what a terrible BBC understatement that is – in Ukraine does not look to be going away in the near future and will possibly be hanging over us for considerably longer. The “unrest” is not localised and it obviously involves many other…

The United States of America, the US of A, Uncle Sam and the land of the three. No, not a typo but three visits to USA by yours truly, that is. Two for business and one for pleasure but you cannot visit there without having fun even if it is after a…

I recall laughing out loud when I was first exposed to FMCG BS Bingo – I leave you to work out what BS stands for. This game was designed for boring business meetings where people would pepper their comments and views with the latest buzz-phrases,…

No, I’m not suggesting we should start printing Supply Chain bank notes but if these were ever introduced, they would certainly need to contain the phrase above. Or just imagine introducing a new KPI: the trust level inside your Supply Chain, a…

Just returned from a holiday in Spain. Thinking about it, our trips to UK do not really count as holidays as they inevitably involve moving heavy boxes up and downstairs as the heiress (click here for unashamed plug of heiress art work) changes…

I previously blogged about the reality of FMCG Traditional Trade (TT) Route To Market (RTM) distribution and described the drivers and behaviours in each party as the monthly plans inevitably imploded. Let us now get out the crystal ball and stare…

My colleague Stefan Cucu recently wrote on the subject of stock shrinkage in coolers located in HORECA outlets in Romania. One of the points he made warned Supply Chain professionals about the likelihood of stock shrinkage anywhere along the chain.…

Today we see a lot of writing about Supply Chain. Technology is advancing rapidly and we are seeing changes almost on a daily basis; progress is simply enormous. However, some things never change and this is what I discuss here – things that never…

I know this will not impress Jeremy Clarkson – and why would I want to? - but my first car was a Renault 5. I realise this is possibly only 2 steps up from a classic Citroen 2CV which Jasper Carrott likened to an upturned corrugated crab on wheels.…

I know I am prone to rattle on about Sales & Operational Planning (S&OP) but seeing the benefits being delivered to previously struggling business is extremely motivating for a confirmed “techy” like myself. If only we could advertise such successes…

I have travelled quite a lot over the years and tried to add one new country each year until I stumbled at 45. Many were holidays but a majority were on business with very few opportunities available to actually see the place. “Oh, you must be so…

Once upon a time I was working in a well-known detergent powder factory in the north of England. The factory manger at the time will remain nameless but he had a habit of dragging people from the production floor to show off the latest gadget or new…