Route to Market & Supply Chain Blog

Sorry, this blog has nothing to do with any of the above. It is everything to do with Friday afternoon & a bit of fun. We had a meeting today about how to improve our blogging & some whit suggested that if we were really serious about increasing web…

“We’ve been doing S&OP in our African Operating Companies for 5 or 6 years .... & it’s still not working properly....” This was one of several discussions we have had with clients over the last couple of weeks and something of a recurring theme.…

I have been thinking about Africa this year & its particular needs regarding supply chain. We have been working there since 1993 & it came back into consciousness during the World Cup. Many African countries are growing rapidly. However, I have been…

The CEO listened while the Commercial Director & Supply Chain Director tried to reach an agreement during the monthly S&OP meeting. Not only was he disappointed to hear a version of the same arguments from previous months (“we are short of stock…

I had planned to write something about the importance of teamwork & S&OP & then try & link it to sailing – this would be an easy association. And then a real live incident made the story for me. We finally set sail again – break in the weather - &…

After the grand total of 1 days sailing during the first week – the Mistral is back again & we are port bound - moral is flagging. ‘Customer service levels’ are dropping. This mind is wandering. Time for some nautical S&OP stuff again. Let’s…

We finally got going (sailing that is) yesterday when the wind dropped to a breezy Force 4 on the beam (that’s from the side) - wonderful sailing weather. And it was marvellous – whizzing along at 7-8 knots. Mind wandering territory again ...…

It’s amazing how the mind wanders when one is stuck. In my case I have just started a sailing holiday with family in tow. Here we are in the South of France west of Marseille, boat at the ready & raring to go. Problem – there is a Mistral blowing.…

Well its over & the African showcase that was the World Cup has finished. As Spain (deservedly) celebrates and the circus leaves town, I am left to wonder “what next” for the continent? Thankfully I am not the only one in a similar reflective mood.…

Oh Ghana, Ghana! wherefore art thou Ghana? Deny thy goal by penalty in the last minute of extra time and refuse thy destiny; Or, if thou wilt not, be but sworn to do better in the shoot out, And we’ll no longer be denied an African team in the…

A short rest from the World Cup today. I speaking to a colleague today who had attended a conference last week about doing business in Nigeria. There were echoes from several chats I have had recently with some of our West African clients including…

"... and another thing ... they're all paid millions ... and now it's all over, they all disappear on holiday ..." (leaving us to pick up the pieces of our shattered dreams is the unspoken message). And so continues another England footballing…

The inevitable post-match, post-mortem. A bunch of lad's dads extolling wisdom & virtue on a Sunday morning after the night before. What was Capello thinking about? If we can't beat the USA, what hope is there? Green the villain; Green the…

Well it has finally started. The world cupis here. And Africa is centre stage again in the collective conscious of the world. Not since the G8 summit in July 2008 has the world turned its attention to Africa; too often the forgotten continent.…