Route to Market & Supply Chain Blog

In Europe at least, there is a fashion for creating a new supply chain legal entity and housing it in a friendly canton in Switzerland. The prime benefit is tax although operational and efficiency savings are often claimed to offset the nasty…

I came across an interesting problem on FMCG planning this week. The company in question was a blue- chip multi-national with well developed supply chain and business processes, e.g. a suite of relevant and stretching KPIs in place plus a living…

All major companies run some sort of ERP to support their business whether they are FMCG, pharma, brewing or indeed anyone who “makes stuff”. Many blue-chips have invested in big name software packages while others have gone for a cheap and cheerful…

This seems like déjà-vue all over again! Only a handful of working days into the New Year and I am hearing the same old complaints about the economy and business in general being poor. Of course this is true and does not look like changing any time…

Ok, now back on line after the holidays and some demanding project work. One of the first catch-up meetings I have had this year was with an FMCG MD. No name of course, but this is a medium sized player with a broad European base and I have…

How on earth did it get around to the end of September so quickly? One minute I was sniffling at our daughter’s school leaving speech and the next I see Christmas goods in shops. Who is in the mood to buy Christmas goods in September? Who plans for…

You can, there's no need to feel down I said you can, pick your sales off the ground I said you can, stop running around There's no time to be unhappy You can, there's a process you know I said you can, when your sales don’t grow You know, you are…

Previously on S&OP. The Demand Review has taken place. The Supply Review followed on time and a mutual understanding reached. Despite considerable challenges in securing a date in the diary for all the key players the Pre-S&OP happened without…

In my blog post Reasons for establishing S&OP in Mobile Telecoms, I recounted a success story of S&OP in a mobile telecoms company. I then went on to discuss the principles of S&OP design in the post Learn the 8 Basic Principles of S&OP in Mobile…

In an earlier blog Reasons for establishing S&OP in Mobile Telecoms, I recounted a success story of S&OP in a mobile telecoms company. Reasons for establishing S&OP in Mobile Telecoms. I continued my dialogue with the Senior Telecoms Executive –…

Impossible, over my dead body, not in a million years - the usual knee-jerk objections to any suggestion of getting too close to a competitive operation. Such comments are usually spouted by Marketing colleagues who are frankly living on agency…

I have two recent stories to tell. Story 1 Recently I was chatting to a Senior Executive in a mobile telecommunications company. We first met about a decade ago when he was the Supply Chain Director for an FMCG multinational in Kenya. The…

I have had several further discussions with our Supply Chain Executive from a recent blog on the subject of supply chain and S&OP compliance and its relationship to supply chain assessment. Let me reiterate the key issue. Many organisations…

Did anyone hear the loud clanging noise on Tuesday around 14.30? The sound was similar to a very large church bell being struck by a huge iron bar and that bar was in the hands of Arnold Schwarzenegger. Arnie was also in a very bad mood! The noise…

Picture the scene in many a boardroom; a note has come from HQ telling the boss to reduce costs as globally the annual set of results is not going to look pretty. Why do all the board directors then look at their Supply Chain colleague? Of course…