Route to Market & Supply Chain Blog

After the viral trials and tribulations of 2020, is the market going to get any better any time soon? Many big-name companies predicted/reported indifferent Q4 results and all offer caution about the continuing "difficult market conditions”. Ok, so…

I think we all agree that life will never be the same again after COVID-19 has dealt a stunning blow to humanity. While the horrendous death toll is a modern day calamity, the pandemic provides an unavoidable opportunity to do things differently…

Fingers, toes and eyes crossed but it looks like there is some light at the end of the COVID 19 tunnel and it is not a train, hopefully. Getting back to normal is a top of mind desire for everyone but that normal will not be how we operated in 2019.…

Who coined that irritating term “Big Data”? How did we get there without normal sized data, slightly larger data, chubby data and bordering on big data? People working in or associated with extended Supply Chains may seem obsessed by data yet data…

One of my Top 10 Supply Chain Improvement Resolutions for 2021 referred to SKU complexity and I recently discussed how that complexity negatively affects cost and service. With the discontinuity caused by COVID-19 many CEOs should be looking at…

Many SKUs sneak onto FMCG price lists when nobody is looking and this is far from facilitating constructive market development. Sales & Marketing colleagues prefer new launches to provide lengthy lists of SKUs; different fragrances, different sizes,…

On a daily basis the amount of care we give to the human body is remarkably little. When you are feeling in good shape, the best the body can hope for is a good wash, a brush of the teeth and a slap of moisturiser. What else? Haircut, skin peel and…

Ok, I admit it, I started my career as an R&D scientist-type developing FMCG products for the European and Middle Eastern markets. I was actually using my chemistry qualification in industry, which is an opportunity not everyone receives after…

Well, what a year it has been. As 2020 stutters and stumbles to the end we all need to think about how our Supply Chains will operate in 2021 and beyond. Just like those old school photographs, your steady-state, stable 2018 set-up has gone and will…

Now that one of the new Covid19 vaccines (Pfizer BioNTech's mRNA vaccine) has been approved by a regulatory authority (UK's MHRA on 2 December 2020), attention turns to how to vaccinate the UK and the world. It is important not to underestimate the…

Understanding the Total Cost to Serve our customers is an essential element to any Route to Market (RtM) Strategy. As FMCG professionals, we need to understand how much it costs us to service our customers. It is also not as simple as it sounds. Why…

There are many ways to link all the different planning activities in your FMCG/Pharma company. This could be done with one single tool like the SAP Advanced Planning Optimiser or a host of other tools and packages. As with all IT youneed to know how…

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 sharp-suited…

I started my career as an R&D type who helped bring new FMCG products to the market. Nobody really knew how a product made the transition from bench top and pilot plant testing to the supermarket shelves. Somebody must have been involved somewhere…

Rather a lot of blogging going on around the area of Digital Supply Chain and Analytics at present. Amongst all the serious stuff I thought it about time we took a well-earned break and enjoyed a bit of Supply Chain Comic Relief. A very catchy tune…