Route to Market & Supply Chain Blog

Yes I know, the recent blog posts have been a little Blog Gold meets Classic Blog with a touch of All Our Yesterdays and the History Channel but here is a fresh new offering. The last few months have been very busy both on the business and domestic…

The “Famous Last words” of people can be intriguing, rude and frequently very, very funny yet equally they can be complete nonsense. In the context of the FMCG Supply Chain, “Famous Last Words” are usually uttered just before something disastrous or…

Ok, I know I should not have gone there. It was Sunday and well before the live Premier League football on the TV. The weather was cold, the air was full of drizzle and as I turned off the overgrown roundabout the scale of my folly dawned; the IKEA…

People over a certain age talk about times when they could leave their front doors open or when you found money on the pavement and took it to a police station. Long-gone days, sadly. Nowadays, if you leave your front door open all you belongings…

If you still rely on Traditional Trade (TT) distribution for a significant part of your business then read on! Over-stocking Distributors happens by stealth and the consequences creep up on you until suddenly and without warning you hit a brick wall…

I will not reveal the name of the organisation for obvious reasons but their Supply Chain is clearly one very impressive, slick machine. Across the Source, Plan, Make and Deliver Supply Chain disciplines we can see excellence and leading edge…

The worlds of Supply Chain and popular music may be strange bed fellows but if you look closely you will see many a smash hit have a supply chain theme. Let us take a tongue-in-cheek look at the latest Supply Chain charts. I Want My ERP – Sting is…

If you are honest you have probably sat bored in an airport lounge waiting for your inevitably delayed flight and listened in on a conversation. Go on, admit it! If the discussion topic is not one with which you are familiar it can be as if you are…

The global recession rumbles on and on and on like Coronation Street – which will end first? Once again it is Greece holding out a cap for another IMF/EU bale out? Spain and others remain on the brink and France/Germany seem to be keeping their own…

Some FMCG organisations are comfortable with the idea of using consultants while others avoid them like the plague. Having been on both sides of the fence with respect to supply chain consultancy services I can appreciate the pros and cons for each…

The English dictionary lists the definition of complexity as “the state or quality of being intricate or complicated: an issue of great complexity”. Wikipedia defines complexity in great detail and starts with “In general usage, complexity tends to…

Do you need to improve the availability of your products in the Traditional Trade? Do you know the strengths and weaknesses of your distributor network? Do you know what really happens after your products leave the warehouse? Is your network managed…

A sweeping generalisation I know, but generally Supply Chain Directors who serve International Key Account (IKA) customers are small in stature. This is not by way of genetics or natural selection; it is just the simple physical result of being…

Is the market getting any better, really? Many big name companies have announced indifferent Q4/Christmas results recently and all caution about the continuing "difficult market conditions”. Ok, so 2014 has been put to bed financially but many will…

Christmas is coming, the goose is getting fat and you might want to put a penny or even a Euro in an old man’s hat. Once again it is nearly time for a cynical Supply Chain Santa to distribute presents to the FMCG/Brewing/Pharmaceutical Board…