POSTS TAGGED : supply chain

Focus on Security: Vetting Your Supply Chain

In business, trends often start at the top. The largest companies are the first to adopt new practices, and once they have been refined and proven effective, the ideas trickle down to smaller organizations. That’s certainly the case with cybersecurity.

Supply chain security

The world’s largest organizations recognized the value of data early, taking steps to secure their systems and information. Those same companies have been the first to explore risk in their supply chains, asking subcontractors and suppliers to prove that they meet cybersecurity standards. There’s no need to wait on this one—it’s a practice every company should adopt now.

Understanding the industry push for security can be the why for vetting your supply chain, while simple guidelines provide the how.…

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Your Crash Course in S&OP (And It’s Important for Your Business)

No matter what industry you’re in, supply chains are all over the news. There have been big changes in global supply chains that have happened over the last year and there are more supply chain changes on the way.

S&OP

This means our companies need more robust responses to supply chain problems. S&OP is one way to create a responsive and adaptive operations plan that will allow your company to weather any supply chain storm. Let’s take a look at how S&OP works.

What is Sales & Operations Planning?

Here’s what everyone gets wrong about S&OP. Many executives see S&OP as a new way of managing their supply chains, but it’s actually so much more than that.…

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How to Optimize Safety Stock to Improve Supply Chain Performance

Business developments can be hard to predict; for instance, a customer could place an unexpectedly large order for one of your products. That should be great news for you–but only if you’re prepared to fill the order on time. That’s where safety stock comes in.

Warehouse worker managing safety stock

Forecasting precisely how much inventory you’ll need is always a difficult proposition; safety stock, by acting as “buffer inventory,” allows businesses to build up some margin for error. The downside, of course, is that holding inventory–let alone extra inventory–is expensive.

Some studies have pegged it at 20–40 percent of the cost of stocked merchandise. Making matters worse: That’s an ongoing, recurring cost, not a one-off purchase.…

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