Supply Chain Secrets Blog
Logistics and Supply Chain news, articles, tips and insights
Should the HR Team Care About MHE Selection in Supply Chain?
Whether you work for a manufacturer or brand owner with its own logistics operation or you are a manager for a 3PL provider, mechanical handling equipment is probably a critical element in your storage and transportation activities. When buying new...
3 Sales and Operations Planning Traps to Avoid
Sales and operations planning (S&OP) is a simple enough process, yet it's one which many organisations struggle to implement and maintain successfully. To some extent this is perfectly understandable, since a successful S&OP process requires unfettered...
Evaluating Logistics Outsourcing Proposals: Look Beyond the Scorecard
Some of my previous posts on this blog have provided tips for developing an RFP/RFT in order to select a logistics outsourcing partner. In this post, I want to focus a little on the next step: evaluating the logistics outsourcing proposals from your RFP...
An Introduction to CPFR in the Supply Chain
How much do you know about CPFR? If you’ve never heard of it, have a quick read through this post and you’ll understand the basics of CPFR in the supply chain profession. CPFR is the acronym for collaborative planning, forecasting and replenishment, a practice...
What Is Supply Chain Management and Why Does it Matter?
In an earlier post on this blog, I addressed the question “what is a supply chain?” As the post was intended to provide the answer in a nutshell, I simply explained that the supply chain starts with some raw materials and ends with a finished product in the hands of a...
4 Most Important Questions to Ask When Selecting a Freight Forwarder
If your supply chain company is just branching into the business of importing goods, perhaps because of a decision to outsource manufacturing overseas, you might not be used to dealing with a freight forwarder. To help you in selecting a freight forwarder for the...
Lift Truck Maintenance Tips That Matter
In many supply chain organisations, the warehouse workhorse, otherwise known as the lift truck, doesn’t receive the maintenance attention that it deserves. While many logistics companies wouldn’t dream of letting goods-vehicle maintenance schedules slip,...
Some Intelligent Questions to Include in a Logistics Outsourcing RFP
A few blog posts ago, I mentioned that I would follow up my post on “What’s in a Logistics Outsourcing RFP/RFT” with some information about other sections you might wish to add to an RFP which were not listed in that particular post. The one section which stands out...
Who Should Care About Financial Risks in Your Supply Chain?
Running a supply chain or even running part of one, is a risky business today and there are two main reasons why that’s so. Firstly, the strategic partnerships often brokered to take advantage of raw material access and low-cost labor, distribute modern supply chains...
Is The Cloud on Your Supply Chain IT Shopping List?
It’s that time of year again when supply chain leaders start to think about business technology and which new trends they should incorporate into supply chain IT strategy. If you’re in an IT management role, this probably means you’ll soon be called upon to put sourcing and implementation plans in place. But what technology advances do you expect your business colleagues to set their sights on for 2016?