Category Archive

Lots of data. In keeping with the consumer space of social media and apps in the cloud, the IT industry is pushing the benefits of instant data (called big data) as one of the new ‘big things’ for industry (the other appears to be cloud computing). To emphasise the point, a coffee shop chain in the UK has stated that … Read More

Forecasts and truth. Your business depends on plans developed from forecasts; these inform logisticians of the future. Unfortunately, there are probabilities, uncertainties and associated risks, so the forecasts will be wrong; but they ensure your business is less wrong than if you did nothing. As an example, in my Newsletter for June 2013 (go to www.learnaboutlogistics.com to subscribe), I discussed forecasts … Read More

What is happening? The business media has recently noted changes to the outsourcing approach in two industries. The mining industry in Australia is changing its business model so that operations in the mines are undertaken by mine companies employees, rather than mining services companies. In the global courier, express parcel (CEP) industry, the major companies have been enlarging their fleet … Read More

A repeat performance. When things go wrong with your inventory, there can be some big numbers and, at the very least, it will  be supply chain, logistics and inventory managers who are looking for new jobs! Six weeks ago I discussed the likely ‘ripple’ effect from a retailer ‘discovering’ about $100m of excess inventory. This week there is another story. … Read More

Criticality and risk of a service part. Managing your inventory requires an understanding of its behaviour so that sufficient is on-hand to provide availability for customers. This series of blogs has looked at categorising finished goods SKUs using the Coefficient of Variation Management (CoVM) approach, developed by Tom Rafferty, so that effective management can be achieved. A similar approach can … Read More