In a recent article in Manufacturing Business Technology, the authors noted that IBM was “just as excited” about talking about the broader integration of the supply chain applications within IBM as the new functionality in LogicNet Plus XE and Plant PowerOps:
IBM executives are excited about future possibilities for blending insights from the supply chain solutions [...]
“IBM executives are excited about future possibilities”
Posted by Mike Watson on July 3rd, 2009Harvard Business Review’s Trends to Watch: “Management as a Science”
Posted by Mike Watson on June 24th, 2009In another article in this month’s Harvard Business Review (July-August 2009), “Management as a Science” was cited as one of the trends executives should watch.
Management as a science uses mathematical models and data from operations to help executives make better decisions. Our supply chain planning applications are a great example of models helping firms make [...]
Celebration Foods’ Strategic Plant Location Decision
Posted by Mike Watson on June 23rd, 2009Celebration Foods, LLC’s recently opened plant, won the 2009 Plant of the Year from Food Engineering Magazine.
This plant won the award for its innovative manufacturing process, its low energy consumption, but also for its “reduction in transportation and supply chain costs.”
This case highlights the importance of good supply chain modeling. The right location and function [...]
Global Infrastructure Gridlock Drives Need for Supply Chain Planning
Posted by Mike Watson on June 22nd, 2009In this month’s Harvard Business Review (July-August 2009), George Stalk, Jr.’s article points out that global gridlock will force companies to rethink their supply chain strategies or lose out to more forward looking competitors.
His article sites the growing congestion on the highway system, the ports, the railways, and the airports. The impact of this congestion [...]
New Releases of LogicNet Plus and Plant PowerOps
Posted by Mike Watson on June 21st, 2009On June 17th, ILOG, an IBM Company, annouced the new releases of two of the supply chain products.
As Manufacturing Executive pointed out:
Making good on its 2008 promise to continue developing the functionality of the ILOG technology it acquired in a $340 million deal, IBM today announced a slate of updated products that includes supply chain [...]
Home Depot Discusses Its New Supply Chain
Posted by Mike Watson on June 12th, 2009Yesterday’s article in SupplyChainDigest provides details behind Home Depot’s dramatic new supply chain.
This complete remaking of the supply chain started with network modeling and led to interesting insights.
First, a network optimization study, performed in just a few months using a commercial tool but with just in-house talent.
That study clearly showed the opportunity to rethink Home [...]
Supply Chain Flexibility
Posted by Mike Watson on June 11th, 2009This week, there was a nice write-up in Supply Chain Digest about David Simchi-Levi’s work on finding the optimal level of flexibility in your supply chain.
Here’s the link: http://www.scdigest.com/ASSETS/ON_TARGET/09-06-09-2.PHP?cid=2506&ctype=content
No matter the economic conditions, firms strive to match capacity with demand. You can get much closer to matching these with some additional flexibility. What Prof. Simchi-Levi [...]
Reemtsma- Delivering business value from network planning
Posted by Derek Nelson on June 9th, 2009Imperial Tobacco Group grew in 2008 by acquiring Reemtsma. In order to understand the synergies and optimize the network, they deployed LogicNet Plus XE. In a recent interview, Reemtsma identified 4 critical advantages to working with ILOG and using LogicNet Plus:
Ease of use
Ability to start quickly
Sophisticated optimization technology (ILOG’s CPLEX)
ILOG support
Also interesting in the interview [...]
AGRANA: On-Going Value from LogicNet Plus
Posted by Mike Watson on June 7th, 2009In a recent conversation with AGRANA, a large sugar, starch, and fruit company based in Europe, we were reminded of the value of network design on an on-going basis.
AGRANA reports using LogicNet Plus both for strategic network design studies impacting the next 1-2 years, but also for the day-to-day issues that come up. These kind [...]
How Frequently Should You Deliver to Your Stores?
Posted by Mike Watson on June 2nd, 2009Retailers have long tried to balance the trade-offs between transportation and inventory costs by picking the correct delivery frequency. If you deliver to your stores every day, you can get away with minimal inventory investment, but transportation costs are high. If you deliver once a week, transportation costs are low, but you need a lot [...]