In our previous post we went over the basics of Six Sigma and Lean Manufacturing. In this post we will discuss how these principles can assist with your supply chain. Businesses had been using each principle separately to enhance their business, but another way of increasing your supply chain flow is to combine the two principles to create Lean Six Sigma. By doing this a company is now focusing on the entire business rather than…
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Lean manufacturing and six sigma are not new concepts to business practices. In fact, lean manufacturing was implemented by Toyota back in the 80’s after they had studied the difference between U.S and European manufactures. From their studies, lean manufacturing was born and the way of focusing on eliminating waste and lead time was created. Six sigma was created by Motorola in 1986. The original intent was to improve the quality of process in its…
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The most efficient supply chains are those that are built on trust, transparency and reliability between the various partners in the trading partner community. Buyer’s that don’t work with trustworthy, or well-vetted, suppliers are subject to consumer safety and brand risk — an e. coli outbreak or massive product recalls, and shippers that don’t work with reliable carriers face shipment delays and variability, to name a few examples. Global supply chains function with such complexity,…
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The value of digital supply chains is their ability to analyze massive amounts of real-time data very quickly with machine learning algorithms to understand behavior over time and produce actionable, intelligent insights. Digital Supply Chains leverage demand inputs by: By constantly analyzing these inputs, and more, with machine learning algorithms, they produce accurate and timely demand signals, which in turn inform inventory allocation decisions that reduce stock-outs and increase revenues. According to “Innovation Driven Resilience”…
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In order to optimize inventory levels, it is necessary to understand that inventory is not one massive quantity. It can be broken into sections that exist for assignable reasons. Some of the most important categories of inventory include anticipatory stock, cycle stock, early arrival stock, marketing stock, obsolete stock, pipeline stock, prebuilt stock, and safety stock. As defined by logistics management cycle stock is the inventory due to production frequencies. Early arrival stock is due…
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