Supply Chain and S&OP Challenges in 2024
Summary
TLDR在2024年供应链和SNOP(销售与运营计划)挑战的讨论中,David Howton主持了一场关于未来一年供应链管理的热点话题和挑战的深入对话。讨论涉及了AI技术在供应链管理中的潜力,以及如何成功地将AI技术整合到供应链操作中。小公司面临的挑战,如成本、知识和投资回报率的假设,以及如何通过数据质量和分析、地理位置智能、风险缓解策略和经济挑战(如通货膨胀)来适应和维持成本效益。此外,还探讨了如何向利益相关者证明投资的正确性,以及如何制定2024年的供应链投资路线图。
Takeaways
- 📈 **AI技术的重要性**:AI技术在供应链管理中的潜力被广泛认可,预计到2025年将创造五万亿美元的经济价值。
- 🚀 **AI在供应链中的应用**:AI可以用于需求预测、物流优化、供应商风险管理和仓库自动化,以提高效率和准确性。
- 🔍 **数据质量的关注**:AI的效果取决于输入数据的质量,因此确保数据的准确性和有效性是关键。
- 🤖 **机器人流程自动化**:在仓库中使用机器人流程自动化可以减少人为错误,提高存储和拣选的准确性。
- 🌐 **数据整合的挑战**:组织面临的挑战包括从多个系统中提取可操作的数据,以及解决数据孤岛、数据解读错误和数据重复等问题。
- 📊 **数据分析的重要性**:数据分析不仅仅是关于数字,更重要的是从数字中推断出意义,以支持决策。
- 📚 **人员培训和文化**:投资于人员培训,建立数据驱动的决策文化,对于成功采用新技术至关重要。
- 💡 **技术与人文的结合**:技术和人的结合是成功实施AI和大数据的关键,需要人的智慧来训练系统并解释数据。
- 🌟 **投资的优先级**:在考虑供应链投资时,应采用基于投资组合的方法,优先考虑那些能带来最高回报或对业务至关重要的项目。
- 🔧 **经济挑战下的适应**:面对通货膨胀等经济挑战,公司可以通过多种策略来适应,如成本管理、货币风险对冲和库存管理。
- ⏱️ **透明度的价值**:在与客户沟通成本上升时,透明度是关键,它有助于维护关系并使对话更加顺畅。
Q & A
2024年供应链和SNOP面临的主要挑战是什么?
-2024年供应链和SNOP面临的主要挑战包括数据挑战、地缘政治风险、通货膨胀对成本的影响以及如何成功地将人工智能技术整合到供应链操作中。
GMDH Streamline如何帮助提高供应链效率?
-GMDH Streamline通过其现代供应链解决方案,利用人工智能自动化来提高需求预测和库存规划的效率和准确性,从而最大化利润。
为什么说AI对于供应链管理的转型至关重要?
-AI可以处理和学习大量的客户购买行为数据,提高需求预测的准确性,优化物流,管理供应商风险,以及在仓库中实现机器人流程自动化,从而减少人为错误,提高运营效率。
在实施AI技术时,公司应该注意哪些关键步骤?
-公司应该首先试点或测试AI技术,构建AI人才,同时注意数据安全风险。确保数据质量,找到在反应性与领先竞争对手之间的平衡点,并且要有明确的项目目标和预期结果。
如何确保从供应链中生成的大量数据中提取出可操作的洞察?
-首先要确保数据的准确性和有效性,然后要有清晰的目标,知道希望用数据集实现什么。避免信息过载,使用人工智能系统过滤噪声,专注于最关键的几个可操作的洞察。
小公司如何克服成本、知识和投资回报率的挑战,以适应新的供应链游戏?
-小公司应该专注于数据质量,投资于人员培训,采用行业认证和最佳实践,建立数据驱动的决策文化,并采用敏捷方法论来应对变化。
在供应链中,位置智能和可见性如何帮助提高效率?
-位置智能和可见性可以通过GPS跟踪、RFID和物联网设备等技术提高对货物流动的监控,实现更好的例外管理,提前警告潜在延迟,从而提高客户服务。
地缘政治风险如何影响供应链规划,公司应如何准备?
-公司应通过多元化供应源、加强供应商关系、提高供应链可见性和灵活性以及遵守监管要求来减轻地缘政治风险。
通货膨胀对供应链成本有何影响,公司应采取哪些措施来缓解其影响?
-通货膨胀会导致原材料、能源、劳动力和运输成本上升。公司可以通过成本管理、多元化供应基地、货币风险对冲、减少能源消耗和库存管理等措施来缓解其影响。
如何向内部利益相关者证明在正确的人、流程和系统上的投资是合理的?
-通过构建基于投资回报率(ROI)或净现值(NPV)的正式商业案例,使用组合管理方法来优先考虑项目,并制定一个战略计划,将其转化为年度运营计划。
对于小公司而言,如何评估新系统的投资价值?
-小公司在评估新系统时,会考虑系统的直接ROI以及对使用该系统人员的具体影响,如是否能提高工作效率或释放人力资源来专注于更高层次的任务。
Outlines
🎉 欢迎与会议介绍
David Howton 作为 gmdh streamline 的企业客户经理,欢迎参与者加入 2024 年供应链和 snop 挑战讨论。他介绍了 gmdh streamline,这是一家自 2016 年以来一直致力于改进需求和供应计算的现代 Sol 解决方案公司。公司利用 AI 技术提高预测和库存规划的效率和准确性。David 还介绍了两位经验丰富的小组讨论成员:Rory O'Driscoll 和 Paul Lien,他们分别在原料分销初创公司和供应链管理方面有着丰富的经验。
🤖 AI 技术在供应链管理中的应用
讨论了 AI 技术在供应链管理中的潜力,包括预测分析、物流优化、供应商风险管理和仓库中的机器人流程自动化。强调了在 2024 年将 AI 技术整合到供应链操作中的重要性,以及需要对数据质量进行严格把控以避免错误决策。
📈 数据质量与供应链数据挑战
强调了数据准确性和有效性的重要性,并讨论了组织在提取供应链中生成的大量数据的可操作性见解时面临的挑战。提到了数据安全风险、数据系统审查的重要性,以及在评估 AI 系统时寻找合适的解决方案。
📊 数据分析与决策制定
讨论了数据分析不仅仅是关于数字,而是要从数字中推断出意义。强调了在大数据分析中关注大局和理解数据目标的重要性,以及在供应链实践中需要有清晰的产品分类和数据收集。
🌐 数据整合与技术挑战
讨论了数据量和复杂性的增长,数据质量和准确性,以及整合不同系统的数据的重要性。提到了使用人工智能和大数据工具来整合数据,并将其转化为关键的可操作见解。
📚 技能提升与人才培养
探讨了供应链领域中对新技能的需求,强调了投资于人员培训和技能提升的重要性。讨论了建立数据驱动决策文化的必要性,以及如何通过敏捷方法论和专注于数据来解决根本原因。
🌟 投资优先级与战略规划
讨论了如何通过投资优先级和战略规划来证明对内部利益相关者的投资。强调了在供应链投资中采用基于组合的方法,并通过 ROI 或 NPV 计算来优先考虑项目。
💹 通货膨胀对供应链成本的影响
讨论了通货膨胀对供应链成本的影响,以及公司如何通过多种策略来适应经济挑战和通货膨胀。强调了透明沟通、成本管理、货币风险对冲和减少能源消耗等措施的重要性。
🌱 供应链的可持续性与灵活性
讨论了供应链的可持续性、灵活性和对地缘政治风险的响应。强调了通过多样化供应源、加强供应商关系、提高可见性和灵活性来减轻风险。
📝 总结与闭幕
David Howton 总结了讨论的要点,并感谢了参与者、小组讨论成员以及观众。他提醒参与者将收到会议的记录,并鼓励大家继续进行有价值的讨论。
Mindmap
Keywords
💡供应链管理
💡人工智能(AI)
💡数据质量
💡地缘政治风险
💡通货膨胀
💡投资回报率(ROI)
💡数据驱动决策
💡供应链可见性
💡敏捷方法
💡风险管理
💡持续改进
Highlights
讨论了2024年供应链和S&OP(销售与运营计划)面临的挑战,以及热门话题。
David Howton作为gmdh streamline的企业客户执行官,主持了这次讨论。
gmdh streamline是一个现代化的供应链解决方案,自2016年进入市场,以AI增强需求预测和库存规划的效率和准确性。
streamline在全球拥有超过200个合作伙伴,覆盖40个国家,并且在北美直接与客户接触。
G2将streamline命名为供应链套件的最新G2网格中的领导者,特别强调客户满意度。
讨论了AI在提高供应链管理效率方面的潜力,以及到2025年AI技术可能产生的经济价值。
Paul Lien强调了AI在需求预测、物流优化、供应商风险管理和仓库自动化中的应用。
Rory O'Driscoll提到了在采用AI时需要考虑的数据安全性和数据质量的重要性。
组织面临的挑战包括从供应链中产生的大量数据中提取可操作的见解。
强调了在实施AI和大数据之前,需要对数据进行清洗和验证,以避免错误决策。
讨论了数据安全和隐私问题,以及在选择云服务提供商时需要考虑的因素。
强调了在数据驱动决策中结合人类智能和技术分析的重要性。
讨论了不同技能在AI和新现实下对供应链的重要性,以及如何提升这些技能。
提到了提高供应链可见性、可追溯性和位置智能的方法,以及相关技术的应用。
探讨了地缘政治风险对供应链规划的影响,以及公司如何准备和减轻这些风险。
讨论了通货膨胀对供应链成本的影响,以及公司如何适应经济挑战并减轻通货膨胀的影响。
Paul和Rory分享了他们对于如何向利益相关者证明投资供应链中的人员、流程和系统的看法。
讨论了如何通过投资正确的项目来最大化对组织和供应链的影响。
Transcripts
so welcome everybody to uh the supply
chain and snop challenges for
2024 um we we thought it really we just
thought it would make it or it would be
a terrific idea it'd be a good idea to
kick off the year with a discussion
about the year ahead um what are the
challenges what are Hot Topics that we
all need to consider as we look ahead
into
2024 um what topics are going to be uh
factful for supply chain and snop
integrated business planning um in the
year ahead so welcome everybody um
thanks for your attendance my name is
David Howton uh I am an Enterprise
account executive with gmdh streamline
uh and I'll be hosting the supply chain
and snop challenges for 2024 discussion
um for those not familiar with gmdh
streamline um often fondly shortened to
just streamline you'll often you'll
likely hear me call it streamline going
forward um yeah thanks for the slide up
um streamline just so you're aware
streamline uh it's a modern Sol solution
that entered the market in back in
2016 so we've been around for quite a
while uh when streamline was designed we
wanted to improve that classic demand
and Supply
calculations um and develop a unique
approach not available in other
Solutions uh which to include AI as well
um so streamline it's a global company
uh and is represented by more than
globally more than 200 Partners we
partner with supply chain and snop
experts and organizations who offer
streamlined to their customers in uh 40
countries uh in North America we've
primarily uh had Direct contact with our
customers through North America uh and
um and Implement streamline with our
internal
team as you can see on that slide as
well G2 again has named streamline a
leader in the latest G2 grid for supply
chain
Suites um customer satisfaction being
that metric towards the right and you'll
see that we're actually up against the
right side so we're really quite proud
of that um customer satisfaction uh
being very important to us so uh
streamline is a essentially it's an
integrated business plan planning
platform for the purpose of maximizing
profit at the end of the day it's really
about maximizing profit uh it's through
an AI automation driving efficiency and
accuracy of demand forecasting and
inventory planning yes um among other
values but really at the end of the day
it's about um purposeful maximizing of
profit so thanks for the
slide um as well um I wanted to
introduce our other panelists um so we
have the pleasure of having two very
experienced panelists join our
conversation today um firstly we have
Rory
O'Driscoll Rory O'Driscoll is a is a
business planner with nura USA uh an
ingredient distribution startup
headquartered in Irvine California uh
nura USA provides raw material
ingredients from sources across the
globe uh to use in food and beverage
industry as well as Nutri tical industry
uh in addition so Rory's background is
in procurement contract manufacturing
and Communications so his role at nura
USA is is um to facilitate cross
functional systems and Communications
and support of an entirely remote sales
team uh and to accelerate new business
ventures for the company in order to
drive New
Growth yeah thank you for the
introduction David uh and hello to
everyone in our audience it's great to
see uh attendees from all over the globe
so far uh so thank you for uh hosting uh
thank you for streamline for reaching
out and uh thanks for everyone in
attendance yeah we're glad to have you
so um as as as well we're also uh we
also have the honor of having Paul lyen
so Paul lyen is a supply chain executive
with over 30 years of
experience um leading Global teams and
supply chain sourcing and procurement
operations for top manufacturers of
electric vehicles Aerospace industrial
medical semiconductor and consumer
products uh and that includes Dell
Honeywell ON Semiconductor Gore and most
recently electric
ebikes um Paul is passionate about how
organizations and networks can leverage
usn op and other key business
information uh to streamline automate
and improve the end to-end performance
of their supply chain
so thank you for uh for joining us as
well Paul thanks David uh really
appreciate being the invite and uh look
forward to having a dialogue with our
attendees at some point based on their
questions and answers so really looking
forward to it thank you awesome okay
great um yeah so thanks again to both of
you um I'm looking forward to hearing
having this conversation and hearing
your thoughts and talking about that
some of the bigger bigger things that we
have to be thinking about that everybody
has to be thinking about going forward
just as some quick house cleaning um
you're it looks like everybody's already
uh found the chat and and that's
terrific so um if you want to submit uh
your Q&A session questions any time in
the questions window uh at the end we'll
leave some some time hopefully and and
have some some questions there it really
is meant to be a
discussion um about supply chain and
snop challenges so uh hearing from you
is very important um and uh as just so
that you're aware as well everybody uh
we're going to provide a recording in a
followup so we'll have a recording of
this as
well
afterwards okay so let's get
started
um
so AI being it AI is huge right now the
the drive for efficiency that was a
focus in all Industries I think by the
end of
2023 um has certainly carried over into
this new year into
2024 uh I just read an A A gardener um I
just read that Gardener predicts that by
2025 AI technologies will generate five
trillion dollars in economic value um
which is staggering so it it's driven
shifts in markets so I thought that it
it suitable or makes sense if we just
start by talking about AI a little bit
um so I'll Paul and Rory I'll likely ask
both of you each question but you know
we'll sort of as we sort of have
conversations going forward but I wanted
to start this one with Paul if that's
okay um so the question being given the
surge of Investments and news headlines
highlighting the impact of AI it's
everywhere uh on various Industries it's
clear that AI has the potential to
rapidly transform Supply Chain
management considering this what steps
should companies and supply chain
practitioners take to successfully pilot
and integrate AI Technologies into their
supply chain operations in
2024 yeah I think I could start um so my
experience with AI um is uh just
beginning and if you're not beginning as
well well within supply chain um I think
that this is the year that you need to
actually put projects in place that
pilot or test the waters and build some
of the talent in AI um you also have to
be cautious right we went went uh a lot
of us went in with blockchain a couple
of years ago and it may not have may
have been too early may have not yielded
the benefits that you really wanted but
there's specific areas that I think um
really makes sense for us to be looking
at in our operations one is Predictive
Analytics for demand forecasting the
ability of AI to digest and continuously
learn from customers buying behavior and
you know competitive prices just using
web
crawlers um being able to very
accurately you know price your products
and then anticipate what what the what
the likely sales uplift from a promotion
might be is is unprecedented it's just
it's almost impossible for humans to
digest that much data and come up with a
meaningful analytic set of analytics
that help you with your demand
forecasting and the ability to get ahead
of your sales and operations planning
process additionally AI for Logistics
optimization so the ability to take into
consideration things like traffic
conditions weather uh different uh
delays at ports um it is really huge and
the benefits really could translate into
lower operating costs improve delivery
efficiency accuracy enhancing customer
satisfaction as well things like
supplier risk management so many people
are probably using things like you know
DMB supplier risk manager or maybe
you've used resol link or risk methods
or something these tools tend to do the
same thing that I was describing with
demand forecasting digest huge volumes
of information and then what's important
for humans to do is to train that and
turn down the gain so not everything is
a supplier risk event but what are the
most meaningful supplier risk events
that you do want to get ahead of or to
anticipate in your in your process and
then the fourth area I look at is if
you're dealing with physical products
and
warehouses robotic process Automation
and warehousing like Amazon's doing uh
many other top top consumer products
companies are doing you need to start to
Pilot uh RPA or robotic process
Automation in your warehouses to reduce
human error in terms of uh putting it
put putting Goods away storing goods and
then and then accurately picking and
ideally you know converging that to the
point of shipment so I would encourage
that teams put projects in place this
year because as David said uh Gartner is
predicting A5 trillion doll economic
benefit from AI in 2020 so if in 2024
you're still putting it off uh I think
we all run the risk of being eclipsed by
our competitors who are making
Investments building the knowledge base
of their teams building their Tech stack
and really getting uh some benefit from
from AI in the short term but most
importantly then converging that into
wins in 2025 and beyond for competitive
Advantage we we also have to take into
account the technology hype cycle though
right so people tend to to Really OV
exaggerate or they reach this peak of
inflated expectations and then we have a
trough of dis disillusionment according
to Gartner um we we will experience that
in supply chain as well right people
tend to overestimate the benefit of
these types of Technologies in the short
term but uh there's a corollary that
says they they tend to O underestimate
the benefits of Technologies in the long
term and so I think that all of our
teams need to start to scale up in in
terms of their knowledge their use and
their piloting activities uh with AI
this
year yeah that's terrific and I think
that maybe more specifically people have
to to set their expectations properly
right so if it's um I mean May
everybody's under pressures right now
for
efficiencies um so if if the expectation
of that automation of that artificial
intelligence is really about
efficiencies and and to your point here
human error eliminating human error then
then you're setting that stage for Value
uh in the decisions that you're making
Rory what do what do you think as well
about about AI you know I I think Paul
hit on some very interesting points uh
AI is obviously a hot button Topic in
the news and in supply chain
Industries uh and I think that if you
were at the point where you planning on
being reactionary to AI you have already
missed the vote
um but you know the flip side of that is
you don't want to move into it too
quickly either you know there are data
security risks there are risks for a
small startup like us we are in our
sixth year we've migrated to three
different warehouses and two different
Inventory management systems in those
six years so ensuring uh validity of
data before moving into uh evaluating AI
is incredibly important uh AI is only as
good as the data you feed it um and so
finding that sweet spot between being
reactionary and falling behind your
competition and jumping head first into
AI without vetting your systems and your
data either of those is going to be a
recipe for disaster in supply chain
you're either not going to be
competitive or you're going to do
detriment to your data and your systems
by potentially moving into something
before you're ready uh and so I think
the balance of of those two is a sweet
spot that a lot of different companies a
lot of different sizes are going to have
to figure out in the next year uh you
know it's something that we pilot here
at nura uh you know there's regularly uh
chat GPT windows up and we've been
evaluating demand planning software as
well uh a huge percentage of our
customer base is contract manufacturers
who are inherently reactionary to their
customers meaning we are inherent ly
reactionary to our
customers now is that always a necess is
that always a necessity can we use AI to
make a best guess yeah and that's kind
of the system that we're looking at
evaluating um as we evaluate those
systems though it is trying to find you
know the the right system for the right
problem and investigating a solution and
not the system
uh and so you know we're cautious that
uh AI is not likely to replace anyone's
job here you know in the foreseeable
future but it can be an incredibly
valuable tool to do some of that heavy
lifting on data
analytics uh and be a guide to our
purchasing Logistics and uh warehousing
teams and so I think this is a an
interesting time to be evaluating AI but
it you need to find that Goldilocks zone
of you know being completely reactionary
and late to the party and being an early
adopter uh and so I think that that's a
great question to be uh evaluating for
companies of various sizes right
now I I think I really appreciate you
saying hey garbage in garbage out right
so focus on your data
quality because you feed bad data or
inaccurate data into AI you're going to
get a in correct result out and then it
learns from that incorrect uh data so
focusing on your master data is really
critical and I think we as supply chain
practitioners really do want to you know
have a very clear product taxonomy we
want to be very clear about how we
organize our SKS collect data on those
so yeah focusing on data quality is a
prerequisite that's that's perfect
actually it's it's it's so my next
question was actually going to be about
from the know to talk about AI was
really about um organiz organizations
ensuring smooth transition and Adoption
of the AI which I think Rory were sort
of touching on there but you guys have
both said data so I'm gonna segue to my
to my next question because that
actually fits um so I was just reading a
KPMG piece um it was called supply chain
Trends 2024 the digital shakeup so in
that piece they talked about data
challenges by saying that is still one
of the core challenges facing Supply
Chain management each day millions and
millions of data like uh date records
for instance are generated across the
supply chain from multiple systems um
the proliferation of uh digital
Technologies and Internet of Things
devices and the advanced tracking
systems that are out there have
compounded the problem so now you've got
creating silos you've got
misinterpretation of the data you've got
duplication problems all of that stuff
um so maybe start with Rory on this one
actually what challenges are
organizations facing in extracting
actionable data because you talked about
getting it in order getting your house
in order I always make jokes that um
oftentimes when we're dealing with
customers I always make jokes that you
don't clean out your store room until
you have to move houses like when you
move your house so in the the same way
you that's when you look at it and go he
maybe maybe our data could use some some
polishing so so the question being what
challenges organizations facing and
extracting actionable insights from the
vast amount of data generated in the
supply chain yeah absolutely and so I
think obviously data accuracy and
validity is the first portion of that
like Paul said garbage in garbage out uh
it does know one a service if it's
inaccurate to begin with uh so the first
step is kind of a Val valuating you know
how do we separate the we from the chaff
here how do we say okay we know and
trust this data set now that we have
this data set that we know and trust
what is our end goal with this data set
what do we hope to accomplish with this
data uh you know in supply chain there
is no no end of kpis and metrics and
data available to us it's almost
overwhelming to the point that you run
into you know analysis paralysis there
's so much information at your
fingertips that if you don't vet the
validity of it and you don't go into
that data set with a clear picture of
what you hope to accomplish with that
data set uh you're doing more harm than
good uh and I think that something
that's really important as companies are
looking at evaluating Ai and inventory
management systems using big data is to
uh you know there's a degree of uh fast
uh you know we we would rather jump into
a
situation with an end goal in mind and
find oh this this data set does not
support what we're hoping it will
accomplish and so it's better to fail
fast and go back to the chalkboard and
try and find you know is this a data set
issue are we looking at uh the wrong
target for this data set um or do we
need to Encompass uh you know other
envelopes of data are we not looking at
the whole picture on this and so I think
it's something that companies will need
to uh be conscious of as they're trying
to utilize that data um but also not
being afraid to you know throw the towel
in and go back to the drawing board and
figure out a new data set and a new goal
for that
data yeah I I would Echo your comments
Rory um data volume and complexity right
it's just continuing to grow
exponentially I think you know how many
pedabytes a video or whatever are added
every minute or something um data
quality and accuracy um integration of
disparate systems right if you do have
different siloed systems you have your
WMS separate from your Erp separate from
your um you know what how you book make
bookings and and manage your your ocean
shipments and your CRM platform form
that your sales team uses if they're all
separated right how do you bring that
data together into perhaps a data lake
or something and then standardize
normalize cleanse that data so that it
all is is making sense um and then um
you know when I when I think about you
know the sources of data right you have
to be very you have to use human
intelligence I think to train uh the
system so for example if you're looking
at what's the real source of customer
demand I believe it's you know when a
customer requests a product on a certain
date that's an that's the definition
when they place a PO with you or they
place an order with you even if it's
unrealistic that's when they wanted it
and don't use your ship date to
determine you know when I finally got
the supply in so I was able to fulfill
all these back orders and that's my
demand no that's actually a a delayed
demand signal right the true demand is
uh when your customers want it and like
uh when you're trying to do things like
spend analytics and try to prioritize
you know where do I go after um you know
cost Management in my in my different
direct materials or other services
things like that you look at okay what
did I actually pay when I receive the
item so usually like the at the point of
receipt is the system of record for what
was the price what was the quantity what
was the you know so you can do your
spend analytics from that so really
using human intelligence training the
system focusing on data quality trying
to integrate data from your disparate
systems and there's many tools out there
some of them actually free that help you
to create a data Lake um and and that's
where I think big data analytics is is
going that helps feed some of the
advanced you know Ai and other other
systems I also want to caution right so
as we go more cloud-based right software
as a service there is data security and
privacy concerns and and so you need to
be vetting any any organization that you
trust your data with and have um strict
you know
confidentiality U and how how that data
is used and data privacy uh standards in
place that your legal teams uh have have
vetted and then the other thing is don't
don't keep generating more in more
metrics right we don't want to be
operating with big data in the uh
nuclear reactor control room that The
Simpsons had where everything is red
right it's it's going into meltdown you
have to translate this this big data
into the critical few actionable
insights there's a reason why C
dashboards only have five six gauges Max
it's because those are the critical
things that help be leading indicators
or or uh things that you have to be
monitoring and so that's where again
humans I think come into play in
translating the data into what's truly
actionable what makes a difference and
then what what then would trigger you to
do a deep dive right if this is going
red I now need to do a deep dive and now
I can look at all of the root causes and
things uh that that that data that that
initial actionable Insight triggered so
you're managing by exception instead of
trying to manage
everything yeah yeah I I appreciate that
and I think further to your point about
human uh the the the combination of
human and the technical there's actually
a I'm G to I'm going to switch over to a
to an audience question I appreciate
whoever put this in uh but it's it's
timely um so how do you how do you
foresee different skills required to
have this Ai and new reality coming in
the supply chain So to that point of of
that hum the combination what kind of
new skills do you think just need to
people need to keep up with this so as
we talk about 2024 going forward what
should people be thinking as as far as
upskilling themselves and their teams
and things of that nature um who wants
to who's got a an idea on that one uh I
could take that one David um so I think
that as we touched on big data analytics
uh you know so for example we're we're a
relatively small company 40 some people
uh we have one dedicated data analyst uh
who does incredible amount of reporting
now this data analyst is very capable he
knows what he's doing but he doesn't
have the big picture all the time you
know it is you know run me a report
looking at these customers these Blended
margins over this time period for these
SKS simple request right when you go
into Big Data if you don't understand
the big picture of what you hope to
gather from that data if the the person
working with the data doesn't understand
what the end goal is and the big picture
of what that data
means uh they're more likely to
misinterpret the goal they're more
likely to misinterpret the data uh and
they are you know the company is more
likely to get bad data and so I think
that from a data analytics
standpoint um it's really easy to just
look at the numbers and say this is what
the numbers tell me but data analysis is
not about numbers it's about inferring
meaning from those numbers and so I
think that something that we need to be
conscious of as we are utilizing Big
Data more is focusing on the big picture
and understanding what we hope to gain
from that data at all levels not the
person requesting that that report from
the data analyst not the person that is
helping to provide that data um but the
whole picture of
why we need this in the first place and
what we hope to accomplish with it and
where the data is coming
from yeah I I do think regardless of
your size companies do need to invest in
people and that means upskilling people
investing in training programs whether
it's industry certification so that
you're saying hey I'm going to invest in
like ascm or ISM certifications or even
just the curriculum right how how do I
leverage some of the best practices that
come from industry leaders in my
organization regardless of size and then
use that that that as a backdrop for
okay now what data do I need and how do
I use that data to develop actionable
insights from it the other is like a
culture of datadriven decision making so
um a lot of times in organizations right
we make decisions kind of spur the
moment or with intuition
and I think increasingly the data is
going to be there we just have to be
able to have the skills and abilities to
to bring that out of of all the
different data lakes that we have uh to
make a data deriven decision wherever
possible and and part of that involves
using agile methodologies or you know
really driving that culture of hey let's
let's focus on what is the data showing
so that we can actually address the root
cause instead of just what we think our
gut is telling us to do so those are
areas you investing in people and
training you know hiring people uh right
with some of these technical skills um
and then really it's the culture of data
driven decision-making I think in the
organization yeah that's terrific if I
can jump in Paul I think culture is
actually a really good point um you find
it pretty frequently in small
organizations where there is hesitancy
to change systems like that uh and so
you get a lot of push back sometimes
where it is well you know what's our Roi
on the system if we make what for a
small company could be a relatively
large
investment and so I think culture of
approaching data is really important
because it's got to be a push forward uh
for the right reason and if that push
forward is made with the right reason
justifying the ROI is the easy part um
and so culture is huge in driving
success on that and driving you know the
education needed to support those
systems uh with the
people that was that was well that was a
good timing I'm actually reading a um
one of the attendees question which was
what is your perspective on the
challenges small companies might have to
jump into this new into this new game
right so cost knowledge Roi assumptions
which I think you're touching on there
um big companies might have a lot of
money they might deeper Pockets uh but
smaller ones how so it's just more about
ensuring that you're going to get that
that value at the end of the day um and
efficiencies drive
that um excellent um so just to drag it
back to data specifically um I wanted to
touch on uh visibility traceability
location intelligence kind of kind of
information so how are companies
enhancing visibility and traceability
within their supp Supply chains and what
are what role does location intelligence
play in this context and as well what
technologies or strategies uh are being
adopted that you're aware of to improve
real-time tracking and monitoring across
and tri Supply chains and I say this I
brought that back in because there's a
um one of our attendees Adam has asked
the trend in industrial countries is to
shorten Supply chains so how will
onshoring supply chains change Dynamics
positive or
negatives yeah I can I can probably jump
in so visibility traceability and
location is is critical but you can also
go overboard right so um I I think with
the Advent of RFID iot devices GPS
tracking even on your you know your your
different uh truck transportation routes
you're inundated with with data around
visibility and location these can all be
useful in continuing to you know monitor
your supply chain be able to manage by
exception get you know advanced warning
of potential delays and improving
customer service but it can also go
overboard and overwhelm right the
logistics team that's trying to manage
all these things in transit um so you
have to I think we talked about the
Goldilocks approach right where where is
that cost versus benefit and where where
do you invest in your your digital twin
which represents your overall supply
chain and all Goods moving through it
and and how granular do you want to get
so like for example at electric uh we we
implemented a a technology that would
give us the GPS coordinates of all the
containers in transit across the Pacific
Ocean uh is that really needed or is it
just the ETA the updated ETA at the port
or that that is really needed um because
we're not going to send a helicopter to
fly and land on a ship in the middle of
a Pacific right or an airplane um so you
have to use kind of that judgment to as
to where do I need it now with
shortening Supply chains and the risk of
things like theft or or loss on the road
uh comes into play I think it is going
to become more more material as as
companies use more truck
Transportation uh but again trying to
distill that into actionable
intelligence what am I really going to
do with that information um is probably
critical you can use it for Route
optimization I I like the use of GE
geofencing right so I'm triggered only
when a ship approaches the port or I'm
triggered only when a goods are are
within a certain geofence of my facility
um for for receiving things like that so
um all this big data though around
location traceability and and uh uh
visibility uh should be fed into AI
systems that can help filter out some of
the noise make it more actionable learn
over time and then do things like
predictive route planning um and that
sort of
thing you have any additional thoughts
Rory on that yeah um just briefly you
know I think Paul touched on an
interesting point of logistics and
sometimes that that much data is not
needed you know like you said you don't
need to know
10 containers are on the boat you don't
need to know each of those containers
you need to know the boat um and so it
it's growing large enough to support the
system you need but not growing too
large to inundate it with uh too much
data and I think there's also some
really uh good opportunities for
consolidating data uh or consolidating
inventory uh and running a lanar
operation with location visibility you
know we operate a number of warehouses
across the country servicing multiple
customers from coast to coast some have
facilities in a few different locations
and so as we're looking at well where do
we ship this inventory from where do we
house this inventory based off of
historic demand for this customer the
more visibility that we have on you know
those onhand quantities and the more
visibility we have on what those
quantities might need to be doing in the
future can can help guide decisions on
you know import timelines uh warehousing
storage decisions uh shipping
schedules uh and so I think big data and
Logistics will always go hand inand um
but to kind of echo Paul uh that's an
area that we really need to be careful
of not having too much data um because
there's so many moving Parts with that
uh if we don't distill it to the
information that our Logistics teams
actually need for operation it's doing
them a
disservice yeah and so much of this
conversation is sort of tied together
because really what we're talking about
is back to what we were talking about
earlier which is extracting actionable
insights so specifically in this big
massive quantity of data like there's so
much data constantly growing what do you
need to see and what do you not need to
see because it's noise so um and and and
it does does play into sometimes you
don't need it until you need it right so
things like traceability right so
tracking expiry dates or shelf life or
if you have a recall right and the
ability to then track okay which Lots
were consumed into which product so now
I can cast a narrower net when I'm doing
things like containment or uh you know a
recall so some of this data uh you need
to maybe be thoughtful about and it
depends on like whether you're in a
industry that deals with things that go
into the human body like like Rory's uh
company or or things that go into you
know EVS like electric right where there
could be a need to to have a recall you
got to have that data then available but
uh for day-to-day and managing your
supply chain right you try to filter
that out I don't need that depth of data
until I need to drill into it um what
are the actionable insights that
actually make a difference in my
day-to-day operations that's what drives
my dashboards or my you know my
day-to-day process
yeah that's well said um so maybe
continuing from the the the location um
this one suited so there's several
events happening throughout the world at
the moment uh that are afflect affecting
supply chain operations product delivery
routes for instance Etc um we'd be
remiss if we didn't talk about these
issues uh so without diving into too
much politics side of it um because we
want to keep it more of a discussion
than a debate I guess but uh um maybe
the question is G geopolitical risks as
a as a reactive thing in supply chain
planning how how can companies mitigate
these risks in 2024 um how can companies
be prepared for issues like threatening
uh or like threats to to shipping lanes
for
instance oh go ahead oh I'm sorry go
ahead
no go ahead that's perfect okay yeah
yeah I mean the the fact of the matter
is that that politics does impact and
there there are things like trade
tensions and tariffs right there is
political instability and conflicts
going on in the world there is there are
threats to shipping lanes and so um you
know we do need to as supply chain
practitioners con continuously monitor
the landscape right of where are our
suppliers located where are their sub
tier suppliers located and as far back
as you can go to understand and kind of
think ahead of potential risks caused by
the the
geopolitics um how do you address it
right you address it you can do it
proactively by diversifying your supply
sources if possible now sometimes it's
not possible but over Reliance on any
single supplier or single country has
proven to be risky and who knew that
there was going to be a typhoon that hit
hit Thailand and wiped out like the sub
tier components to the hard drive
manufacturing industry many years ago or
the Fukushima disaster in Japan you know
these things in order to be prepared you
can start to diversify your sources of
supply and that does mean things like
dual or multi- sourcing or where you
have a single Source hey how can we
create a second Factory in a in a
geographically diverse region from that
same Supply right to ensure Supply or at
least prepare for that saying what would
it take if you had to shift all your
manufacturing from the primary Factory
to a new Factory in a different
region strengthening supplier
relationships is also critical right so
if you're not have I mean you you should
probably stratify your supply base and
understand okay which ones do I need to
be talking to daily weekly monthly
quarterly or annually and and try to
have those uh dialogues so that you
build that relationship over time so
that and ask what they're doing from a
business continuity from a disaster
recovery standpoint and trying to
collaborate and get ahead of potential
issues early by developing joint
contingency plans visibility is another
thing we talked about supply chain risk
management right using tools that look
at the financial viability what are
threats to different shipping lanes and
and get ahead of that with with planning
um and then just being flexible uh in
your in your operations another area is
like Regulatory Compliance so politics
influences regulation so you know like
European GDP gdpr privacy regulation for
example came into play and there was a
European MDR that influenced like
qualification of medical devices in
Europe um you need to have teams that in
your industry monitor and stay ahead of
not just trade issues but also
regulatory issues that could impact your
suppliers or your
products Paul I'm really glad you
brought up regulatory issues um you know
with risk mitigation you know there's
always a certain degree of reactionary
uh Behavior you know we can't predict
you know a a shipping container or a
ship uh stuck in a in a canal or next
war or a natural disaster uh there are
risks that are always going to be
reactionary um and the you know the key
to mitigating those reactionary risks is
redundancy in a lot of situations or
redundancy wherever possible in terms of
supplier qualification and sourcing uh
you know there are materials that we
prefer to buy from uh East Asia but we
have qualified sources in South America
as well uh just because of that
redundancy now that redundancy is great
but because our industry is so regulated
in terms of you know product intended
for human
consumption uh the regulatory paperwork
to maintain those redundancies is
incredibly important so we may not be
utilizing that supplier in South America
but we may need to Pivot to that
supplier incredibly quickly based off of
a reaction to a larger scale
unpredictable event uh and so redundancy
is use useless if you're not ready to
Pivot on that redundancy when you need
to do it uh you know if you need to make
a pivot to another supplier as a
reaction and you're not set up and ready
to go oh they have expired
certifications that our customer won't
accept well then you're dead in the
water again granted that's an easier
thing to alleviate than a war or a
natural disaster but the point of
redundancy is that you can switch to it
seamlessly and so you know I think the
important lesson for us here is that
anytime you have a redundancy a
redundant supplier a redundant
Source uh is that you are maintaining
that redundancy so you are ready to
switch in the event that you need to um
and so I I think that I'm really glad
you brought that up because we we've run
into that from a regulatory issue before
where we need to switch because of you
know an out of speec material or a
factory is closed or you know for
example uh China is in the Lunar New
Year right now a percentage of our
factories are there and we cannot get
information from them while the country
is on holiday essentially having
redundant systems for that allows us to
Source
additionally but if we're not up to date
in our system on the regulatory side of
that it's
useless
yeah absolutely that's
great um so moving on to a new topic um
I wanted to touch on um economic
challenges in dealing with inflation
because that is is one of the current
issues so
um with potential economic challenges
and inflation concerns so it's kind of
two questions uh how are companies
adapting their supply chain strategies
to maintain cost effectiven
uh and Are there specific measures being
taken to mitigate the impact of
inflation um on overall supply chain
costs so anything in there
that that you think makes sense maybe
start with Rory on this one yeah sure um
I mean inflation has been a a hot button
issue for everybody for a you know over
a year now um and it's a tough situation
because we as distributor uh are in a
situation where some of that cost we
need to pass on to our customers is that
ideal is that our goal no of course not
you know our goal is to maintain cost of
goods sold to our customers so they can
maintain their product
line um you know in the event that we
are having to pass on a cost due to
inflation or you know Rising shipping
costs or anything like that we go
through every possible mitigation Outlet
first you know can we renegotiate this
with the supplier there are some
materials that we will contract on
quarterly now do we look at locking that
down on a six-month period or an annual
contract to help mitigate some of that
yeah absolutely if we can we will just
to secure that price point and that
supply line uh and so it it's a tough
situation to be in and I think that one
of the best tools that we as a
distributor uh can have that
conversation with our customers is
transparency uh it's not a not a vague
oh your prices are going up because
inflation well that doesn't that doesn't
tell me anything is it material costs is
it shipping costs is it processing cost
is it labor where is this coming from
and so really having a a clear picture
on where that inflationary cost increase
is coming from specifically makes having
those difficult conversations with
customers a lot easier uh obviously you
don't want to have that conversation if
you don't need to but inevitably you're
going to have to have that conversation
where you know you give them the bad
news of this is 10 cents a kilo more
expensive now and we can't mitigate it
for you we have to pass it on if you go
into that with transparency and a
definitive reason of why that cost incre
is increasing that transparency goes a
really long way in making that
conversation easier and helping to
maintain a relationship
yeah I think I think inflation a lot of
people use in the excuse of inflation
and becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy
right if they don't question it don't
Deep dive into the cons component parts
of the cost increase and understand raw
material energy labor
Transportation you know other factors
sometimes your your supplier is just
trying to increase their profit margin
um you know I I had an experience in the
a space industry where one company was
an acquisition company and it would look
for soul sourced suppliers that were
specked into aircraft right whether it's
engines whether it's flight Control
Systems Etc and their business model was
we're going to acquire the company and
execute our value based pricing
methodology which means basically we're
going to Triple the price of our product
because we know the switching cost for
the aerospace companies is too high and
they can just extract margin out so so
um other areas from an economic
standpoint that we have to look at
currency volatility right so if you're
not looking at the difference between
R&B and US dollar if you're buying from
China right it's been all over the map
and it will make us a very material
impact on your purchasing costs energy
is another area uh which involves also
if you can shorten the supply chain or
you can use more efficient
Transportation methods maybe you can
mitigate some of those expenses um and
then the cost of supply chain
disruptions right when you have to when
you have a disruption you end up having
to expedite everything and so that's
obviously much more costly so what what
are some of the mitigation techniques uh
just like with Supply risk around
geopolitics diversification of your
supply base if you can have two or three
sources in geographically dispersed
regions for your
product now you also have competition
right and and Rory's point about keeping
these suppliers is viable instead of
allocating 100% of your demand to
supplier a if you have supplier B
qualified as well why don't you try to
allocate you know 6040 or 7030 and use
performance in terms of quality costs
flexibility and value to determine okay
what share are you going to get next
quarter or next year um so
diversification of the supply base ahead
of time and keeping those multiple
sources qualified is a recipe P not just
for avoiding geopolitical or natural
disaster risks but also maintaining
competitiveness in a in a inflationary
economic environment cost management
right so really dig into the the cost
structure doing things like should cost
modeling uh doing things like Kaizen
events if you have a supplier that's
saying hey I have no choice but to pass
this cost on to you and it's now a
significant portion of your cost
structure and your and your cost of good
sold
does it make sense to be collaborative
with them around things like value
engineering or a Kaizen event to take
waste out of the process to improve
efficiency uh to automate where possible
to shorten uh Transportation costs and
things there's a there's a whole bunch
of strategies you can use but but you do
have to prioritize which ones of those
you invest in um hedging against
currency risk so there are financial
instruments such as Futures contracts or
options
that allow you to hedge against future
uh currency fluctuations and its impact
um you know things like uh
sustainability around reducing energy
consumption um is a way of countering
some of the inflationary pressures from
from the cost of energy um stock
management around having strategic
stocks in place help you to prevent
having to expedite everything if there
was a a labor strike or a transportation
disruption so there's a lot of things
that we can do in terms of the overall
economic landscape and again it comes
back to
prioritization making sure you're
investing your time uh your your systems
your dollars into the right strategies
that that make the biggest impact on
your organization and your supply
chain both of you great insights that's
I appreciate that um so I wanted to move
on to um in our final stretch of time
here um I wanted to move on to
um overarching I think supply chain
Investments so how would you how do you
justify Investments with your
stakeholders your internal stakeholders
likely um in the right people processes
and systems um suppliers and partners um
sort of the 2024 road map of Investments
how would you approach that
yeah I think my experience with large
companies is there's usually a portfolio
based approach to supply chain
Investments and and you know typically
does require a formal business case that
has an Roi or a an
npv uh calculation and then you try to
stratify or prioritize the projects what
which ones generate the highest return
and or regardless of the return so like
things like dual sourcing sometimes dual
sourcing if I'm trying to develop an
alternate supplier but I don't really
plan to use that alternate supplier it's
like a negative MPV but it's like if you
don't have it that if you don't have
that Second Source qualified then if you
need it it it's really costly for the
business so um there is an approach of
like using MPV or IR or you know the
overall Roi to try to stratify your
projects and say hey here's the ones I'm
going to invest in here's the ones that
are on deck and then here's the ones
that I've rejected that are kind of
below the line um typically this is done
you know you want to look out you know
three to five years in a strategic plan
but then translate that prior to the
beginning of whatever your fiscal year
is or your budget year is into an annual
kind of operating plan that says here's
the projects we're going to be that are
on that are above the line and we're
investing in here's the ones that are on
deck that if one of those is proven to
be hey this is not working out I can
quickly promote one of the ones that's
on deck and then here's the ones that
I've identified in terms of value
creation or supply chain Investments
investments in people process and
Technologies uh that that I'm not going
to pursue right now but you kind of
maintain that as an overall portfolio
management approach um I think that in
terms of
infrastructure uh companies should be
investing in in AI uh flexible
distribution networks and
sustainability uh in terms of
Technologies again Ai and maybe internet
of things or robotic process Automation
and then in terms of people uh talent
development and digital skills is really
critical and then really focusing on
that culture uh that that decision
making culture we're a datadriven agile
uh decision making culture and then some
some of the tools and techniques supply
chain control Towers or you know
supplyer risk management um use of
Predictive Analytics for demand
forecasting to improve your snop process
scenario planning tools right there's a
lot of of Erp system providers that
offer different scenario planning tools
um so those are some of the areas that I
think you ought to be looking at but uh
but it really is around how do you
invest in the right projects that make
the biggest impact on you and your
customers Rory what do you think uh kind
of coming from the opposite end of the
spectrum as Paul here you know we are a
small relatively Lean Startup uh and so
one of the things that we struggle with
is justifying that Roi um you know our
our Innovation pipeline for new systems
uh is you know it exists but it's
relatively uh you know short look short
looking it doesn't look too far into the
future and some of that is because of an
incredible growth rate and so one of the
things that we look at when we're
evaluating a a new system or a new
potential uh operating
sop is not necessarily uh the the dollar
amount Roi because that's difficult for
us to predict but it is the direct
impact to the people that are expected
to utilize that system does this free up
the people to do some of the heavy
lifting that they're currently doing so
they can focus on higher level tasks
does this allow our team to work more
efficiently in their current systems if
it doesn't do that the ROI is never
going to be there well likely never
going to be there uh and so I think that
you know Paul you said it it's important
to look at uh Roi for supply chain
planning and kind of a two-pronged
approach is is there Direct Roi from
system
implementation or is there you know
tangible benefit to the people using
that system if you can't answer both of
those I think you have the you know your
answer uh if you can answer one of those
questions well then you there's more
conversation to be had I think um so
yeah it's an interesting situation and a
lot of a lot of what we ask ourselves on
system implementation is who is this
going to help and how much time is it
going to free
up yeah
that's yeah that's insightful I I'm I'm
trying to be aware of time as well um I
want to respect everybody's time and I
think unfortunately we're coming to the
end of it um I wanted everybody to know
as well though I I tried to to interject
some questions um during the the
discussion along the way but any
outstanding questions we will address
will will follow up by email and get you
the answers that you need um so we will
be doing that as well uh and a reminder
that you'll be getting a recorded um
copy of this maybe in a in a follow-up
um
email as
well
maybe yeah so yeah I think that we're
just we're sort of out of time at this
point um we just we we think it's
important that uh that these discussions
happen so that people can look forward
uh and can either learn new things or
maybe reiterate the kind of discussion
all things that you're having internally
that as you plan as you look forward
maybe it's just confirming or uh
confirming what you were already
thinking a little bit but with some
additional valuable thoughts um in
addition to that uh so hopefully that's
been helpful I wanted to thank Paul and
Rory uh it's been terrific very
insightful uh you're both very
knowledgeable so this has been terrific
so I appreciate that and I wanted to
thank everybody um as well for attending
everybody who attended again we'll try
to address any questions you will get a
copy of the uh of the discussions um and
on that thank you and I I hope that
everybody has a terrific rest of their
day yeah thank you very much yeah thank
you David Paul and audience uh great
conversation uh appreciate it
everyone all right bye bye
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