Supply Chain and S&OP Challenges in 2024

Summary

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

00:00

🎉 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。

05:00

🤖 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。

10:02

📈 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。

15:03

📊 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。

20:05

🌐 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。

25:06

📚 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。

30:07

🌟 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。

35:08

💹 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。

40:09

🌱 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。

45:11

📝 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。

Keywords

💡供应链管理

供应链管理是指对产品从生产到消费的整个流程进行计划、协调、执行和控制的过程。在视频中，讨论了供应链管理面临的挑战，如地缘政治风险、通货膨胀、数据管理等，以及如何通过技术如人工智能来提高效率和准确性。

💡人工智能（AI）

人工智能是指使计算机系统模拟人类智能的技术，包括学习、推理、自我修正和感知。视频中提到AI在供应链管理中的应用，如需求预测、库存规划、物流优化等，以及如何通过AI提高决策质量和运营效率。

💡数据质量

数据质量指的是数据的准确性、完整性、一致性和可信度。视频中强调了数据质量对于AI和大数据分析的重要性，因为数据的质量直接影响到分析结果的可靠性和决策的有效性。

💡地缘政治风险

地缘政治风险涉及政治不稳定、贸易紧张、关税和冲突等因素，这些因素可能对供应链产生影响。视频中讨论了如何通过多元化供应源和加强供应商关系来缓解这些风险。

💡通货膨胀

通货膨胀是指货币购买力下降，导致商品和服务价格普遍上升的经济现象。视频中提到了通货膨胀对供应链成本的影响，以及企业如何通过成本管理和战略库存等措施来应对通货膨胀。

💡投资回报率（ROI）

投资回报率是衡量投资效益的财务指标，表示投资收益与投资成本的比率。在视频中，讨论了如何通过计算ROI来评估和优先考虑供应链中的不同投资项目。

💡数据驱动决策

数据驱动决策是一种基于数据分析和解释来做出商业决策的方法。视频中提到了建立数据驱动文化的重要性，以及如何利用数据分析来提高决策的质量和效率。

💡供应链可见性

供应链可见性指的是能够实时跟踪和监控产品从生产到交付的整个过程。视频中讨论了通过技术如RFID、物联网设备和GPS跟踪来提高供应链的透明度和追踪能力。

💡敏捷方法

敏捷方法是一种迭代和增量的项目管理和产品开发方法，强调适应性和灵活性。视频中提到了敏捷方法在供应链管理中的应用，以及如何通过敏捷方法来快速响应市场变化和内部需求。

💡风险管理

风险管理是指识别、评估和优先处理风险，以及采取行动来减轻风险影响的过程。视频中讨论了供应链中的风险管理，包括如何使用预测分析和情景规划工具来应对不确定性。

💡持续改进

持续改进是一种持续寻找提高效率、减少浪费和提升产品或服务的方法。视频中提到了持续改进的概念，如通过精益事件（Kaizen events）和价值工程来优化供应链流程。

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