The rise of open-source software and the widespread adoption of programming languages such as Python has allowed supply chain practitioners to work with increasingly more advanced statistical models. However many professionals still have the impre...
Modern supply chains depend on a myriad of software products. Picking the right vendors is a matter of survival. However, as the number of vendors is large, companies need a systematic approach in this undertaking. The traditional market research ...
AI algorithms are being used to drive vehicles, translate languages and even identify cancers. As such they have captured the attention of the world's media, but these advances in machine learning technology are not the overnight sensation that ma...
Proofs of concept (POC) are one of the most common requests we get from prospective clients wanting to try out the Quantitative Supply Chain method for themselves. However, this is something we frequently decline. Why? Because often it can hurt th...
Nowadays it is often taken very much for granted that we will be able to go to the airport, then sit on a plane to arrive safely and on time at our destination. However, behind the scenes there are so many factors that ensure this not only happens...
Edith Head once famously said that “You can have anything you want in life if you dress for it". With the fashion industry reaching a global value of around 3 trillion dollars, it seems that few disagree. However, all that glitters is not gold. Th...
For this episode of LokadTV, we are joined here in Paris by Hervé Hillion, one of the founding members of SAY Partners, a renowned supply chain consultancy. With more than 20 years experience in operations consulting and the strategic management o...
Paris is a fictitious European fashion brand operating a large retail network. The brand targets women and positions itself as being relatively affordable. While the design line is relatively classic and sober, the main business driver has always ...
Antipatterns are the stereotypes of solutions that look good but don’t work in practice. The systematic study of antipatterns was pioneered in the late 1990s by the field of software engineering. When applicable, antipatterns are superior to raw n...
ABC analysis is an inventory categorization method that has its roots in Pareto’s 80-20 rule. The method works by splitting up a catalog based on its perceived worth. The Pareto principle was formulated by Italian economist Vilfredo Pareto; it d...
With three new startups launching globally every second, there is a huge amount of pressure on them to be doing something unique. For today's episode of LokadTV, we are joined by Olivier Ezratty, the author of the "Guide des Startups”, to discus...
Many in the supply chain industry are bound by the capabilities of their ERP system. Often the Min/Max approach is hard coded into the software making it an approach that many companies rely upon. The method was developed as a visual way of managi...
Forecasting demand for existing products is difficult enough. But forecasting for radically well performing products is a happy dilemma that can derail even the most experienced supply chain practitioner. There are no past trends to reassuringly e...
Despite being one of most frequently used statistical patterns to improve the accuracy of demand forecasts, seasonality is often a subject which is misunderstood. In statistics, the demand of a given product is said to exhibit seasonality when the...
For a supply chain initiative to succeed it needs a strong team behind it. In this episode we discuss the various job roles within this team and understand how their individual skills can contribute to the success or failure of a data management p...
Not all data is appropriate for a Lokad solution to be effective. Today we understand what data a customer needs in order to work with us and how best to record it. We investigate the depth of data that our clients actually require and also the co...
Accurately estimating future lead times is critical for accurately estimating the amount of inventory needed to fulfill future demand. However it is often it is a factor which is overlooked by companies, with a far greater importance being placed ...
Forecasting product launches is inherently difficult. However it is a vital part of the product lifecycle and must be carefully planned in order to capitalise upon the spike in demand that often follows a products release. In this episode we discu...
Sales and Operations Planning (S&OP) is a business management process through which the executive leadership team come together to determine how best to manage company resources. This is by no means a new process and sounds straightforward enoug...
Enterprise software can often be influenced by the requirements of key customers. This can lead to a type of ‘Software Frankensteinisation’ where the software morphs into an unmanageable beast, with more add-ons than teams of software engineers ca...
After 7 years and a spend of over 500 million euros, Lidl have announced that they are putting a stop to the project replacing their in-house legacy ERP system with SAP. In this episode we discuss why the project went so wrong and why it is so dif...
To coin a phrase from the renowned author Aldous Huxley, we are now living in a "Brave New World" which, for many, takes some adapting to. Humans typically do not like change and even fear it. As such, when change does come to a company there will...
A supply chain “persona” is a fictitious company. Yet, while the company is fictive, this fiction is engineered to outline what deserves attention from a supply chain perspective. However, the persona is not idealized in the sense of simplifying t...
While mainstream supply chain theory struggles to prevail in companies at large, one tool; namely Microsoft Excel, has enjoyed considerable operational success. Re-implementing the numerical recipes of the mainstream supply chain theory via spread...