SCDigest Editorial Staff

Distribution Management: Apparel Retailer Urban Outfitters Gets Specific about Benefits of New WMS

We were interested to see the announcement from Manhattan Associates about the benefits apparel retailer Urban Outfitters has seen from its new warehouse management system deployment. Generally, these sorts of announcements are shy on any real details, especially headcount, but this one was quite specific.

According to the news, as a result of the WMS implementation, Urban Outfitters has seen:

• 35% reduction in total headcount;
• 80% reduction in manifesting and invoicing processes;
• 60% rise in putaway efficiency
• 66% reduction in turn time through receiving, from 3 days to less than 24 hours…

Pharmaceutical Giant Genetech Announces Several Supply Chain Related Exec Appointments, While Autozone announces New Supply Chain Head

Bio-technology giant Genetech, headquartered in San Francisco, made a number of supply chain related executive appointments this week.

They include:

• Markus Gemuend, promoted to senior vice president, Biochemical Manufacturing
• Timothy L. Moore, promoted to senior vice president, Global Supply Chain
• Christopher Horan, promoted to vice president, Planning, Distribution and Logistics

In general, pharma and medical products companies are placing an increased emphasis on supply chain management, as these appointments attests.

Meanwhile, retail Autozone announced Jim Shea, executive vice president of Merchandising and Marketing will assume the added responsibility of  heading Supply Chain operations.

Supply Chain Management Not High on IT Priority List, Recent Survey Shows – Why?

We’ve always been surprised by the seeming obvious disconnect between the increasing importance most companies seem to be placing on supply chain management, and the relatively second class citizenship it seems to (not) enjoy in terms of CIO priorities.

A recent survey of CIOs by CIO Insight highlights this disconnect. Supply chain management ranked only 13th on the list of IT priorities, as ranked by these CIOs, behind such exciting investment areas as IT system load balancing and mobility applications.

We do believe part of the problem is that supply chain management is a very broad category, and hence may not receive the same survey ranking as very specific initiatives. Also, in this survey, a few supply chain related areas (e.g., collaboration) ranked fairly high. Still, we think these results confirm that supply chain is in general just not a high focus area in terms of IT thinking…

Procurement News: Downside of Alternative Fuels Movement – Corn-based Products Rising Sharply in Cost

The increasing emphasis on ethanol is great for farmers, as demand for, and the price of, corn continues to rise. Corn is now selling for about $3.66 per bushel, almost double the price level from a year ago – a huge rise for what historically is a fairly stable commodity area.

But what’s great news for farmers is bad news for many manufacturers, as the price for corn syrup and other corn derivatives has risen proportionately. Manufacturers ranging from soft drink manufacturers to cereal producers will feel the pinch, as high fructose corn syrup, a major ingredient in the food industry, sees dramatic price increases…

Department of Defense Criticized for Lack of Clear Improvement in Logistics, Supply Chain

The U.S. military is working on improving its supply-chain operations, but a report this week indicated it can't tell for certain how well it is going.

The Government Accountability Office said in its report to a Senate oversight subcommittee that the Department of Defense (DoD) has not developed a suitable means of measuring the success of its ongoing overhaul.

"It is unclear how much progress its actions have resulted in because the plan generally lacks outcome-focused performance metrics that track progress," the GAO said in the report.

In addition, the GAO said the Pentagon did not have a target date for completion of the revamp, nor has it appointed a senior department official to oversee the entire program. The report also recommended speeding up the use of RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) tags on equipment, and clarifying the point at which procurement projects become an urgent need that deserves to be fast-tracked, such as the recent crash program to up-armor military vehicles deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan.

The improvement to the supply chain is currently focused generally on reducing back orders as well as the time it takes to generate a procurement order and get the goods to where they are needed.

The DoD concurred with the GAO's draft report. However officials said progress was slow in part due to ongoing testing of new logistics-management capabilities…

Do you have any comments on this week’s supply chain news bites? What types of news is of most interest to you. Let us know your thoughts.