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June 28, 2012 - Supply Chain Newsletter
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This Week In SCDigest

bullet Taking the Consumer Goods to Retail Supply Chain to the Next Level
bullet SC Digest On-Target e-Magazine
bullet Supply Chain Graphic of the Week and Supply Chain by the Numbers bullet This Week In "Distribution Digest"
bullet New Cartoon Caption Contest Begins This Week! bullet Trivia
bullet Expert Contributors bullet Feedback
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Taking the Consumer Goods to Retail Supply Chain to the Next Level

Are we finally real close to getting supply chain just right in consumer goods to retail sector?

This is an important question for not only CG manufacturers and retailers, but really for most of our supply chains , as virtually every company is connected to that value chain in some way, and so many of our broader supply chain themes and technologies have their roots in the consumer goods to retail sector.

GILMORE SAYS:

"The two key points: (1) Sell one, ship one; and (2) Everything should be connected to the shelf. "

WHAT DO YOU SAY?

Send us your
feedback here

There obviously has been significant improvement in almost every area of this important supply chain area over many years. And yet, the same basic set of issues (too much inventory, not enough collaboration, still too many stockouts, etc.) have seemed to persist.

Along the way, the industry has seen many initiatives: Efficient Consumer Response (ECR), Quick Response (sort of the ECR equivalent for the soft goods sector), Continuous Replenishment, Collaborative Planning, Forecasting and Replenishment (CPFR), RFID -I have probably missed one or two.

I think I would be far from the only one who would say while each of these industry programs has delivered benefits and moved the ball down the field, there was always the feeling that the potential had not quite been truly grasped. The same problems seemed to remain. In fact, if you look at the language from the documents describing these initiatives, often from the VICS organization now run by my friend Joe Andraski, you will see highly similar language over many years describing the industry challenges and opportunities from the latest program.

Why is this? Well, I don't have room here today to fully ponder that (would welcome your thoughts) other than to say change almost always takes longer than we expect, and that at the core of many of these initiatives was really the need for true collaboration, a hurdle the industry has never really surmounted, and maybe never will.

But the answer may be to replace collaboration with mathematics. Not completely, in truth, but to a significant degree.

I first started hearing Procter & Gamble talk about the "consumer-driven" supply chain and "building the supply chain from the shelf-back" almost a decade ago. From that thinking came AMR Research's (now part of Gartner) "Demand-Driven Supply Networks" (DDSN) paradigm in roughly the middle part of the last decade, and the industry has been moving, if slowly, down this path ever since.

In May, VICS delivered perhaps its most important initiative/document ever, what it calls a guideline on The Ultimate Retail Supply Chain Machine: Connecting the Consumer to the Factory.

I am greatly, greatly summarizing here, but one core of this is taking traditional concepts and tools relative to Distribution Requirement Planning (DRP), which really were designed for replenishment to distribution centers, and moving that all the way to the store itself. Let actual consumer demand at the store truly drive the rest of the supply chain, all the way to the manufacturer's factories.

Hmmm - letting true consumer demand drive the supply chain. Who would have guessed?

I've used this many times before, but one of my favorite supply chain quips was going around at the start of my career 20 years ago, and that was supply chain will drive us to the point that when a sweater gets sold in Peoria, a sheep is shorn somewhat in New Zealand. The two key points: (1) Sell one, ship one; and (2) Everything should be connected to the shelf.

Well, we certainly aren't there yet, though Spain's Zara on the specialty retail side is pretty close. But this new "shelf back" thinking may get most everyone else there before long.

So, you may ask, why has it taking us this long. First, you just can't rush the soup, as I said above. Things (people, process and technology) just take time to evolve. Rarely are there leapfrog changes.

Second, this was a tough technology challenge. Andre Martin, actually the inventor of the original DRP concept and now part of RedPrairie's Flowcasting group, told me not long ago that this approach involves forecasting every product for every story every day. That was a big nut to crack, but software and hardware improvements have now made it not just possible but very real. With that done, inherently more accurately because you are closer to demand, the benefits can flow back up the supply chain, and further automate replenishment processes.

I also had the chance to interview Andraski, Leroy Allen of Lowe's, Fred Baumann of JDA Software, and Al Jankauskas of Kraft, all very involved along with Andre Martin and many others in creating the VICS guideline, about the importance of this shelf-back thinking. By the way, the VICS organization has graciously made the document available to SCDigest readers. You can find it here: The Ultimate Retail Supply Chain Machine: Connecting the Consumer to the Factory.

That group interview in fact brought up a second major theme of this change, in addition to the store-level DRP, and that is that the retailers are, really for the first time, starting to use the sort of "time-phased" order forecasting approaches that have been in commonplace for years on the manufacturing side.

This is a seminal shift. Lowes has been one of the most aggressive in the retail industry in adopting this time-phased approach, and I happen to know it is a critical plank in the company's overall aggressive drive to create an integrated planning and execution environment (more on that someday soon).

During the interview, Allen told me that this new time-phased approach "provides the forward visibility that you need, and helps you maximize financial results."

Previously, JDA's Baumann had started the discussion on this topic, noting that the group producing the guideline agreed that retail planning horizons had typically been too short, and that retailers are too often focused on "just that next order." As these retail planning horizons are extended and a time-phased view of the world is adopted, this naturally then leads to real use of Sales & Operations, or whatever a retailer might call the process, something that again has been uncommon in retailers. Lowes, as an aside, has also been one of the early and effective practitioners of retail S&OP.

Finally, I will just note that this store level DRP approach, combined with a new strategy relative to leveling manufacturing schedules with great success at Kraft, has the opportunity to get something fairly close to supply chain perfection. Ok, I am exaggerating a bit, but not by as much as you might think. More on this soon.

You can find the VICS guideline video interview here.

 


We can always use more collaboration, and we will get some of that coming out of this, I believe. But that is because to connect the shelf to the factory, better supply chain math is going to help lead us there.

Do you see this thinking as leading to an important change in the consumer goods to retail supply chain? Why or why not? How good could it really getLet us know your thoughts at the Feedback section below.




 
SUPPLY CHAIN NEWS BITES

Supply Chain Graphic of the Week:

US Manufacturing Capacity -
Growing or Shrinking?


This Week's Supply Chain by the Numbers for June 28, 2012:

  • Global Energy Use Up, Led by Emerging Markets
  • FedEx Sees Tepid Economic Growth Ahead
  • Ocean Container Ships Often Late Pushing Off
  • Foxconn's Super Factory

NEW CARTOON CAPTION CONTEST BEGINS THIS WEEK!

June 26, 2012 Contest





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ONTARGET e-MAGAZINE

Weekly On-Target Newsletter:
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New Cartoon, Who Owns the WMS, US Manufacturing Wages, Views from FedEX and more



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YOUR FEEDBACK

Well, we were actually quite pleased to see we got a number of feedbacks from Longshoremen who took exception to our article summarizing the Pacific Maritime Association's annual report. The PMA manages labor negotiatons and payroll for West coast terminals and ports, among other functions. We let the comments and a couple of editor's notes from us speak for themselves. But we will check out the real annual wage rates, as one reader suggests, though we have a hard time  believing the PMA is making it up. But we will check.


Feedback on PMA Annual Report


 
comma


I think that the other countries that are listed in the article that are already automated are tiny compared to the West coast and the work load that they have is small as well. Plus they probably don't have enough longshoremen or union members to handle the work load.

On the other hand, the Pacific Maritime Association has repeatedly reneged on promises to elevate casuals to full-time status.

I think the union in LA/Long Beach should go for broke and really show the PMA what the waterfront union is all about because they cry about economy and all the expenses unions cost but in reality if they would only stick to the contract we both signed we both would be smooth sailing.

So I say no to the BS automation and all the other Chinese steel craftsmanship that our government allows into US ports. Cheap labor and cheap products. And say it is time for the union to take back what is ours. No scabs in my union.

Jason Stutes

Editor's Note:

We are pretty sure the PMA's reference to proven port automation is mostly in larger ports.

comma

comma

The salary information written in this article is complete fantasy [average $129,000 or so]. I have been working in the port of SF/Oakland for 7 years and have yet to pass the $90,000 mark. That is working 6 days a week. They are taking a few crane drivers that are on steady call backs and using this for the average salary. Maybe do a bit more research and due diligence before you publish. As a reporter you should be ashamed for allowing a company to give you such false information without fact checking it.

Jerry

Editor's Note:

We are simply publishing the data from the Pacific Maritime Association's annual report, which had an air of legitimacy to us.

But we will check.


comma

 

 
comma


Automation is coming. There is no doubt about it. Every terminal will eventually have some sort of automation.

The article should also state that some terminals in Asia have gone back to using man power as automation is too slow for the amount of work they have. The West Coast Ports handle upwards of 35% of all cargo coming into the USA. No other terminal handles that much cargo destined for one country. Automation on the West Coast will slow production down.

One terminal in LA (TRA PAC) tried to install an automatic cone release system. This system would take the cones off each container. This system slowed production down from 32 moves per hour to 24 moves per hour. So if companies want to get rid of the ILWU for slower production and turnaround time just to save a buck, then let them do it. They will be the ones to suffer in the end.

No name given


comma

 


comma

So let's eliminate all port jobs [through automation] and then who is going to buy all the "stuff"?

No name given

comma

 

 

SUPPLY CHAIN TRIVIA ANSWER

Q: In 2011, renewables energies (solar, bio-fuels, wind, etc.) accounted for how much of global energy consumption?

A: Just 2.1% - but that is three times the level of .7% in 2001.

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