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Quality & Metrics: Page 222

The Big Data Imperative in Forecasting & Demand Planning

Analyst Insight: "Big data" software and analysis will be the most important supply chain technology for forecasting and demand planning in the years to come. Through analysis of huge quantities of data it provides a competitive advantage by providing unparalleled insights. The challenge for companies will be staying ahead of the technology in a cost-effective manner, and developing organizational processes to effectively utilize the huge amounts of data and absorb the information into their organizational decision making processes. - Nada R. Sanders, Professor of Supply Chain Management and Iacocca Chair, Lehigh University

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Are Retail Channels So Merged That Categorizing Where Sales Take Place Isn't Meaningful?

Arguing that "the line between stores and the internet is blurring so much," Macy's has become the first major publicly held retailer to stop reporting its e-commerce stats.

Become a Supply Chain Top 25 Peer Voter

Now more than ever, the supply chain is being buffeted by forces nearly impossible to predict - making increased levels of efficiency and agility more important than ever before. But you can become a Supply Chain Top 25 Peer Voter and help rank manufacturers and retailers who are leading the way in supply chain.

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Should Forecasts Be Based on the Past?

Analyst Insight: CFOs today have a keen sense of the cost of volatility and uncertainty in terms of the link between cash/margins and the supply chain, yet they are largely in the dark when it comes to the quantitative techniques available to improve forecast accuracy, which tends to deteriorate as volatility increases. Major changes are being made in forecasting methods to address this volatility. - Sree Hameed, Vice President, ChainLink Research

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Go Back to the Basics for Future Success in Demand Planning, Forecasting

Analyst Insight: As new software and technologies gain market entry and alternative sources of information come into play for improving the process of demand planning and forecasting, it is vital that companies embrace this rampant invasion of methodologies and information with a focused, retrospective view of the basics"”to achieve a successful demand planning and forecasting strategy. A strategy that goes back to the basics can help companies ensure they apply universal and effective principles for success. - Jorge GarcÃa, TEC Senior BI and Data Management Analyst, Technology Evaluation Centers

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A Much More Holistic Approach Is Required in Forecasting & Demand Planning

Analyst Insight: Despite extensive writing from IDC Manufacturing Insights last year extolling the virtues of supply chain responsiveness "” and that in many cases investments in responsiveness might well be better served than investments in forecasting "” manufacturing supply chains continue to rate "making improvements in planning and forecasting" among their top investment priorities. Not that responsiveness isn't important, just that companies believe there is still more progress to be made in things like forecast accuracy. - Simon Ellis, Director, Supply Chain Strategies Practice, IDC Manufacturing Insights

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Getting a Handle on Your Total Delivered Cost

Analyst Insight: It's no secret that companies in logistics-intensive industries are facing a variety of commercial and operational challenges. For example, consumer products and goods companies experience "margin squeeze," in which they pay more for commodity raw materials but typically are not able to pass along corresponding price increases to retail customers. High fuel prices, increasing wage rates in low-cost countries and concerns over supply chain disruption are causing manufacturers and retailers alike to rethink global sourcing strategies. - Ryan Godsil, Tony Ross, Alex Bajorinas and Jim Morton, all of Ernst & Young LLP

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How Do I know If I Have a Profitable Supply Chain?

Analyst Insight: The lack of understanding of the supply chain by the financial team is the third-highest obstacle in achieving supply chain performance. The supply chain is a complex system with increasing complexity. Many unknowing financial leaders try to manage it through Excel spreadsheets which is inadequate to truly understand the trade-offs. - Lora Cecere, Founder of Supply Chain Insights

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To Meet Fuel-Efficiency Standards, Automakers Must Continually Shed Pounds from Their Products

Automakers are putting some of their best-selling vehicles on a diet in a race to meet strict new fuel-efficiency regulations that will kick in by the middle of the next decade.

There are Good Ways and (Very) Bad Ways to Manage Crises - Like Horse Meat in Food You Serve

Many balk at the idea of biting into Seabiscuit. The cultural taboo around eating horse is one reason why the public has had such a negative reaction to the news that certain European suppliers have been shipping beef contaminated with horse meat.

Focus on Product Grows, But Cost Reduction Remains Key in CPG Industry

Analyst Insight: In a recent supply chain survey conducted by IDC Manufacturing Insights, consumer products manufacturers consider themselves stewards of product quality more frequently than of either cost or service. Interestingly, the gap between companies that consider themselves primarily stewards of product quality versus cost is narrowest for the large enterprise manufacturers, suggesting that for the smaller players, it is the product itself that drives competitive success in the marketplace. - Simon Ellis, Director, Supply Chain Strategies Practice, IDC Manufacturing Insights

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Lean Is About More Muscle, Not Just Less Fat

When people are asked to define lean, as often as not the definition centers on waste. But lean isn't all about waste. It is more about building organizations than trimming them. A popular definition is "do more with less."

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