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Delivering Maximum Freshness: What Supply Chains Must Overcome to Deliver on the Consumer Promise
Fresh produce has a limited shelf life, often measured in days rather than weeks. This places tremendous pressure on fresh supply chains to minimize delays, disruptions, and damage at any stage of the supply chain.
It’s Only Business With Brittain Ladd: This Is Why Logistics and Velocity Matter
Logistics are part of supply chains. The purpose of a supply chain is to do one thing – enable a company to grow. However, focusing only on transportation will reduce costs but invariably will cause issues in other areas.
Food Waste: A Dire Situation in Perishables Supply Chain – Here’s What You Can Do
Food waste is a critical global issue that affects our environment and exacerbates hunger and food insecurity. It is alarming how much edible food is lost or disposed of each year. This waste squanders valuable resources, contributes to climate change, and has far-reaching consequences.
Driving Long-Term SaaS ROI: The Power of Customer Success
What are the critical factors that contribute to long-term success in SaaS supply chain planning technology adoption, and how can businesses optimize ROI through ongoing post-deployment initiatives with the support of a dedicated customer success team?
It’s Only Business With Brittain Ladd: It’s Not a Chain
Supply chains are notoriously volatile. Creating autonomous supply chains won’t eliminate volatility, but AI has the ability to evaluate data and make recommendations that will mitigate an identified issue. AI will also minimize disruptive ripple effects across the supply chain.
It’s Only Business With Brittain Ladd: The Autonomous Supply Chain is Real
Supply chains are notoriously volatile. Creating autonomous supply chains won’t eliminate volatility, but AI has the ability to evaluate data and make recommendations that will mitigate an identified issue. AI will also minimize disruptive ripple effects across the supply chain.
6 Retail Trends & Supply Chain Planning Challenges in 2023
Retailers know firsthand how quickly the market can change. One day, a product is flying off the shelves, and the next, it’s gathering dust. That’s why it is important to stay on top of the supply chain planning trends – they can make all the difference when it comes to staying competitive, reducing costs, and meeting your customers’ needs.
Seniority is not a candy cane!
As managers and executives in Software Development, one of our primary challenges is building and retaining high-performing development teams. As demand for software developers increases every year, this challenge is becoming immensely difficult to tackle.
Companies are giving away ‘Senior’ titles abundantly like a candy cane and promoting their developers to senior roles hoping that they will take on more responsibility and lead their teams to success.
Top Supply Chain Challenges for CPG companies in 2023
Commerce is global and regional at the same time, the world is getting smaller and more interconnected, and Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG) manufacturers operate in this build-anywhere and sell-anywhere market. Consumers are ever more conscious of value, sensitive to health and environmental issues – especially after the COVID pandemic, each demanding more options for their money.
Using AI & ML in Retail Supply Chain Planning
Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) are hot topics being discussed in the retail world. Across the globe, whether they are grocery, mass merchant, or fashion, retailers are looking for ways to make faster and smarter decisions using this technology. Among the leading applications of AI & ML in planning are forecasting and replenishment processes.
CPG Going D2C: 3 Ways to Win the Race to Consumers
The trend of CPG companies going direct-to-consumer (D2C) is on the rise. Compared to the traditional CPG model, D2C increases brand recognition and loyalty, creates new revenue streams, and enhaces your supply chain responsiveness.
RFI, RFQ, or RFP Is Not for SaaS Purchases. Here’s Why.
Companies tend to engage in a request for information (RFI), request for quote (RFQ), and request for proposal (RFP) processes to make sure they end up choosing the right software that meets their business and IT requirements. However, I believe there is a major drawback in this traditional process that ignores today’s fundamental improvements in technology and the need for higher speed in business decisions.
Effective Omnichannel Planning: 5 Success Factors
Online shopping has been on a steady rise since 2010. With the global pandemic, it became a necessity. Consumers who realized the ease of use of online shopping – choosing items from the warmth of their seat and having them delivered in a couple of days – gained a new habit.
This new habit was reflected in the numbers. In the US, the share of e-commerce sales has risen from 4.2% to 11.8% between 2010 and 2020. That share reached a whopping 16.1%, in Q2 of 2020.
Cluster Analysis Applications in Retail Industry
From segmenting customers to planning replenishment strategy for store groups, cluster analysis in the retail industry provides many benefits.
From marketers using it for running targeted campaigns based on customer segments, investors building diversified financial portfolios, and supply chain managers planning their replenishment, cluster analysis is a powerful tool for all businesses.
Vendor Collaboration: How to Thrive in the Face of Volatility
Vendor collaboration is a joint effort that creates a competitive advantage for every stakeholder. It reduces overall costs, errors, and inefficiencies for everyone involved. A collaborative supply chain lets businesses grow together with vendors while improving efficiency and visibility of the supply chain.
8 Steps to Follow While Doing Cluster Analysis for Smart Decision-Making
How do you measure the performance of your retail stores? Ordering by a metric and comparing the best and worst might also be useless most of the time since they probably have different dynamics.
Discover the steps to implementing an effective cluster analysis for making smart decision in the your supply chain planning and boosting your business.
Making Supply Chain Planning Agile with Modular Planning Technologies
Volatility and ambiguity are not going away from our lives. We need planning platforms to keep up with all the changes. Discover the importance of Composability in fickle times.
Part II – Glasgow 2021: World ready to treat nature better? Maybe.
Paris Agreement in 2015 had an aggressive target of limiting the global increase in temperatures to no more than 2 degrees Celsius by 2030. But in Glasgow 2021, countries with the largest manufacturing & mining base were dragging their feet, and global commerce does not accept much responsibility on this issue.
Supply Chain Digital Twin – Day in the life of a production planner
How a Supply Chain Digital Twin can help a Production Planner when there is an unexpected disruption, let’s take a look at a day in her life
Autonomous Planning in Supply Chain: 4 Must-Haves for Next-Generation Platforms
Algorithms, Automation, Architecture and Agility are the 4 Must-Haves that differentiate the next-generation of supply chain planning platforms.
Day in the life of a Supply Chain Leader: Discover The Future of Planning
Effective supply chain management begins with aligning supply, demand, and inventory planning according to business strategies. You need integrated, automated, and intelligent planning systems to manage millions of daily decisions.
8 Supply Chain Planning Challenges Retailers Will Face in 2022 and Tips to Overcome Them
Adopting next-generation integrated planning and analytics platforms with digital workflows, advanced analytics, AI/ML, and automation capabilities will be the way to win.
The Future of Retail: Technologies Enabling Q-Commerce Growth
Speed and availability are the most important reasons customers choose RGD and Q-Commerce companies. To keep up with the demand, these businesses have to keep investing in automation across all supply chain points.
Always Get a “YES” in your Supply Chain Operations with Concurrent Planning
“Yes” is a powerful word. We all enjoy hearing the answer “Yes” to all our requests, especially in business. But is it possible to receive a positive response all the time? Unfortunately not. The reason …
4 Lessons We Can Learn From the Global Microchip Shortage
If you have recently been looking to purchase a car, a television, or a home appliance, you may have noticed that prices have been on the rise as of late. Some products have been suffering …
How AI Can Help Inventory Management
Using AI in inventory management helps enhance inventory replenishment, improve employee performance, support data accessibility and reduce cost
Digital Transformation in Last Mile Delivery and Why It Should Matter to You
Last mile delivery defines the last leg of the supply chain journey. Goods are taken from dark stores, special fulfillment centers
Intelligent Distributed Order Management: The Answer to Omnichannel Fulfillment Challenges
Last year, my cousin had a daughter, and I became an uncle for the first time. Naturally wanting to be a contender for the best uncle ever, I wanted to send a care package for …
Sailing on OKR Ocean: Do not be afraid to tack!
At the end of 2019, we decided to implement OKRs at our company. At the end of 2020, we started to change the way we set and manage OKRs. So, what went wrong? In OKR …
Promotion Management: Why Is It Important in Inventory Management?
Last year, I wanted to be a grateful child and buy a sweater for my mom. It was mothers day, so I logged on to one of the prevalent e-commerce sites. I browsed and eventually …
Digital Transformation Journey in Supply Chain Planning
Remember those times when we used to stroll down the block and find local stores such as the mom-and-pop diners and get the chance to relish the coziness and sense of family environment there. Even …
Transforming the Grocery Shopping Experience with Last Mile Delivery
It was mid-March when my flatmate and I burst into a panic as the first cases of COVID-19 were officially announced. Both of the companies we were working for abruptly told us to stay home …
What Customer Success is and How to Implement It
Increasing churn, decreasing average ticket? Check out our tips on how Customer Success can help your business. Customer Success is a marketing strategy that was developed for SaaS (Software as a Service) companies to keep …
AI Solutions and Digital Supply Chains
Imagine you can control your production lines with a mouse click or a touchscreen swipe to optimize your supply chain in real-time – along with the ability to enjoy a seamless, customized experience. With next-generation …
Time to leverage supply chain analytics
Are you using spreadsheets as a supply chain planning tool to collect and manage your data and perform analysis? Well, you’re not the only one hopping from one Excel sheet to another all day at …
Platform or a Collection of Tools: Which One Do You Prefer for your Digital Transformation Efforts?
Imagine that you’ve decided to make your favorite chocolate chip cookie at home. You opened your favorite recipe, prepared all the ingredients, and pulled out the blender in your kitchen. You then preheated the oven. …
DevOps Best Practices to Implement Before a Crisis
When the pandemic erupted, one of our top priorities as a SaaS company was to ensure that our response was rapid, uninterrupted, and most importantly sustainable in the long run. Solvoyo’s Development & DevOps teams …
Integrated Assortment Planning: A Vital Capability for Retailers
In today’s changing market dynamics, the retail business is getting more competitive by the day. Increasing competition by online marketplaces, along with evolving consumer expectations and shopping patterns are making the category management decisions more …
Coronavirus & The CPG World: What to do now and how to prepare for the future?
At Solvoyo, we are also concerned about the COVID-19 pandemic. Our thoughts are with all human-kind and hope that the global community will come out of this period with the least damage and the most …
Coronavirus & Retailers: How to build resilience?
COVID-19 is changing the way we think about almost everything: the way we live, the way we work, our plans for the future and our evaluations of the past. We hope these times of crisis …
Weather-Influenced Demand Forecasting in 2020: 6 Key Observations
It is 2020; we now have reasonably accurate short-term weather forecasts. NOAA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in the US, reports that the five-day weather forecasts are approximately 90% accurate, 80% for the next …
Digital Twin is an old idea – just new to supply chain
It has been many decades since a circuit is designed digitally and its performance tested using a digital twin, an architect constructed the building and laid out its HVAC and plumbing on the building’s digital …
Digital Transformation of Your Supply Chain Network in the Age of AI
Defeating Ogres, Debunking AI Myths and Finding the Right Path There is a riddle I asked my kids when they were little. Although there are multiple variations of this riddle such as two paths, two …
Through the eyes of a High-School Student: A day in Solvoyo
I am studying 10th grade in high school, and I am already confused about choosing my future job. I’m not sure about which engineering discipline to study at university. Luckily, I received an invitation from …
3 Steps for Making Digital Transformation Happen in Supply Chain Planning
What is Digital Transformation? Digital transformation is transforming your decision-making processes with technology — utilizing new sources of innovation and creativity such as artificial intelligence, machine learning, Internet of Things, virtual reality, to enhance customer …
Virgo in Supply Chain, Milk in Coffee
I do not believe in horoscopes, but people tell me that my sign has everything to do with many of my quirks, such as ordering, organizing, and following routines. Putting things in order is my …
How to Become an Agile Organization Through Digital Transformation?
Organizational Agility along with Digital Transformation, Machine Learning, Big Data and Blockchain technologies was one of main trending topics for 2018 and will continue to be in the hit list for 2019 as well. Each of …
How Cognitive Learning Changes the Game in Supply Chain
“It is not the most intellectual of the species that survives, it is not the strongest that survives, but the species that survives is the one that is able to adapt to and to adjust …
Supply Chain Transformation, How Hard Can that Be?
Growing up, I was a huge fan of comedian Steve Martin. For many a Halloweens I simply wore an arrow through my head. I would have worn the white suit if I had one, but …
Fire-side chat with Magdalena Yesil, founder, entrepreneur, venture capitalist, author of the book #PowerUp
Magdalena Yesil is a force to reckon with! She has done many firsts in her life, including at Salesforce, where she was the first investor and founding board member. A technology pioneer, she founded three …
4 Smart Supply Chain Strategies for Boosting Customer Experience
This is the best of times and worst times for retail. On one hand, online sales taking retail to new frontiers by offering endless choices from the comfort of home and taking away from the …
4 Keys to a Successful Supply Chain Visibility and Analytics Project
The study from the ARC Advisory Group (2016) and the most recent one from The Hackett Group (2018) are remarkably similar in their basic observations: “supply chain visibility & analytics” remains at the top-of-mind for the executives. Many large …
Software as a Service, Cloud Computing and Pizza Margherita
I love a good pizza. I am not a big fan of deep dish Chicago style, or California style with weird ingredients. My favorite pizza is the father of all pizzas, properly baked, Pizza Margherita …
Resistance Is Futile: Machines Are Here To Stay, Embrace Machine Learning In Supply Chain!
Artificial intelligence and machine learning have been the talk of the industry a lot now. Resisting to adopt this technology is futile. So here’s the working logic of machine learning and also its current and future significance.
From How We Love to How We Innovate
“ENTJ?”; I was in my 20s when I did my first Myers Briggs personality test working in Corporate America. It was quite revealing to understand that most of our differences emanate from the way we …
Are Your Planning And Retail Analytics Tools Fast Enough For Fast Fashion?
Over the last decade, apparel retail has gone through a significant shift and has turned into a game of fast, faster and fastest. So many of the previously well-known retail brands are now struggling to …
Lessons In Innovation From P&G Signal Summit 2017
As the world’s leading consumer products company, P&G has a well-deserved reputation for innovation – from reinventing the oral care market in the 2000’s with its Crest White strips to recently launching an Uber for …
The Supply Chain Red Pill: How Machine Learning Can Transform Your Supply Chain
As I was growing up, one of my most recurrent dreams (other than being invisible), was to plant a chip in my brain to load every piece of information I found interesting. In fact, when …
How Smart Is Your In-Season Pricing Capability?
In today’s dynamic and competitive retail landscape, value offering is becoming more relevant to apparel brands competing for the last dollar in a consumer’s wallets. Value offering, however, is not just about price. It is …
4 Supply Chain Analytics Capabilities For Specialty Retailers
I have two millennial sons. They (and their girlfriends 🙂 ) represent the radically changed customer base faced by specialty retailers. They buy with vastly more info available to them from their mobile phones, tablets or …
Supply Chain Planning in The Age of Trade Wars, Brexit and Damn, Daniel. Welcome to 2017
As supply chain planners, much of what we do is to anticipate future outcomes and plan our activities around those expectations so as to optimize business results. What do you do though in the aftermath …
6 Reasons to Give Up Spreadsheets for Supply Chain Planning
Spreadsheet software is holding your supply chain performance hostage. True – spreadsheets are low cost, easy to use, extremely versatile and universally known and loved. It has and seems to continue to get the job …
7 Reasons Why S&OPs Fail
Sales and Operations Planning (S&OP) is a fantastic concept when you first hear its tricks and promises. It helps organizations align their demand and supply to meet the needs of their customers and achieve their …
4 M&A Trends in Supply Chain
That acquisitions often fail is a well-known fact. We all remember the horror stories that were the coupling of SprintNextel or AOL Time Warner. So the last few weeks when news of two major software acquisitions …
An $88B Weight Gain: How Wholesalers Can Put Their Supply Chain Back in Shape
Recently several partners have reached out to us putting Solvoyo in front of wholesalers and distributors and starting the conversation of what the next generation supply chain planning means for the wholesale and distribution business. …
5 Key Supply Chain Technology Recommendations from Leading Industry Experts
For the supply chain manager today, there are no dearth of online resources and expertise to guide them. From advisories by corporate biggies like Gartner or ARC, to research from leading supply chain academic programs, …
Tête-à-Tête With Orhan Daglioglugil of A101 Stores – A 2016 Supply Chain Pro-to-Know
On Feb 17, 2016 Supply and Demand Chain Executive Magazine named 28 supply chain leaders as the 2016 practitioner “Pro to know” featuring executives from companies as diverse as food and commodities giant – Cargill, …
Zen and the Art of S&OP Implementation: 3 Points to Consider
That Sales and Operations Planning (S&OP) is a critical business process is no longer in doubt. Today, surveys after surveys indicate the rising adoption of S&OP across all industries, with almost 80% of companies reporting to have some …
Why Demand Forecasting Ain't Enough
Forewarned is forearmed, they say. It’s an adage that supply chain managers seem to have taken a little bit too close to heart. Despite record investments in forecasting software over the last decade, supply chain …
Looking Forward to 2016 in Supply Chain Planning
This post is an extract from a letter sent by Koray Dogan, our CEO, to all of Solvoyo’s customers and supporters in late 2015. As we all reflect on the year that has been and …
5 Steps for Building a Lower Carbon Supply Chain Plan
With the recent COP21 agreement, the focus is back once more on climate change and global efforts to reducing CO2emissions. As the full implication of this deal gets transcribed – the fundamental impact is clear …
Part I – Paris 2015: Supply Chain Managers Need To Start Paying Attention To Climate Change
With climate scientists and negotiators from 190 countries recently announcing a landmark deal to cap the rise in global temperatures to well below 2◦C from pre-industrial levels – now is a good time for everyone …
Logistics & Transportation Providers: Planning for Success
There are leading and lagging economic indicators. Experts have debated the role and importance of various data points for years. Supply chain indicators can be both insightful and misleading. For example, do increased retail inventory levels foreshadow …
Wayne's wORld: AB InBev – SAB MillerCoors Mega Suds Takeover – A Supply Chain View
Just imagine, Budweiser-Coors Banquet Beer-Molson Canadian-Corona-Beck’s-Bud Light-Coors Light (The Silver Bullet)-Miller Lite (Less Filling, Tastes Great)-Michelob Ultra-Miller High Life (The Champagne of Beers)-Stella Artois-Leinenkugel and so on and so on, all a part of the …
Don't Mistake Simple for Simplistic in Supply Chain Planning
Simple and simplistic are words often misused interchangeably, but Albert Einstein understood the difference when he observed “Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler.” Einstein valued simple solutions. Yet, he also …
Omni-Channel for Retail: A Scientifically Refreshing Perspective
Crazy enough the ongoing conversations and debates surrounding omnichannel for retail (including retail consumers, suppliers & service providers) hasn’t lost momentum or for that matter interest level. With that in mind, Dr. Jim Tompkins presented some …
Wayne's wORld: Back in the Shwing of Things
I apologize to the faithful followers I have (assuming you haven’t given up on me and are not actually reading this apology) but it seems my blog writing dried up much like the relentless Texas …
Simplicity in Supply Chain Planning: 5 Things to Consider
Legendary jazz pianist, Thelonius Monk was asked by a fan how jazz seemed to come so easily to him. His response: Hey, man, simple ain’t easy! With that statement, Monk first acknowledged that his goal …
7 Things to Consider While Selecting a Supply Chain Planning Platform
Supply chain planning used to be a lot easier, but in today’s world of global sourcing and an almost infinite array of paths from the source to the customer, the complexity is daunting. That’s why …
How Important Are What-If Analysis Capabilities When Selecting SCM Software?
When it comes to supply chain management (SCM) software, having the ability to do what-if analysis is a critical requirement for making good business decisions. What-if analysis allows users to explore multiple scenario options, compare …
A Supply Chain Planning Solution for Mid-Size Businesses
Mid-sized companies face a unique set of competing pressures: the need to keep pace with ever-changing consumer demands, build a scalable foundation for profitable growth, and deploy limited resources – both people and capital – …
2 Simple Questions to Help Identify Supply Chain Inefficiencies
Every professional responsible for his or her company’s supply chain planning and execution probably realizes that there are a number of inefficiencies in his or her system; they just might not be able to pinpoint …
Wayne’s wORld: As Spring Floods into Summer do you have a Plan for the new Season?
Recently as I crossed over the surging muddy red water of the Red River into the great state of Texas, I wasFlooding-in-Wells-008 reminded of how quickly things in life can change. Not three months ago …
Mid-Size Retailers Looking for Competitive Advantage Should Turn To Supply Chain Optimization
As a mid-size retailer, you can likely identify – to the penny – how much it costs to order, store, and deliver your products. But if you were told tomorrow that your company was planning to add a number of stores in …
We Have Our Heads in the Clouds, and That's a Good Thing!
Who is Solvoyo? Our boilerplate says that we’re an enterprise software company providing strategic, tactical, and operational planning in a single platform that gives customers the most comprehensive capability to maximize profits while minimizing costs. But …
Wayne’s wORld: Math in the wORld of Customer Relationships
Howdy y’all! It seems I’ve taken another long break from putting thoughts into words in this space. Unfortunately I don’t have a litany of events and whimsical anecdotes to account for my absence like I …
6 Ways To Know If You Need More Intelligent Supply Chain Software
The choice of supply chain software is an important one, primarily because of its ability to significantly improve a company’s processes, reduce waste and improve profitability. Supply chain leaders may not be fully aware of …
Ege-man the Analyst: RILA — An Unexpected Journey
As a part of the Customer Success Team at Solvoyo, I recently unexpectedly found myself in Orlando FL for the annual Retail Industry Leaders’ Association (RILA) conference. For a recently employed graduate in Turkey, it was …
Wayne’s wORld: RILA Never Fails to Deliver
The RILA team did it again! Bringing together the greatest minds and strongest leaders in a complex and diverse discipline such as Supply Chain is a grand feat indeed. I’m most impressed with the comprehensive coverage …
While NRF is the Big Show, RILA Steals the Show for Supply Chain
2015 was my first adventure to the NRF big show in the Big Apple. It was impressive to say the least. The expo floor “booths” in many cases were more suitable as actual “brick and mortar” establishments …
Wayne’s wORld: Planning for the NRF Big Apple Big Show
A title made up of a double entendre (not sure if I used that right or if its appropriate but it sounds smart if not multi-national). Not only are we planning a super impressive presence …
Omni-Channel Fulfillment: Dynamic vs. Distributed
In my quest to get to the bottom of the omni-channel conundrum without “boiling the ocean,” I have stumbled over some fundamental claims that challenge the pure logic of a solution designed to achieve the …
New Horizons: Closed Loop Operational Management
The hottest topic in supply chain circles (at least the circles I hang out in) continues to be omni-channel fulfillment. From big box retailers to department stores to fashion boutiques; supply chain professionals are weighing …
Wayne’s wORld: Imagine – Fun in the Sun with Supply Chain Insights
Lora Cecere and the Supply Chain Insights team hosted their annual Global Summit at the beautiful Phoenician Resort in Scottsdale, AZ. I want to use this space to touch on some of the compelling and …
Wayne’s wORld: CSCMP and the ride of the Three Amigos
In addition to this super intriguing Blog and a host of other marketing efforts we work hard to keep up with the latest industry trends and knowledge share at wonderful events such as the Council …
Wayne’s wORld: Brilliant Minds Collaborate in Nashville
I had the opportunity in late August to spend some time with Tompkins International and their consortium members at a leadership forum in Nashville. The event coincided with my birthday so I was super motivated …
Ege-man the Analyst: "Never Eat Lunch Alone"
Hi! Egemen speaking. I am the new Business Analyst at Solvoyo. Yaay! September 1st was the first working day for me and on the very first day I have decided to share my observations with y’all. So …
Wayne’s wORld: Where in the wORld has Wayne been?
So here we are a solid 4 months since my last post. I guess I have no excuses and attribute my absence to a high quality of life! Between the activities of an amazing international …
OR and Omni-Channel Retailing – A match made in Heaven
The complex world of omni-channel retailing has introduced a new realm of analytical challenges. I touched on this topic briefly after the San Diego RILA Conference and have had a few months to work on …
The Intersection of Math, Supply Chain and Cloud Computing
I have used this space primarily to talk about the innovative application of advanced mathematical techniques and Operations Research methods to solve difficult business problems. Of course I have mixed in some home brewing and …
