Thanks to the farm-to-table movement and the work of a generation of chefs, cooks, farmers and other producers, we've opened the window to the source of much of our food. We often know the farm where the turnips and lettuces on our plate come from, the fields where the cows or sheep grazed, even the names of the chickens that laid our eggs. But this kind of traceability has been very slow to come to the seafood industry, which is notorious for being secretive and often fraudulent. A small group of fishermen and chefs has been working to fix this through their Dock to Dish program, adopting the methods and principles of the land movement and CSAs, or Community Supported Agriculture, to bring that kind of transparency to the sea.
Analyst Insight: As 2020 approaches, supply-chain improvement initiatives focused on meeting intense market demand while protecting profitability are crucial for companies. In response to this need, supply-chain analysts and consultants are finding innovative ways to leverage data and optimization tools to customize new strategies that encourage supply-chain flexibility, efficiency and sustainability. - John Richardson, vice president of supply chain analytics, Transportation Insight
Analyst Insight: Best-in-class organizations are tapping into the power of analytics to improve supply-chain performance and identify improvement opportunities. Organizations use analytics for scoring models for vendor performance, detailed demand forecasting, and safety stock recommendations, optimizing fulfillment logistics, creating predictive models of different failure conditions, inventory budget optimization, and many other supply-chain activities. Today’s complex supply chains require that leaders create a data-driven culture, both internally and externally with supply-chain partners. – Andrea Stroud, statistician, APQC
Analyst Insight: We have come a long way from the days where gut feel and years of industry knowledge ruled the day and drove critical decision-making. "Water Cooler Talk" seems a thing of the past, but to effectively work together, businesses must replace it with a new process. Face to face cross-functional team discussions are critical in helping teams learn to work together and communicate effectively. Welcome to sales and operations planning (S&OP). – M. Scott Moon, principal, Tompkins International
The average return on investment from the Internet of Things is 34 percent, with one in 10 interview respondents reporting returns greater than 60 percent, according to a new study published by Aruba, a Hewlett-Packard Enterprise company that specializes in next-generation networking solutions.
Frank Yiannas has spent years looking in vain for a better way to track lettuce, steaks and snack cakes from farm and factory to the shelves of Walmart, where he is the vice president for food safety. When the company dealt with salmonella outbreaks, it often took weeks to trace where the bad ingredients came from.
Zebra Technologies' "Retail Vision Study," released this week, finds that the majority of retailers surveyed globally expect to embrace radio frequency identification and other Internet of Things (IoT) technologies, as well as use analytic data from those systems by 2021, as more shoppers move to online sales.
Analyst Insight: With companies reshoring their manufacturing facilities back to North America in today's market and in the future, leading industrial manufacturing companies are striving to enhance factory performance and improve plant productivity to maintain a competitive edge. Industrial manufacturing is in the midst of a technological renaissance that is transforming the systems and processes of the modern plant. Companies can't afford to ignore these advances or they will be left behind. – Brian Neuwirth, VP of Marketing and Sales, UNEX Manufacturing
Fluid Management Technology Pty Ltd. (FMT), a specialist in fuel tank management, has developed an RFID- and Internet of Things (IoT)-enabled solution for clients that need to accurately monitor their fuel consumption. The backbone of the system is a device that the company calls the SmartFill GEN 2, which helps prevent theft by restricting fuel dispensal only to authorized users.
