Is the term "demand responsiveness" a true call to action on the part of manufacturers, or is it just another buzz phrase? Rakesh Sharma, president and founder of Zyom Inc., believes it can have real value. He defines the term as an approach whereby companies with physical products work closely with an "ecosystem" of partners on the sales side, communicating through multi-tiered channels. Finding out in a timely fashion what has changed in those channels is no simple task anymore, given the expanding network of partners in outsourced relationships.
What is this thing called "cloud computing"? It's nothing new - that much is certain. Software vendors have been offering applications "hosted" off-site for years. The idea of computer services as a kind of managed utility dates back to the 1960s at least. Salesforce.com, founded in 1999, based its entire business model on the cloud, even if it didn't use the word at the time. Since then, we've seen a variety of takes on what came to be known as Software as a Service, or SaaS. That's now been supplanted by "the cloud," a term which refers to any number of apps that reside in huge banks of servers located far from the client.
Gas and electric utilities may have a number of unique operating characteristics, but they share with other industries the need to emphasize customer service, operate safely, create a reliable supply chain and reward shareholders. PG&E's pursuit of those goals led it to integrate formal sales and operations planning (S&OP) into the organization.
Deck Increasingly companies are "going global" as manufacturing moves overseas, new consumer markets open up, and natural resources are discovered in new geographies.
Damco has launched a new service allowing customers easily to re-plan shipments in line with changes in delivery date, product cost or carbon footprint.
Most companies go through some form of portfolio planning, whether they use that term or not, says Eric Symon, principal with Digital Tempus. He defines it as a strategic effort to determine "what products you're going to sell to whom, and what businesses you're going to invest in." The model can help businesses to understand which products are growing in demand, and which need to be phased out.
Learn how food and beverage companies are employing best practices in perfect order fill and finding opportunities for revenue growth and cost reduction.
