Overcoming the challenges of supply chain disruptions means retailers need to go deep into their supply chains, fostering relationships with suppliers and service providers in order to get timely data about potential problems, says Jenny Roman, director of solutions consulting with e2open.

One of the curses of the Great Supply Chain Disruption of 2020 was the phenomenon known as “the bullwhip effect.” 

Reduced inventory and optimized logistics are just a few of the benefits to be realized in implementing Integrated Tactical Planning, says David Goddard, principal at Oliver Wight.

Some visionaries are predicting a Fifth Industrial Revolution: a reconciliation between humans and machines. This is what Supply Chain 5.0 speculates.

Sustainability and transparency are different things, but they go hand in hand, says Jamie Barsimantov, chief strategy officer at SupplyShift.

For global supply chains, it’s time to refocus from a survival strategy to one of sustainability and growth.

Rather than continually reassessing and optimizing supplier arrangements in an effort to ensure ongoing best value, many companies slip into a pattern of relying habitually on the same limited group of supply chain partners. 

So you’ve locked in your supply chain plan and network design? Good luck with that. In today’s global supply chains, unpredictability has become — well, predictable.

We’re in the third decade of the 21^st century. What competencies are emerging for purchasing leaders?

Is sales and operations planning obsolete? Not at all, says Evan Quasney, vice president of solutions marketing with Anaplan. But there's a need for organizations to take a deeper approach to connected planning, to achieve competitive advantage.