Quality & Metrics

'Lean' Accounting Concerned With Value Stream From Customers to Suppliers

September 4, 2015

In the "Benefits of Lean Accounting in a Lean Manufacturing Company," author Dan Anthony discusses the major differences between traditional and lean accounting, starting with a quote from Taiichi Ohno that says "costs do not exist to be calculated; costs exist to be reduced." This really gets to the core of the difference between traditional and lean accounting: traditional accounting focuses primarily on the cost of goods sold, whereas lean accounting focuses on the value stream from customers to suppliers.

Determining What Consumers Want Turns on More Than Demographics, Research Says

September 4, 2015

BCG Perspectives

The conventional view is that consumers are fickle and inconsistent, hard to understand and predict, and therefore unmanageable. In fact, they are perfectly consistent, perfectly understandable, and quite predictable.

CEOs Should Stop Squinting in the Rear-view (Data) Mirror, and Look Ahead

September 1, 2015

SmartBlog

If the company is the bus and its leader is the driver, as Jim Collins' famous analogy states, then it stands to reason that when the bus is moving, the driver should mostly be looking out the windshield (toward the future) rather than consulting the rear-view mirror.

Dow Chemical: A Supply Chain Under Constant Change

August 31, 2015

SupplyChainBrain

Noelle Walsh, corporation vice president of supply chain with The Dow Chemical Company, outlines the chemical industry giant's efforts to become more customer-focused, while synchronizing its supply chain upstream to suppliers, and downstream to customers.

Why Aren't Suppliers More Concerned About Food Safety?

August 31, 2015

Progressive Grocer

On average, $10m is the cost of a recall on a food company. Add this to the fact that recalls have been doubling every year from the 2002-2014 period in the United States, and it should worry any stakeholder in the manufacturing and processing facilities. Yet many of them are surprisingly optimistic about the chance of a recall affecting business, and it's their belief of invincibility that leaves them unprepared to weather a storm when one blows up. When manufacturers take a risk on their customers' health, they take a risk on their business’s health.

Inttra Unveils Dashboards to Measure Shipment Reliability, Booking Speed

August 28, 2015

Inttra

Inttra, an ocean-shipping electronic marketplace, has introduced Inttra Marketplace Decision Support.

The 'Ticking Time Bomb' of Multichannel Retailing

August 25, 2015

SupplyChainBrain

Tom Enright, research director with Gartner, talks about his recently completed survey on the challenges that are confronting multichannel retailers today, with a particular focus on the issue of returns. He offers his view on what constitutes excellence in the returns process.

Moving From a Supply Chain to a Supply Web

August 24, 2015

Matt Scott, Director of Business Development, cr360

It's time to stop thinking of your supply chain as an endless stream of entities, all nicely linked together; it is much more complex than that.

DuPont Reportedly Scores Highest Among Chemical Companies Striving to Lower Carbon Footprint

August 21, 2015

Environmental Leader

DuPont leads the chemical industry in preparing for a low-carbon economy, according to CDP's latest quarterly sector research report.

How Advanced Analytics Can Help Your Business

August 17, 2015

SupplyChainBrain

What exactly is "advanced analytics," and how can the concept help companies to gain a better understanding of true demand while propagating accurate forecasts throughout the supply chain? Mudit Bajaj, vice president of advanced analytics solutions with Jabil Inc., offers a perspective.