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How Can Exception Based Management Really Drive Down Costs?

With rising demand volatility, changing climate and ethical crisis such as the 2013 horse meat scandal, the need to identify and manage exceptions in planning is becoming increasingly important.  Exception based management should be essential in any forecasting software to improve the demand plan and aid the decision making process, saving both time and money.
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What is the Soup & Salad Phenomenon?

By Howard Roddie, FuturMaster Senior Supply Chain Consultant (@HowardRoddie) This is about the weather.  In the UK we all love to talk about the weather, so I know some of you, at least, will still be reading.  You probably already know that I’m going to talk about the influence of weather on demand planning.  So […]
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What Makes a Good Production Plan?

With recent research showing that over the past three years, one in six companies are “reshoring” and moving production back to the UK, boosting supply chain and production efficiency is becoming a huge focal point.  Indeed, it has been recently announced that the UK government is offering £100 million worth of support to companies to […]
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Demand Planning? Why not ask the Archaeologists?

By Howard Roddie, FuturMaster Senior Supply Chain Consultant (@HowardRoddie) Not too long ago I was wandering around some ruins in Rome and I was struck by how similar the job of an archaeologist is to forecast modelling.  Reading that back, it looks like a ludicrous statement (I know I should be switching off!), but let’s […]
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The Big ‘What If?’… Does it Strike Fear?

By Matthew Hughes, UK Sales Manager At the tail end of 2013, along with many other supply chain professionals, I had the pleasure of being in the company of an executive board member from one of the largest retailers in the world, listening to tales from the past and insights into the future of supply […]
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How far is innovation driving consumer demand?

It is becoming decidedly clear that this year innovation is to be one of the key drivers for changes in consumer demand.  Most notably, app-based technology and e-commerce is leading the way in making the retail experience more and more convenient.  Not only is it now possible to create virtual shopping lists, but you can […]
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International Women’s Day: Women in Supply Chain

In the past, the supply chain industry has often been perceived as male dominated and it’s macho image with pallets, wagons and big boats doesn’t quite help. Indeed, in the light of SCM World’s recent review of 100 Fortune 500 firms, showing only 10% of supply chain leadership roles to be occupied by women, it […]
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FMCG Demand Signalling doesn’t have to be rocket science….

By Howard Roddie, FuturMaster Senior Supply Chain Consultant (@HowardRoddie) A few years ago I sat next to a very loud recruitment executive on a train.  She received a call regarding a “forecaster” for a food company.  The whole carriage soon knew how easy this person would be to find as it wasn’t “rocket science”. This […]
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Shipbuilding: The Least Interesting Supply Chain Problem… Or is it?

By Howard Roddie, Senior Supply Chain Consultant (@HowardRoddie) In terms of supply and demand, shipbuilding is not exciting, the time bucket isn’t days, weeks or months.  Often it is multiples of years.  So there’s not many decisions to be made about how we consume our one customer order.  It’s not difficult to descent into detail […]
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What really makes a promotion successful?

The term ‘successful promotion’ is one of those that has been around for many years, but like the ‘selfie’, has only recently gained an increasing amount of attention.  For the ‘selfie’, the advance of technology and software has led to a generation of phones capable of taking and rapidly sharing photos.  For the ‘successful promotion’, […]
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How can retail suppliers take full advantage of promotional planning?

Promotions are a major feature of business today, and are often the make or break between a poor year and a successful one.  One thing is clear, the business benefits of effective promotion planning and evaluation remain one of the untapped opportunities for bottom line improvement for manufacturers and suppliers to the retail trade Promotional […]
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People and processes: The key to improving safety stock?

By Howard Roddie, Senior Supply Chain Consultant (@HowardRoddie) Talking  to a new customer this week, I was struck by how little some of the fundamental supply chain questions have changed over time.  The issues discussed were the same as when I started my supply chain career as a tea making executive in the ’60’s. The […]

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FuturMaster highlights 5 key trends in the supply chain to look out for in 2019

FuturMaster, the supply chain solution provider that helps a number of major food, retail and manufacturing companies with demand forecasting and streamlining production and supply, has highlighted five defining trends that will earmark the supply chain scene in 2019 and beyond.

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How to retain company’s supply planning talents?

By Pu Gong, Consultant Supply Planner is an ancient profession dating back to the origin of organised production. Acting as a bridge for interdepartmental communications, the Supply Planner is to this day an indispensable part of a company’s operations. Developing a Supply Planner who understands a company’s products, production and processes is costly and due […]

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Women in Supply Chain

Every year we celebrate International Women’s Day on the 8th of March. With many countries making it an official holiday, the meaning of the day has somewhat shifted from celebrating the social awareness of the struggles of women to praising all females for just being a woman.