Supply Chain Planning

Summer 2014 plays host to some of the very best sporting events in history and although June marked the beginning of the World Cup in Brazil, next week, in Yorkshire, home of FuturMaster UK, we will see the start of none other than the Tour de France. Whilst these summer months spell BBQ’s, sunbathing, sweepstakes […]

By Howard Roddie, Senior Supply Chain Consultant (@HowardRoddie)   In my last article, ‘Demand in a Devolved UK….’, I discussed some of the potential impacts of Scotland’s devolution on UK demand.  As we all know, any changes to demand will have an impact on supply. Firstly we need to consider a potential doubling of SKUs […]

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 […]

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’, […]

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 […]

Consumers may be stressing about the Christmas rush this year, but it’s nothing compared to the Supply Chain team putting in the long hours to make sure your Christmas runs smoothly.  Jumps in demand, stock running out and multiple promotions are some of the few challenges every Supply Chain Professional faces each year… Forget St […]

By Howard Roddie, Senior Supply Chain Consultant (@HowardRoddie) Did you ever, as a kid, walk into a shop and wonder “where does all this stuff come from…it can’t be all from the same place?”  Chances are, as a supply chain professional, you did think this at some point and it was your first unwitting step […]

By Howard Roddie, Senior Supply Chain Consultant (@HowardRoddie) FuturMaster has had an upgrade to version 6.1 (Android users may like to call it “Chocolate Orange”).  This actually happened some time ago but the implications of this change are much bigger than a simple increment of 0.1. Usually when we talk of supply chain software upgrades, […]

Halloween is only two weeks away and that seasonal peak is no longer lurking under your bed, but looming right over you.  There are only two ways out, and with the clamour of high customer expectations, ducking your head under the duvet won’t quite cut it.  The option you should have gone for weeks ago […]

Despite what many supply chain experts claim, there is no one key to supply chain success.  A superb supply chain doesn’t rely on a miracle ingredient, but rather a cross functional mix of factors.  Here are our six steps to a superb supply chain: Step One: Quality Quality management often has a bad name due […]

By Howard Roddie, Senior Supply Chain Consultant (@HowardRoddie) Water.  It’s the ultimate commodity1. We drink it.  Sometimes raw, from a tap, well or stream.  Sometimes it sparkles in fancy bottles from fashionable springs in distant countries.  Other times we walk miles to collect a murky liquid from an unreliable source. We drink it in other […]

By Richard House, Managing Director, FuturMaster UK For a select few companies, Integrated Business Planning (IBP) is a reality in which all business functions are involved in making business decisions based on a collaborative future view of business activity.  For the majority, IBP is currently a distant dream which stretches them well beyond the Sales […]