Category: Digital supply chain

Blogs discussing the advance of cognitive automation, touch-less planning, artificial intelligence & machine learning in planning

Digital supply chain, S&OP, Supply Chain

Technology Support in Integrated Business Planning: Automation, Augmentation and Human Centricity

Preview In his 2019 Foresight article, Niels van Hove examined eight technological hurdles that must be overcome to enable autonomous or ‘lights out’ supply-chain planning. He reasoned that to support such planning we need to implement a third wave of integrated supply-chain planning software. In this article, Niels argues that these technological advances can lead to either (a) planning-process and decision automation or (b) planning … Continue reading Technology Support in Integrated Business Planning: Automation, Augmentation and Human Centricity

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Digital supply chain

Achieving autonomous or “lights out” supply chain planning

Operating in the supply chain world, it’s hard to not come across terminology like supply chain planning 4.0, “light touch” planning or “lights out” planning. All have generated a lot of hype over the past few years … and for good reason. Considerable progress has been made in technology in recent years, continuing at a dizzying pace. Autonomous development is happening in most major car … Continue reading Achieving autonomous or “lights out” supply chain planning

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Digital supply chain, S&OP

How to move IBP from a Tedious Process to an Executive Decision Factory

When I was IBP manager at a multi-billion-dollar CPG company about 10 years ago, I remember a marketing director telling me just before the executive IBP meeting; ‘Niels, this feels like going to the dentist every month’. I agreed with him. Back then, preparing for a monthly IBP meeting was a painful, tedious effort, with my full planning team consumed and running overtime to get … Continue reading How to move IBP from a Tedious Process to an Executive Decision Factory

Niels2 Comments
Digital supply chain, Supply Chain

Autonomous or ‘Lights Out’ Supply Chain Planning; what is really required?

If you operate in the supply chain or the planning world, it is hard to not come across terminology like supply chain planning 4.0, ‘light touch’ planning or ‘lights out’ planning. They all rate high in the hype cycle and for good reasons. A lot of technology progress has been made in recent years, and progress continuous at dizzying speed. Autonomous vehicles already exist in … Continue reading Autonomous or ‘Lights Out’ Supply Chain Planning; what is really required?

Niels4 Comments
Digital supply chain, Leadership, Supply Chain

Artificial Intelligence – beyond the hype, the experts, its weak spots and losing your job

In our household we love our Google Home. My girls use it continuously to play music, ask silly questions, jokes, do calculations and spell difficult words amongst other things. I use it to voice command my shopping list, set a timer and book meetings in my agenda. Speeking to and interacting with a little machine in my living room, that has the capacity to both … Continue reading Artificial Intelligence – beyond the hype, the experts, its weak spots and losing your job

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Digital supply chain, Leadership, Supply Chain

The self-driving supply chain will need human capability more than ever

In a bit of an attention-grabbing title – The Death of Supply Chain Management – some pretty well-established supply chain people got away in the Harvard Business Review with what reads pretty much as a one dimensional sales pitch for technology. The main premise of the article is that technology and digitalisation will take over the supply chain and take peoples jobs. They talk about … Continue reading The self-driving supply chain will need human capability more than ever

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Digital supply chain, S&OP

The Future of Analytics in Integrated Business Planning

According to Wikipedia, prescriptive analysis is – after descriptive and predictive analysis -the third and final stage of business analytics. Gartner plots prescriptive analysis as the final and most difficult stage of data analytics. This article will draw an analogy with the mapping and car industry to suggest that prescriptive analysis as an opportunity to support Integrated Business Planning (IBP) and business optimization, is not … Continue reading The Future of Analytics in Integrated Business Planning

Niels2 Comments