Adventures in Supply Chain

This episode covers the 2024 Predictions for Supply Chain. ✅ ChatGPT As Supply Chain and Procurement practitioners always looking for ways to make our work more effective and efficient, my prediction is that the use of ChatGPT will trend upward. ✅ Dashboards for Communication with Stakeholders Data visualizations like those from PowerBI will be on the rise because they have different levels of a...

Ready to know the top 10 inventory management metrics that everyone in supply chain and procurement must know. In this video you will know the top metrics, the meaning, and calculation. Everything is here. #1 Inventory Days of Supply #2 Inventory Turnover #3 Cash to Cash Cycle #4 Return on Working Capital #5 Inventory Carrying Cost #6 Cost of Goods Sold (COGS) #7 Obsolescence for Raw Material, WIP...

Inventory has a tremendous impact on your profit and loss statement and balance sheet. If it's not properly balanced against demand, it's hard for companies to serve customers, which can lead to problems. For example, Nike's difficulty with responding to supply chain issues and inflation created an inventory surplus that's negatively impacted its profit. On the other side, Revlon's inability to me...

Tim Cook—Apple's CEO—says that inventory is "fundamentally evil". In Accounting, inventory is an asset.   This means a resource that the company expects to generate future benefits. It seems that Cook and Accounting views are in conflict. Who's right: Apple's CEO or Accounting? To answer this question, listen to this video and know the impact of inventory on the financial statements in S&OP/ IBP....

Sales and Operations Planning (S&OP) has been around since the late 1980's. However, a handful of companies only are successful in this cross-functional process that " integrates demand, supply, operations, and financial planning into one game plan for business." This is the definition by the Institute of Business Forecasting and Planning . It is unfortunate that most organizations are just captur...

Walmart has a negative working capital. Coca-Cola has a positive working capital. Which company is doing better? Another question for you. Being in Supply Chain and Procurement, how can you improve working capital? In this video we are going to cover: What's working capital? What's the difference with cash? What are the metrics we can use? How can we improve working capital? What's the impact of i...

Ready to know the top 10 financial metrics that everyone in supply chain and procurement must know? In this episode you will know the top metrics, the meaning, and calculation. Everything is here.   Top 10 Financial Metrics for Supply Chain Professionals   #1 – Gross Margin #2 – Operating Profit Margin #3 – EBITDA #4 – ROA #5 – Inventory Turnover Ratio #6 – Days Sales in Inventory #7 – Accounts Re...

What is the Difference Between Sales and Operations Planning (S&OP) and Integrated Business Planning (IBP)?   Is that the right question? Or should we ask if there are any differences between S&OP and IBP.   In this episode we will dive into the key aspects of S&OP and IBP, compare them against each other for you to decide if they are different.   We will cover the following aspects: -Focus -Scope...

I am not an Accountant; Why do I need to know about cash flow if I am in Supply chain, I am in planning, S&OP?  Fair question. To advance in your career and improve in your sales and operations planning or in integrated business planning, you need to know the language of the business. And that language is Finance and Accounting.   In this episode, you will learn about the Cash Flow Statement and i...

The Profit and Loss Statement or P&L? Why do I need to know about that if I am in Supply chain?   These are valid questions. Supply Chain is not Finance or Accounting. But, we need Finance and Accounting to be successful in Supply Chain careers and to improve in sales and operations planning or in integrated business planning. It is the language of the business.   In this episode, you will learn a...

Why do you need to know about the balance sheet if you are in Supply Chain; maybe in planning, S&OP/ IBP and you are not an Accountant?   Fair question. To advance in your career and improve in your sales and operations planning or in integrated business planning, you need to know the language of the business. And that language is Finance and Accounting.   In this episode, you will learn what a ba...

There are so many acronyms that we use in planning!   In this episode, you will learn the terminology and key concepts about all of them: - S&OP—Sales and Operations Planning - SIOP—Sales, Inventory, and Operations Planning - IBP—Integrated Business Planning - FP&A—Financial Planning and Analysis - S&OE—Sales and Operations Execution -ITP—Integrated Tactical Planning   For Free and Actionable Reso...

Why do you need to know about Finance if you are in Supply Chain?   Being in Supply Chain, Logistics, Operations, Procurement, you have a massive impact on the business financial performance.   In this episode, you will learn about the three core financial statements:   - Income Statement or Profit and Loss Statement (P&L) - Balance Sheet - Cash Flow Statement (or like Marcia calls it "Show me the...

In this episode, Jonathan and Marcia talk about the following: What are the trends in flexible packaging - for example, on cost, lead times, materials? What are the options available regarding sustainability? What is the cost of regular film against sustainable film? What customers have been more aggressive with sustainability? How can a company make a transition from regular film to sustainable f...

In this episode you will learn about the following: - What is the relocation industry and what does a relocation management company do? - Is this still a relevant topic post-Covid? -What goals is an HR department seeking to accomplish by hiring a relocation management company? - What are some of the challenges a Procurement and HR team face when sourcing relocation management services? - What are...

In this episode, we talk about the following: What are the top 3 challenges to become like Amazon with domestic last-mile delivery? What are the challenges and opportunities you see post-Covid for the sector of grocery stores and restaurants? What are some actions that companies can take to reduce cost of domestic shipping? What is the key to fast innovation and how can you support innovation from...

In this episode, we talk about the following: - What does six sigma imply? - Who should be using six sigma? - What are the critical factors to have a successful implementation? - How do you use lean concepts to eliminate waste? - How are lean and circular concepts similar or dissimilar? To know more about six sigma, lean and circular economy or to get amazing FREE resources in Supply Chain and Pro...

Getting savings in an inflationary economy? Sounds like mission impossible? Our guest, Angela Thurman, challenges that. Let's dive in so you can know how to hit your savings goals.

This is episode 34 of Adventures in Supply Chain podcast.  We are pleased to present the Data and Tech in Supply Chain Video Series with guest Rick Watson, E-Commerce Expert. This episode is sponsored by USM Supply Chain. USM stands for Unstoppable, Scalable, Mindful Supply Chain. Check us out at usmsupplychain.com to scale up your profits together with your supply chain.  Our guest, Rick Watson,...

Check us out at usmsupplychain.com to scale up your profits together with your supply chain. Watch this episode on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lDjlIkxwre4 and SUBSCRIBE to our channel. Today we talk about how you can achieve cost reduction by working with a Group Purchasing Organization (GPO). If you are considering how to save costs from 7% up to 20%, this episode is for you. We cover...

Check us out at www.usmsupplychain.com to scale up your profits together with your supply chain. 95% of businesses are getting THIS wrong with ERP implementation. Are you one of them? You have probably heard about scary and painful stories about ERP implementations. Thousands or even millions of dollars thrown at something that is not providing the results you are expecting, on top of all the head...

How to Save Cost on Last-Mile Delivery Don't forget to SUBSCRIBE to our YouTube channel.  Check us out at https://usmsupplychain.com/ Actionable advice from expert Dean Maciuba on how to achieve cost savings on last-mile delivery in this video episode of Data and Tech in Supply Chain with Host Marcia Williams. Dean worked at UPS/FedEx for over 37 years across multiple professional positions in sal...

Join Host Marcia Williams in the FREE LIVE Masterclass: How to Unlock the Power of Data to Generate Profit in Your Supply Chain - March 16th at 12 PM  Register here For the FREE LIVE Class https://training.usmsupplychain.com/webinar-registration In this episode, we talked about the following: - What is the data that we need to get right in Supply Chain?   - What are the data sources?   - How do yo...

Adventures in Supply Chain podcast is pleased to present episode 29, and first of the "Data and Tech in Supply Chain" Video Series with your host, Marcia Williams, Managing Partner at USM Supply Chain. In this episode, Marcia talks about the following:  - Why data in Supply Chain? or in other words, what's the importance of data in Supply Chain? What is Six Sigma, in particular, the DMAIC approach...

Adventures in Supply Chain podcast is pleased to present this video episode of the "Coronavirus and Supply Chain Series" with William Guidry, business partner at Diversified Robotic.   Diversified Robotic gives small to medium-sized businesses a way to save time, and money by utilizing automation software for time-consuming back-office tasks that are repetitive, high-volume, rule-based, and prone...