mThink

Growth is clearly back on the executive agenda. Yet executives increasingly find that growing profitably is extremely challenging due to the complexity and volatility characteristic of today’s business environment. Further complicating matters is the fact that, after several years of intense focus on cost reduction, most companies’ supply chains are operationally efficient but are not [...]

Perhaps better than any other manufacturing sector, the electronics manufacturing services (EMS) market understands the impact of the bullwhip effect.1 Small changes in end customer demand can result in large variations in orders placed upstream. Customer orders may be buffered to ensure inventory availability in times of short supply. In time, these and other sources [...]

Warranty management is a critical business function that has received little management attention in the past – unless significant problems came to the fore. Traditionally treated as an aftermarket concern handled by a customer service department, warranty management is gaining the attention of chief financial officers in a number of manufacturing industries, which is not [...]

ASCET: Many experts have called Dell’s supply chain its most competitive advantage. How was that accomplished, and how long did it take? Hunter: In the early ’90s Michael [Dell] really came to grips with the value of supply chain when we had some setbacks with notebook computers, and wrote off a fair amount of inventory. [...]

The Real World In the real world, suppliers manage the bulk of your costs and outsourcing is increasing that trend. In the real world, person-to-person interactions determine pricing and service levels between buyers and suppliers. In the real world, supplier relationships are managed across an array of stakeholders that generate millions of communications annually. In [...]

OATSystems, Inc. is the leading provider of EPC software solutions for the High-Resolution Supply Chain™. By capturing, managing, and distributing EPC information, OAT empowers an enterprise – for the first time – to manage and optimize manufacturing and distribution operations based on a high resolution view of product movement within the supply chain. The Problem [...]

Outsourcing has its detractors. Some worry about security and the potential exposure of intellectual property or business process secrets. Others fear a legislative backlash to offshore outsourcing practices or are simply uncomfortable with the lack of face-to-face interaction. Although some organizations may have these concerns regarding business process outsourcing (BPO), they should also be aware [...]

Until now, there have been few techniques available for analysis of something as complex as the typical business enterprise supply chain. We will discuss a new method for supply chain analytics based on dividing the supply chain into discrete functional units, called segments, which can be individually analyzed. After detailed customized analysis, the segments can [...]

The semiconductor industry today is being revolutionized. But unlike other changes in the industry, such as larger wafers or new lithography tools, this revolution is not only about technology but also about how companies need to do business. Staying competitive requires that companies change both their business and operations practices to stay ahead of the [...]