Supply Chain breakdown
The Hidden Cost of ABC Analysis
Joannes Vermorel explains why ABC analysis remains a seductive but costly shortcut for supply chain decisions, and how its arbitrary classes can hide economic reality instead of clarifying it.
The Hidden Cost of S&OP with Milos Vrzic
Conor Doherty and Milos Vrzic return to Supply Chain Breakdown for a discussion on supply chain practice, planning, and execution.
The Decision Factory (Making Decisions Under Uncertainty)
Conor Doherty and Joannes Vermorel discuss with John Elam & Adam Chans Jr the decision factory, a supply chain approach centered on automated, economically driven decisions.
The Hidden Cost of Service Levels
Joannes Vermorel explains why service levels remain a seductive but costly shortcut for supply chain decisions, and how percentage targets can obscure the real economic trade-offs.
The Hidden Cost of Manual Override
Joannes Vermorel explains why manual overrides remain a costly habit in supply chain planning, and how they can undermine automation, accountability, and economic decision-making.
The Hidden Cost of Integrated Business Planning (IBP)
Joannes Vermorel explains how one set of numbers fuels consensus theater, low-resolution decisions, and bureaucratic drag—why monthly governance lags reality, and how an economics-first, AI-driven approach replaces ritual planning with better bets.
Your Data is Better Than You Think
Joannes Vermorel explains why bad data is often a scapegoat, how to separate transactional truth from messy parameters, and why semantics—not cleanup—drives reliable AI and supply chain decisions.
KPIs that Actually Matter (with Patrick McDonald)
Joannes Vermorel and Patrick McDonald argue for fewer KPIs rooted in economics, connecting inventory decisions to financial outcomes while monitoring data sanity and overrides.
Safety Stocks Aren’t Safe
Joannes Vermorel explains why safety stock formulas and service-level targets can waste money—and what an ROI-driven alternative looks like.
The Hidden Cost of Forecast Accuracy
Why better forecast accuracy can worsen decisions. Joannes Vermorel argues for decision-first, probabilistic approaches and P&L-grounded rate-of-return KPIs.
SAP Antitrust: Escape ERP Lock-In
A fair and frank session on the economics, software, and business implications of the recent SAP antitrust investigation. We will explore how it started, why it matters, and what companies can do about pervasive ERP lock-in.
Book Launch: Introduction to Supply Chain
A candid session on the key theories and practices from Joannes new book Introduction to Supply Chain. We will explore how to forecast beyond demand, move from KPIs to cash, build resilient decisions under uncertainty, and make variability a core part of daily operations.