Supply Chain science and tech
Dynamic Supply Chains (with Dr. John Gattorna) - Ep 125
In this episode we are joined by Dr. John Gattorna, one of the most respected supply chain thought leaders in the world and whose work has influenced many of today’s leading corporations. We discuss the importance of a supply chain strategy that aligns with a customer first approach, the evolution (or devolution) of supply chains in the last century, and whether software advancements that were designed to speed up internal processes have also contributed to slowing them down.
Uncertainty in Supply Chain, Lessons from the M5 Competition
Joannes Vermorel outlines a short series of lessons to supply chain practitioners from the M5 Forecasting Competition. The M5 did offer a unique opportunity to do a reality check on the claims of the majority of the supply chain software vendors. This talk was given as part of the M5 Conference.
Copycats in Supply Chain - Ep 124
The supply chain industry is driven by buzzwords. A decade ago, cloud computing and probabilistic forecasts were not associated with the supply chain industry. Now (2021) it is the talk of the industry, alongside AI,blockchain and machine learning. Vendors are quick to keep up to date and adapt with these trends.
Forecasting Accuracy in dollars instead of percentages - Ep 123
The supply chain industry has for decades been in a constant chase of better accuracy of forecasts in a desperate attempt to predict the future. In fact, forecasting is so common in supply chain practices that every large company has its own division dedicated to improving their forecasting accuracy.
How many SKUs should a Supply Chain Planner manage - Ep 120
With modern companies providing increasingly large catalogues and technology facilitating easier stock management, a modern Supply Chain Planner must spin many plates. That's why for this episode of LokadTV we're asking':' how many SKUs should a Supply Chain Planner manage? And just how many is too many?
Forecast Value Added - Ep 119
Much like the saying, "a problem shared is a problem halved", Forecast Value Added is a management technique that simplifies a forecast by splitting it into manageable chunks. On this episode of LokadTV, we discuss just how well this works and why decomposing a forecast can actually lead to more difficult decisions.
Bureaucratic core of supply chain - Ep 118
With 95% of the world's supply chains existing in companies of over 1000 employees, organizations must use a complex network of systems and processes. For this episode of LokadTV, we're going to discuss just how bureaucratic these organizations are and what we can do to make supply chain practitioners more efficient.
Crazy Claims of Enterprise Software Vendors - Ep 111
It can be said that the pursuit of truth is often what makes progress truly advance. However, in the world of enterprise software vendors, the truth can often be difficult to come by. Especially when the latest technology does not fit in with the design of your product. As such, for this episode of LokadTV, we discuss some of the craziest claims made by software vendors and see how you can separate fact from fiction.
Beyond Statistical Modeling - Ep 109
Despite many companies currently investing huge amounts of resources into establishing data science capabilities, the hard truth is that the majority of these projects fail to impact upon daily business operations. As such, we look beyond classic statistical modelling and explain why the impact of a proper data science department must run far deeper than just collecting data, manipulating it and getting an output.
Maintainability of Supply Chain Software - Ep 108
When investing in a piece of supply chain software, there is the expectation that it will last a company decades, rather than just a few years. However, with a rapidly changing tech landscape, this becomes a complicated endeavour. For this episode of LokadTV, we discuss this challenge of maintainability and how it can be impacted by good design.
Numerical Recipes for Supply Chain - Ep 105
Much like a great chef in a Michelin star kitchen, the best data scientists have to craft statistical solutions that adapt and evolve to every scenario. As such, we investigate what it takes to create these numerical recipes and what characterizes the solutions built for our supply chains.
Financial Optimization of Supply Chains - Ep 104
Dollars of profits and losses are the only metric that matter in the long run for any company. At Lokad, we emphasize a strict financial optimization of the supply chain. This approach should not be confused with short-sightedness and other kinds of pseudo-rational methods which are prevalent when finance gets in charge of the strategy. This approach goes against the idea of service levels, and most of the other KPIs similarly defined through percentages.