Lean Manufacturing is and will always be a very human process.  Traditional planning techniques will always over commit capacity and under commit inventory.  They will guarantee that the plan looks lean but the execution is not. Essentially, they overlook the complexities of their inherent environments—plans are statistically unfeasible. Demand, capacity, operational performance, and inventory are [...]

“Demand driven” is a concept as old as the supply chain. No one wants to create more or less than is immediately required. Supply Chain Toolworks sees being demand driven as producing as close to demand as the environment and costs allows—it is a direction not a goal. OUR SOLUTIONS: Quantify the steps and costs [...]

Organizations are rife with single point or ad hoc analysis, creating conflicting beliefs and decision paralysis. Often times there is a worse dynamic where organizations hold beliefs based on a single example or an old assumption—a myth. This creates systematically skewed decision making. Our solutions: Create a single, unified, believable model for centralized Unify strategic [...]

Supply chain decisions cannot be made in vacuums—everything is connected: capacity, inventory, service levels. At the core of these decision is the run strategy. A good run strategy sits at the intersection of portfolio policy, logistics planning, deployment planning, and production planning. Make a good run strategy and you get it all— performance, cash flow, [...]

A well formulated Run Strategy sets the internal rhythm for the organization. Finished Goods, Raw Material, and WIP all flow smoothly if there is conscious thought put into their coordination. A well planned strategy creates a harmony with all products rotating through on their most economic cycles. This rhythm means stability, cash flow, and continuous [...]

Activity Based Costing (“ABC”) simultaneously strikes wonder and dread into the hearts of business analysts.  Wonder at the thought of understanding how profits flow through a business and the important decisions that can be made to drive value. Dread at the implications of what has to be done. Management can become “bogged down” in the [...]

Planning will always have a creative and human element.  No computer or algorithm can substitute for the intuition and knowledge inherent in a good product planning team.  Run Strategy Planning acknowledges this while at the same time puts structure around decision making and rigor around modeling.  The bottom line is cash flow and consistency—these are [...]

The current manufacturer is struggling to become ‘Demand Driven’ and ‘Lean’ at the same time and they are coming into immediate contact with the complexities and variability in their product portfolio.  Traditionally manufacturing organizations ran production cycles that lasted multiple weeks and S&OP organizations focused on balancing inventory (safety stock) against service level. These long [...]