Posts by Henry Bonner

The Need to Reduce Costs Through Supply Chain Network Optimization We’ve learned a lot about supply chains over the past year, haven’t we? Even the most sound supply chains have been challenged in all kinds of ways with COVID-19. Increased consumer demand, shortages, temporary trade restrictions, and risky dependencies continue to rattle supply chains. Now,…

The Supply Chain Risk Management Assessment A Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu survey found that 85 percent of global supply chains experienced at least one disruption in the past 12 months. That was before COVID-19. Since the epidemic, Supply Chain Dive reported that 73 percent of companies experienced a “detrimental” supply-side disruption due to the pandemic –…

Improving Supply Chain Strategy, One Step at a Time The supply chain is a highly complex, highly dependent, dynamic entity. It encompasses everything from product development and inventory to distribution networks and logistics. Because every link in the chain network is dependent on the previous link, the supply chain strategy must be transparent and focused…

Supplier Risk Assessment – What Are You Looking for? Your suppliers are the key to your success, but how do you make sure they are the best suppliers you could be partnering with? What kind of risk do they bring to the relationship and is it manageable or could it prevent you from meeting your…

The Many Predictive Analytics Applications in the Supply Chain Predictive analytics has many applications in the supply chain, helping leaders predict what may come next with greater precision. The earlier organizations can make these predictions with confidence, the sooner they can plan, mitigate risks, and seize opportunities before their competition. So many companies are relying…

What Is Supply Chain Network Design? Supply chain network design is the process for building and modeling your supply chain so that you and other leaders can better understand the costs and time it requires to bring products and services to market given your available resources. According to CIPS, the professional body for the procurement…

What Is a Supply Chain Risk Assessment Checklist and Why Do You Need One? The purpose of a supply chain risk assessment checklist is to ensure your organization follows certain steps to better understand its risks and the potential impact of those risks on the business. According to ISO, an independent, non-governmental international organization that…

How Does Artificial Intelligence in Supply Chain Management Work? You don’t have to look far to see where artificial intelligence is having an impact, including artificial intelligence in supply chain management. Virtually every industry is utilizing the various technologies to one extent or the other. Adobe reports that 12 percent of organizations are already using…

Is Supply Chain Optimization Achievable?  There likely isn’t an organization in any industry that wouldn’t say they’d like to optimize their supply chain. And why not? Supply chain optimization results in a supply chain that runs efficiently and cost-effectively and results in value delivery. Achieving such optimization is not easy, but it is attainable with…

Should You Focus on an Efficient or Responsive Supply Chain? An efficient vs. responsive supply chain is a common dilemma. Let’s begin with efficiency. There is rarely the case where efficiency is a bad thing. Efficient processes result in less waste. Efficient workflows result in greater productivity. What about an efficient supply chain? Supply chain…