Key Performance Indicators · 06. April 2020
Small Businesses fail too often. Owners are passionate about their product and get started, without the development of KPIs that help understand company performance. At Velocity, we believe in data-driven decisions and that numbers don't lie. A brief overview of the importance of KPIs and how a focus on a few goodies will help you understand your company's performance and sustainability.
Coronavirus · 04. April 2020
Crisis always seems to bring out the best in society and businesses, and at Velocity we're no different. Providing support and good news in the midst of a chaotic time for you and your teams.
Business Planning · 18. March 2020
Began reading Deadliest Enemy by Michael Osterholm and struck between the parallels that exist with planning, risk management, and preparedness in different disciplines. The same disciplines that helped Osterholm predict a flu-like pandemic originating in China back in 2017, we can take similar methodologies and transform our organizational cultures to proactively identify risk and respond before they become problems.
02. March 2020
While reading "Leadershift" by John C. Maxwell, I began to reflect on the culture of S&OP practitioners. Many tend to be more academic and robotic about S&OP when the results truly transform companies and teams. Effectiveness is contagious and results breed more. We're passionate and recognize the lives we're changing.
Business Planning · 03. September 2019
No matter the success, failures are inevitable. Deciding to utilize data and make plans is only half the battle. Commitment to planning comes following planning failures. Learn how!
Transformation · 28. May 2019
Consider the picture on the left, what a beautiful air show display giving a sense of national pride on what looks to be a beautiful day. 8 planes being piloted into an airborne display of perfection! As a Supply Chain leader making observations about this image, I can't help but ask a few questions: How fast are the planes going? What is the distance between each plane? How often are the pilots adapting their speed, trajectory, etc. to make sure they're balanced? What is the trigger to make a...
Inventory · 14. May 2019
To wrap up the series, one final root cause of why organizations carry excessive inventory is Capacity Constraints and/or Seasonality. Managing inventory so service is maintained through tight capacity windows is incredibly important. A capacity constraint should not be an acceptable reason for service issues in your business, at least not one that's plannable with effective forecasting like seasonality. There are times where customer order patterns do irrational things which cannot be planned,...
Inventory · 05. May 2019
Lead times are a challenge that we all face. Some supply chains suffer more than others but there are challenges in all. This derives from many sources: Geographic distance between production, distribution, and customer Excessive distribution or production points Supplier lead time length Customer pressure for shorter lead times Lead times to secure enough labor or line time resources to manufacture the product Capacity constraint relief may require several weeks or months to improve without...
Inventory · 26. April 2019
Every company deals with performance challenges and volatility. It's the one thing that's universal to us all, mistakes occur. Performance is cannot be 100% expected without fail all the time. If you read this, every one of you are dealing with at least one of the following: Unreliable production lines/facilities Transportation reliability challenges Customer order volatility Supplier challenges on finished SKUs or materials for production Warehouse reliability Personnel or process...
Inventory · 17. April 2019
Consider the following conversation: Sales/Customer Services: Why were we short last week on item _______? Planner: Orders were above forecast? Sales/Customer Services: How do we prevent this cut in the future? Planner: I guess we just carry more inventory to prevent next time. Sales/Customer Services: Thanks. This conversation goes exactly this way at most of your companies. The 1st bolded statement could be replaced in any blog post in this series and the 2nd bolded statement makes me cringe....