CASE STUDY CONCEPT: The central challenge of most supply chains is to meet product demand (be responsive), while also reducing inventory and operating costs (be efficient). You will learn about this challenge as the supply chain manager for a company called “Cincinnati Seasonings” in Cincinnati,
A Supply Chain “Immune System”
A supply chain is an organization composed of many different individual companies that each have their own businesses yet all work together to make and deliver products to different markets and customers. It's one thing to talk about securing the operations of a single company, but what about a
Java Furniture Company – Indonesia
CASE STUDY CONCEPT: Sales & Operations Planning (S&OP) with Simulations to Support Business Growth. You connect your laptop to the boardroom projector, and the company's supply chain appears on the big screen at the front of the room. People stop talking and turn to look at what you are
Operation Inherent Rescue – Humanitarian Supply Chains in Action
Imagine there is suddenly a real opportunity to stop the fighting in Syria. After months of tense negotiations and years of carnage, all the parties reach an agreement. But unless this agreement is implemented quickly it will collapse into chaos once again. The diplomats and politicians have reached
Simulations Create a Winning Supply Chain
Gonzalo Florez-Giraldo is working on his degree in global supply chain management and logistics at Houston Community College. A degree in supply chain management opens up a lot of opportunities, because Houston is a hub of commerce with its busy seaport and its location at the center of a
Lessons Learned From Wargaming
Could we use games to explore different supply chain options, just as the military uses games to explore different strategies? Could a supply chain game show us the best supply chain solutions the same way wargames show the best strategies? If so, what would that supply chain game look like? “We
Coming of the Real-Time Economy (and Pizza Delivery Supply Chains)
The other day I was indulging in one of my favorite ways to waste time online in our real-time economy. I was exploring in Google Maps with the satellite view turned on. I found myself cruising up the Ohio River heading east from Cincinnati, and I came upon a little river town named Gallipolis, Ohio
Cuba 55 Years On: Impact of Supply Chains
Arriving in Cuba for the first time is like stepping into a time capsule that has preserved different periods of the country’s history, and then mixed them all together. There’s old Havana, the center of the city, filled with block after block of cobblestone streets and two and three story Spanish