Managing Director at Boston Consulting Group. Reflections on the Future of Supply and Demand Chain
The Automation Imperative Leading consumer-focused businesses are automating their warehouse networks, generating step changes in service and cost performance. Some companies have already unlocked 20% to 50% improvement in service levels while generating a 25% to 50% reduction in fulfillment costs—all while boosting their resilience amid today’s acute labor shortages. Despite these success stories, however, many… Continue reading Amplify Your Warehouse Automation ROI
I recently had an opportunity to give a panel presentation at Innovation Endeavor's LINK Supply Chain Ecosystem Day. The panel focused on the future of the global supply chain during a time of continual disruption. There was a palpable sense of urgency in the room. After all, challenges facing the supply chain today only seem… Continue reading Supply Chain Automation in an Age of Disruption
My colleague Arnold Kogan and I presented at the FMI Fresh Foods Leadership Council meeting in Orlando last week. We discussed the emerging challenges plaguing the retail landscape and how leaders are transforming the supply chain for the post pandemic future. The New Norm Post COVID Supply chain performance suffered starting 2020 due to a… Continue reading Transforming the Supply Chain for the Post Pandemic Future
The dizzying growth in e-commerce has wreaked havoc on CPG supply chains. Here’s how companies can tackle channel proliferation and meet customers’ rising expectations. E-commerce grew an astounding 35% during the COVID-19 pandemic, and that growth shows no signs of slowing. In the six months ending January 31, 2021, online sales of home goods surpassed… Continue reading How CPG Companies Can Conquer the E-Commerce Supply Chain
Consumer packaged goods (CPG) are feeling tremendous pressure in 2019. Increased demand volatility and shorter lead times from retailers have become major concerns, hurting service and inventory levels. Under Pressure, CPG supply chains look to digital. Although CPG companies have not historically operated at the forefront of digital change, the intense and competing demands they… Continue reading Under Pressure: CPG Supply Chains Look to Digital
Uber-like on-demand fulfillment platforms for supply chain and and logistics services are rapidly emerging. For companies feeling the pressure to meet rising customer expectations while keeping costs down, uberized supply chains could bring much-needed relief. Uberization, the business paradigm that disrupted the taxicab industry, is about to transform supply chains everywhere as companies increasingly rely… Continue reading Supercharging Supply Chains with Platforms
Computer vision is the lynchpin of the current AI/machine learning (ML) renaissance. In 2013, deep learning based vision solutions crossed a historic milestone of achieving human level accuracy. Since then, the pace of algorithm sophistication, training data proliferation and performance has accelerated even faster. The majority of AI/machine learning powered solutions and use cases across… Continue reading What is the Case for Machine Vision in Supply Chain?
2013 was a watershed year for Industry 4.0, moving from the concept pages to becoming strategic pillars of investment across both governments and businesses. That same year, deep learning neural nets achieved human level accuracy for the first time in history, signaling the arrival of disruptive digital manufacturing use cases. Since then, we have seen… Continue reading The Human Element in Digital Industry 4.0
While Augmented Reality (AR) is gaining significant attention as one of the Industry 4.0 technologies that will revolutionize supply chain, we believe it is important to look beyond the hype and qualify the true potential and challenges. The value of AR is directly tied to its ability to impact human workforce experience and performance. Consider… Continue reading What is the Case for AR/VR in Supply Chain?
当José Lopez把自己当选雀巢全球首席运营官的消息告诉他母亲时，母亲问他：“这个工作到底意是做什么的？”Lopez 没有告诉她自己要负责全球86个国家440家工厂和供应链，包括1300个仓库和装运点的客户服务和实体物流之类的话，而是告诉母亲：“这意味着我要为任何错误负 ...
The rising requirements of urban Gen Z consumers will define where the future of retail is headed. When it comes to big-city shoppers, what really matters to winning the last mile in fast retail? We recently surveyed more than 4,000 consumers in the United States and big cities globally for the answer. The survey points… Continue reading Winning the Last Mile – What Consumers Want
Demands on supply chains are ever increasing as companies vie to deliver more personalized products, with faster lead time, at a lower cost. Further, unexpected execution conditions continually disrupt operational performance. For these reasons and more (see our recent MIT Sloan Management Review article), companies must do more than digitize supply chains. They must also develop operational ability… Continue reading Sense and Pivot Supply Chain @ MIT Media Lab
Even today’s most sophisticated supply chains still try to predict what will happen, then optimize performance against plan. The problem is, the world is not predictable. It is filled with the unforeseen. To meet soaring customer demands in this erratic world, companies need to build a whole new kind of supply chain, fast. Supply chains are… Continue reading Why Future Supply Chains Must Sense and Pivot
I gave a panel presentation at the Bernstein "Motor of eCommerce" Conference last week in London. We discussed two trends that will significantly impact on the eCommerce supply chain dynamics in the near term horizon Direct-to-Consumer: Brands across many categories are accelerating their pace of selling directly to consumer (DTC). In the past several years, Brands… Continue reading Bernstein Motor of eCommerce Conference
I held a podcast this week with Supply Chain Management Review on the topic of AI in Planning. We discussed the structural complexities facing demand and supply planning functions today and the imminent role of AI and machine learning. You can view the podcast below: Key takeaways Businesses across all sectors are pressuring supply chains to… Continue reading AI in Supply Chain Planning – Podcast
Michael Hu | BCG 