Recently, I was thinking about the Supply Chain Operations Reference (SCOR) model and how for the past 20 years it has flexed, grown and graduated to become the go-to supply chain model framework for companies, including those in the Gartner Top 25, Global 2000 and the Sustainable 100. So I decided to write about SCOR.

Use it or lose it. Both applied and academic research conclude that the application of professional learning within a short time span helps increase retention. The longer we wait, the less we retain.

Maintaining a competitive advantage with the supply chain as a core competency has never been more essential than in today's business environment. Supply chain leaders need to connect the latest industry advancements and insights with proven best practices to deliver operational excellence and shareholder value.

The talent shortage for the supply chain industry has been examined very thoroughly over the last few years. Frequently this conversation focuses on educating students and recent graduates on the job market, encouraging them to pursue supply chain careers, or creating better college and graduate level programs to support this career path. There is one angle that is often ignored – hiring. Could the solution be as simple as changing what you are looking for?

The APICS Corporate Development team is gearing up to attend Oracle’s Modern Supply Chain Experience in San Jose, California, January 25-27, 2016. If you know APICS, you know we’re all about best practices – we set the global standard for them in the supply chain world. We are thrilled to have the opportunity to address supply chain innovators and leaders gathering at this event and will be talking to them about how to embrace modern best practices for supply chain excellence.

Perfect data structure + flawless process design + capable suppliers + flexible customers = world class supply chain performance.

Two years ago, I was reviewing the profile of the team we put together for a Sales and Operations Planning project kickoff. The team included people from design and steering, as well as sponsors. And while some of those folks were Baby Boomers (including myself) and Generation Xers, a majority of our team were Millennials.

One of the most frequently asked questions by newly appointed supply chain executives is about how to effectively relate to the C-suite. One answer is pretty clear: Executives must learn to “speak shareholder.” There are two corollaries to this statement. First, the supply chain executive must able translate supply chain scorecard metrics into key shareholder indices. Second, the supply chain executive must be able to correlate process effectiveness to the scorecard measures.

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel recently wrote about the increase in zombie properties in many Milwaukee neighborhoods. Zombie properties are generally defined as those that have been in unresolved foreclosure for more than three years. They are, according to the paper, “corpses of what used to be good, sturdy homes. … And they suck the life out the valuations of other homes on the street.”

The elephant does look different depending on your proximity to the beast. The same can be said about inventory. There are two roles in your organization that often view inventory from vastly different perspectives: the supply chain manager and the product manager. The two are frequently pushing against each other, but getting these two roles on the same page will upgrade your sales and operations planning (S&OP).

Question: Is best practice supply chain planning simply a function of incorporating more leading practices? Answer: No. Leading practices in supply chain planning abound. A simple Google search yielded more than 54 million results. Those practices include everything from sales and operations planning to material requirements planning and demand management to vendor-managed inventory. And new principles in supply chain planning are constantly emerging, including demand shaping, demand sensing, and agile response.

Some things just go better together. Think red wine and steak, Batman and Robin, or hardware and software. Tactical planning and sales and operations planning (S&OP) are a critical pairing for supply chain.

Sales and operations planning (S&OP) has been around a long time. With the economic challenges in recent years, the process has seen a resurgence of importance with companies striving to balance demand and supply while maintaining appropriate inventory levels and hitting projected revenue and profits.

If you can’t measure it, you can’t improve it. This is true for many things, especially supply chain cost. Reducing supply chain cost ranked number one on the APICS Supply Chain Council recent survey fielded to identify the top 10 critical success factors for supply chain leaders in 2015. Here, I’ll answer two questions: What to measure and how to get started?

The elephant does look different depending on the proximity of the viewer. The same can be said about inventory. I would like to share some experiences with two viewers, the supply chain manager and the product manager.

Recently, Gartner Group announced its Supply Chain Top 25. In recent years, they also introduced Supply Chainnovators to recognize supply chain excellence in mid-sized companies (US$1-10B). Supply Chain Insights (SCI), competing with Gartner on a Supply Chain Index of their own, went as far as calling the Gartner list “a high school popularity contest.”

Though I have forgotten far more from my mathematics degree than I remember, some concepts have proven useful when applied to supply chain work. Probability and statistics have helped with six sigma, forecasting, and planning projects.

End-to-end attempts to define the widest possible boundaries for a supply chain. The APICS Supply Chain Council's SCOR Model describes end-to-end as the processes of Plan, Source, Make, Deliver, Return, and Enable from supplier's supplier to customer's customer. If we accept this definition then potentially four of the five trading partners in an end-to-end supply chain are outside of your company. This post asks the question, 'Does your supply chain play well with others?'

Supply chain leading practices are a bit like fashion in the apparel industry–wait long enough and they come back disguised under a new name. Sales and Operations Planning (S&OP) is a great example. Since its introduction, it has been labeled as MRP, ERP, S&OP, S&OIP, and now, IBP (integrated business planning).

In preparation for an upcoming Sales and Operations Planning project kickoff, I reviewed the profile of the team–project leader, design team, steering team, and sponsors. The list includes four generations–Baby Boomers (including me), a host of Generation X, and a majority of Millennials.

At a recent supply chain executive briefing, a participant asked if there was any data available relative to the impact effective supply chains had on overall shareholder value in general and acquisitions specifically.

Good pairings make the individuals better, i.e. red wine and steak, batman and robin, hardware and software, etc. Tactical planning and sales and operations planning (S&OP) is a critical process pairing for supply chain.