Forget the Crystal Ball. Instead, Link Forecasting Directly to Production Planning.
As the global automotive industry transitions from primarily producing internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles to including electric vehicles (EVs) and hybrids, we’re witnessing a true transformation. This transformation delivers many benefits, including increased sustainability, but it also creates demand-planning and production-planning challenges. To profitably serve…
Ensuring Predictable Production Amid the Unpredictable Challenges of the Auto Industry
In October 2024, a team from Blue Yonder attended the automotiveIT Kongress, held at the Vienna House Andel’s Berlin. The largest industry gathering of automotive and IT professionals in Germany, the automotiveIT Kongress featured lectures, panel discussions, best practices, deep-dive sessions, an awards presentation, and…
Facing Industrial Manufacturing’s Dilemma: Nailing Down Forecasting Accuracy
It’s been two centuries since the Industrial Revolution transformed manufacturing, introducing machines that automated production and unlocked unprecedented efficiencies. But in the last decade, the industrial manufacturing sector has encountered a new wave of challenges and disruptions. From fluctuating demand and rising costs to material…
Why Demand Planning in High Tech Manufacturing Needs a Reboot
The global chip shortage a few years ago shone a spotlight on the supply chain planning complexity that has always characterized High Tech companies. It is difficult for semiconductor companies, consumer device manufacturers, and other High Tech companies to profitability match supply with demand, especially…
From Aisle to AI: How CPGs Can Conquer Demand Variability
Extreme demand volatility and unprecedented supply chain disruptions make it tough for many manufacturers to get the demand-supply balance right. Consumer packaged goods (CPG) companies face especially difficult forecasting and demand planning challenges. Every day, CPG planners must contend with the complexities of omni-channel sales…
From Shortages to Surpluses: MedTech and Pharma’s Demand Planning Remedy
In the current business environment, a company’s global supply chain can make or break its success, regardless of industry. The stakes are especially high, however, for pharmaceutical, medical device, and health care manufacturers and distributors. If planners fail to accurately match supply with demand, the…
7 Important Supply Chain Lessons From NASCES 2024
This week, I had the privilege to represent Blue Yonder at the North American Supply Chain Executive Summit (NASCES) 2024, a premier supply chain summit, set in the picturesque and historic Arizona Biltmore in Phoenix. The two days were filled with insightful anecdotes, stories and…
Automakers, It’s Time to Check Under the Hood of Your Demand Planning Solution
The global automotive industry is undergoing a revolution, as manufacturers and consumers make the switch from internal combustion engine (ICE) models to electric vehicles (EVs). While this fundamental shift will produce enormous benefits for the environment, it’s creating challenges and complexity for the world’s automotive…
Profitability and Mass Personalization: Automakers Can Now Achieve Both
Today’s consumers increasingly want personalized products — and automobiles are no exception. For automotive manufacturers the demand for personalization means more vehicle variations and a technology ecosystem that powers this customer experience from show room to shop floor. Build-to-order capabilities are possibly the most critical…
Can Production Be Both Flexible and Stable? The Answer Is “Yes!”
The global automative industry has experienced many foundational changes over the past several decades. One of the biggest is a shift from an emphasis on “lean” manufacturing principles — which emphasize production efficiency, stability and profitability — to today’s increasing focus on flexibility and customer-centricity….