Author: Alexandra Leonards

How do you gain competitive advantage with a supply chain delivering a vast array of 400,000 products to 1,850 branches? This was the complex challenge facing plumbing and building merchant, Wolseley UK. Their answer was to invest €150 million in a new

Supply chain technology has come a long way since the early days of EDI, warehouse management technology and demand forecasting. Today, it is fast becoming a totally joined-up message thanks to the latest IT. Soon systems will be able to call on a raft of

Many ambitious, medium-sized companies – especially in distribution, manufacturing and retail – with designs on stepping up a weight are challenged on how best to go about it. Managers must ensure that processes and systems are aligned to deliver efficien

AILOG and the Cattaneo LIUC University of Castellanza in Italy surveyed 35 leading companies in the beverage, pharmaceutical and home & personal care sectors, in order to gain a greater understanding of the interplay between Sales Forecasting and Demand

As Tesco commits to carbon labelling, Carrefour sets up an ‘Environment club’ and M&S pledges to spend €300m on being carbon neutral by 2012, the stakes are riding high to secure the moral high ground in the battle for green consumers. But in these unchar

How do you get the most from your distribution centre? Automated processes can reap rewards for those prepared to invest both the cash and, perhaps more importantly, the time required to fully understand the dynamics of the business. Latest research indic

Having the right service parts available when customers need them is now critical in maintaining brand image, loyalty and service level agreements. Jasper van der Wulp argues that global operations and just-in-time manufacturing trends are putting an em

Once goods leave the warehouse they can enter an information void, where suppliers and customers are left guessing on the status of their deliveries. How do you maintain real-time visibility of goods on the move and how do you use that information to make

Winning the hearts and minds of customers should be central to any retailer’s forward strategy, say Daniel Bagge and Keith Burgess. Research indicates that 79 per cent of customers will actively commit to a deeper relationship after a satisfying experienc