In Part I, we re-introduced you to MCA Solutions, a Philadelphia, PA company that specializes in after market service (and service parts) optimization, and noted that they were still going strong despite some recent shake-ups in the market (and the noteable acquisition of Servigistics and Click Commerce by Marlin Equity Partners, who also acquired Emptoris not too long ago). We noted that, in addition to completing a strong SAP integration, they’ve also added a considerable amount of new functionality in the last two years around reporting, plan analysis, and reporting management. Since we covered their new reporting and plan …
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April 11th, 2010 | Posted in Decision Optimization, Forecasts, Services, inventory
MCA Solutions, a Philadelphia, PA company that specializes in after market service (and service parts) optimization, is still going strong despite the recent struggles of a few of its direct competitors (namely Click Commerce and Servigistics who were recently acquired by Marlin Equity Partners). If anything, the recession (although it did considerably lengthen the sales cycle) only bolstered the need for after market service (as no one could afford new equipment) and optimization thereof (as everyone is strapped for cash and every penny counts). As I indicated in my first post on MCA Solutions and their strategic service …
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April 9th, 2010 | Posted in Decision Optimization, Forecasts, Services, inventory
In addition to the presentation of 18 theses around the continued scarcity of energy resources, Volume 1 of the Transportation & Logistics 2030 report on how supply chains will evolve in an energy-constrained, low-carbon world by PriceWaterhouseCoopers and the Supply Chain Management Institute also identified some (emerging) opportunities for transportation and logistics operations that are worth close scrutiny by any provider looking to differentiate themselves in the marketplace.The report provided opportunities in four areas: Products & Services Finance & Accounting Processes & Organization Strategy & Policy Today, we’re going to overview the products, services, finance, and accounting …
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December 22nd, 2009 | Posted in Finance, Logistics, Services
This series discusses the recent report from CAPS Research on the role of optimization in strategic sourcing. The primary goal is to highlight, clarify, and, in some cases, correct parts of the report that are important, confusing, or incorrect to insure that you have the best introduction to strategic sourcing decision optimization that one can have. The chapter starts out with a list of ten questions designed to help organizations evaluate the appropriateness of optimization for their sourcing event. And while I still contend that every event can benefit, the question list will help you determine how beneficial …
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December 7th, 2009 | Posted in Best Practices, Decision Optimization, Services, Sourcing Innovation
Share This on Linked In Editor’s Note: This post is from regular contributor Norman Katz, Sourcing Innovation’s resident expert on supply chain fraud and supply chain risk. Catch up on his column in the archive.Outsourced supply chain services are very common these days. Freight forwarders, logistics providers, warehouse services, data [...]
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August 19th, 2009 | Posted in Fraud, Norman Katz, Risk Management, Services
Share This on Linked In Editor’s Note: This post is from regular contributor Norman Katz, Sourcing Innovation’s resident expert on supply chain fraud and supply chain risk. Catch up on his column in the archive.As a consultant, and given my areas of specialty, I never always & fully know [...]
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July 29th, 2009 | Posted in Fraud, Norman Katz, Services
Share This on Linked In A recent article in the Supply Chain Management Review did a good job exposing some of the myths, and realities, of service procurement. Myth: You can manage costs through RFPs. Reality: Sourcing is only the beginning. Over half of all negotiated savings can be leaked during Procurement. [...]
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July 13th, 2009 | Posted in Procurement Innovation, Services
Share This on Linked In SourcingMag.com recently ran an article on getting the service levels you expect with outsourcing that resulted from a Gartner interview and contained some good tips that are worth repeating. Define Realistic Expectations If you’re an efficient organization, don’t expect [...]
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May 20th, 2009 | Posted in Outsourcing, Services
A recent article in Strategy + Business which tells us to Follow the Customer, Follow the Car makes a great point: when customers are scarce resources, you need to focus on your current customers, do more with them, and not churn your customer base. A prime example of how to succeed [...]
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March 27th, 2009 | Posted in Services, Strategy
In our last post on the topic, we reviewed the story of how Linksys improved forecast accuracy at the SKU level by 350% with better demand planning, as told by Robert Bowman in Free The Enterprise! This emphasized the need to put a good demand plan in place and illustrated the importance of good [...]
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March 20th, 2009 | Posted in Forecasts, Services
