Fashion Magnates’ Supply Chain Contest in China

from prnewswire.com

CEOCIO Magazine, through its China Business Feature ( http://www.cbfeature.com ), recently reported on the contest between two European fashion magnates in China, H&M and Zara. With H&M arriving in China in April, the key of the rivalry between the two would be determined by their different supply chain management strategy, CEOCIO commented.

China Business Feature reported that, “In April this year, Swedish fashion magnate H&M opened its first flagship store on the Chinese Mainland. Meanwhile, a strong company rival, Spanish fashion chain Zara, continues its success in China.

The Health Alliance of Greater Cincinnati and Broadlane to Continue Successful Partnership

from businesswire.com

Broadlane announced today that The Health Alliance of Greater Cincinnati will continue its exclusive relationship with Broadlane for another five years. Under the agreement, Broadlane will continue to provide the Health Alliance with a fully outsourced supply chain solution for purchasing consumable supplies and equipment, pharmaceuticals and purchased services.

During the first five years of the relationship, the Health Alliance has become a benchmark leader for contract compliance and purchasing efficiency and delivered significant value to its local community. Broadlane and the Health Alliance worked in concert to deliver $18 million in recurring annual savings, 95 percent contract compliance in key contract categories, and continued support for economic inclusion/supplier diversity. In the past 12 months, the Health Alliance increased purchases with certified small (SBE), women-owned (WBE) and minority-owned business enterprises (MBE) by three-fold to $23 million.

Glimpse the future of supply chain software

from mmh.com

Executives of Manhattan Associates discussed innovations in warehouse, transportation and labor management software during the company’s annual customer conference. Executives of Manhattan Associates discussed innovations in warehouse, transportation and labor management software during the company’s annual customer conference.

“Innovation” was the theme last week as supply chain software provider Manhattan Associates held its annual customer conference in Las Vegas. During conference sessions and media interviews, Manhattan executives emphasized the company’s commitment to research and development and shared their vision for the future of supply chain software.

The Move to “Intelligent” Supply Chain Decisions

from sdcexec.com

The top 10 predictions for the manufacturing sector in 2007

Earlier this year I spoke with Bob Parker, the vice president of research who leads Manufacturing Insights, an IDC company providing business technology and solutions advice for the manufacturing industry. Parker shared with me the top 10 predictions that his consultancy was forecasting for the manufacturing sector in 2007.

The top prediction for the year was that that companies will need to adopt solutions — or better use the solutions they already have — to help them to make faster, better decisions. Business executives, Parker says, may be satisfied that their current IT systems have allowed them to streamline their processes to a great extent, but they are dissatisfied with the extent to which they are able to make active use of all the data being generated by those systems. “People want to know how they can use all this information to drive better decisions and improve the agility and flexibility that they can build into their decision-making,” Parker explained.

Personal care player invests in supply chain solution

from cosmeticsdesign.com

Farouk Systems, a Texas-based global professional hair care provider, has invested in ERP Adage, a software solution from Infor, in an attempt to enhance its supply chain management system and improve on production efficiencies.

The system has been introduced in all of the company’s North American production facilities, where Infor’s ERP SX.enterprise has been provided to give the company an ‘holistic view of the entire enterprise’, in turn providing enhanced customer service and operational efficiency.

Agile logistics: Worldwide shipping

from financialexpress-bd.com

Agile is the essence of supply chain management. Adaptive, move-quickly is necessary for an effective supply chain. Each order must be handled differently. Each customer has its own set of instructions and requirements to satisfy its supply chain. And manage a supply chain that can stretch 10,000 miles from many suppliers to customers. That may be the ultimate in agile and flexible. In addition, Logistics organizations are lean. The global supply chain can be extremely complex. The logistics director must be a maestro to manage an agile supply chain with its scope and breadth. And it must be lean. Lean is a fact-of-life in today’s business world. Do more with fewer resources.

Disaster-proofing the Supply Chain

from sdcexec.com

Using supply chain solutions to prepare for the next “Big One”

By Andrew K. Reese

Devastating terrorist attacks. Cataclysmic tsunamis. Catastrophic hurricanes. If these disastrous events in recent years have taught Dana Mathes anything, it’s that that in this day and age, you really just don’t know what manmade or natural calamity might threaten to wreak havoc upon your supply chain next. “It’s very hard to understand or quantify what the threats are these days,” says Mathes, who is global supply chain director of logistics operations at Dow Chemical, the $49 billion producer of plastics, chemical and agricultural products.