January 14, 2021 |
November 24, 2020 |
October 28, 2020 |
Blog: Session with LLamasoft and Canadian Tire
Post Pandemic Supply Chain Design Imperatives: Design, AI-Powered Analytics, and a Culture of Resiliency A chat with Canadian Tire about design, AI-powered analytics, and building a culture of resiliency Our VP of Industry Strategy, Matt Tichon, sat down virtually with Shannon Macey, AVP – Supply Chain Capabilities from Canadian Tire Corporation during the Supply Chain Canada National Conference on October 8 to explore the topic “Post-Pandemic Supply Chain Design... Read More
August 12, 2020 |
The Supply Chain of Vaccines
The Supply Chain of Vaccines The numbers speak for themselves. The COVID-19 pandemic is responsible for more than 18 million confirmed infections and over 690,000 deaths since its discovery in December 2019. As humanity continues to adapt its response to the outbreak, a critical race is on – a race to identify, produce and distribute a potentially life-saving vaccine. The race to outsmart COVID-19 began with science and healthcare professionals,... Read More
August 10, 2020 |
How to Align the Enterprise Around Transformational Change
Supply chain success depends upon the right combination of people, processes, and technology. But change is hard, and there’s no shortage of new ideas and technologies available to help drive the business forward. In this episode, Paul Webb shares his experience driving transformative projects at several major organizations and tells us how to identify a need for new software and drive consensus among stakeholders across the enterprise. ... Read More
July 21, 2020 |
Podcast: Bring Your Own Algorithms
Data Scientists like nothing more than writing algorithms to solve complex problems in new and different ways. But translating that code into a scalable solution for use by the business is a whole different ballgame. In this episode, LLamasoft Data Scientist Clara Quigley joins Matt Gunn to discuss her take on the complexities of data science deployment. Hear first-hand the challenges of data science delivery and how a new tool... Read More
July 13, 2020 |
Preparing Supply Chain Operations for the Next Phase of the COVID-19 Response
The pandemic has resulted in significant disruptions of healthcare and other supply chains around the world. Now is the time to consider what is needed to create the agile operations required for your future. Achieving that agility may require some significant changes to how your supply chain has traditionally operated – but these are not traditional times. For seven recommendations to help your organization get ready, download “Preparing Supply Chain... Read More
July 13, 2020 |
Be the Amazon Vendor They Want You to Be
That pile of Amazon packages waiting on your doorstep is proof of its own. The rapid growth of this popular e-commerce marketplace has placed it in a class of its own, a retail technology powerhouse. LLamasoft SVP, Ganesh Ramakrishna joins Matt Gunn as they discuss life as a vendor of this highly complex demand channel. Hear how historical approaches and tools are consistently falling short and how Amazon actually helps you in the fight to decode what they are going to do next. ... Read More
July 9, 2020 |
Rising Above the Root Cause Rabbit Hole with AI
Given today’s ‘never normal’ status quo, can we still learn from the past? In this episode, Andy Fox joins Matt Gunn to share his first-hand experience with the practice of digging into performance issue data in order to find and treat the true root cause as opposed to chasing the many symptoms. Hear how the increase in available data as well as powerful AI algorithms have changed the game for... Read More
July 2, 2020 |
Why Now? The Power of Root Cause Analysis in 2020
With much of the world focusing on the present disruption to their operations or, at best, looking forward, we are seeing many of our customers struggle with prioritizing root cause analysis. Isn’t the cause of service failures force majeure? Why analyze issues that are (hopefully) once-in-a-lifetime? Why Now? As I have written before, there is never a bad time to be thinking about root cause analysis. More convincingly, the U.S. Army reflects on even the highest-pressure combat scenarios to create opportunities for learning... Read More
June 29, 2020 |
App Studio OpenX – Making Data Scientists’ Lives Easier One App at a Time
A few years ago, I was working as a data scientist consultant at a CPG company. My project was predicting the risk of service failures, or “cuts,” on promotional orders. I gathered the data from different systems and worked on my algorithm. This is the fun part of a project! Being creative and using analytics to address real pain points for my clients is my favorite part about being a data scientist. But a one–time analysis on my computer did not solve the problem for my client. To make the science drive business... Read More
June 19, 2020 |
Day 4 of LLamaCon: Recap
Day 4 of LLamaCon: Recap Happy Hour, On-Demand Content and Highlights from the Week Day 4 of LLamaCon marked the conclusion of this year’s virtual event, with attendees sharing one last networking experience as they celebrated a successful week of customer presentations, keynotes, live panels, session demos and much more. To say that LLamaCon 2020 did not unfold as originally planned is an understatement. Instead of gathering for an in-person... Read More
June 18, 2020 |
Day 3 of LLamaCon: Recap
AI-Driven Supply Chain, New Demand Outlook Day 3 of LLamaCon NOW continued with another full agenda of engaging track sessions, including presentations on AI-Driven Supply Chain and New Demand Outlook. AI-DRIVEN SUPPLY CHAIN – Highlights Leveraging Artificial Intelligence algorithms and new types of data to make better decisions is an increasingly powerful capability that can be the an enabler to help you break down functional silos, improve agility, and improve... Read More
June 17, 2020 |
Day 2 of LLamaCon: Recap
Data & Decisioning, Risk & Resiliency Day 2 of LLamaCon NOW marked the beginning of track sessions featuring tracks on Data & Decisioning in Supply Chain and Risk & Resiliency as a Competitive Advantage. DATA & DECISIONING IN SUPPLY CHAIN – Highlights With global disruptions increasing and more emphasis on agility in supply chains, more organizations are ramping up their analytics programs. LLamaCon’s Day 2, Data & Decisioning track took... Read More
June 16, 2020 |
Day 1 of LLamaCon: Recap
Vision, Product Strategy and AI in Action LLAMASOFT’S 10TH ANNUAL LLAMACON LLamaCon NOW officially kicked off on Tuesday, June 16, with an action-packed agenda which set the tone for the week ahead. This year’s event features four distinct Track Sessions; Risk & Resiliency as a Competitive Advantage, Data & Decisioning in Supply Chain, AI-Driven Supply Chain, and the New Demand Outlook. Each of the four main track sessions features a... Read More
June 10, 2020 |
Our Moment for Positive Change
To LLamasoft’s extended network of customers, partners, employees and communities where we live and work: We are at a critical moment in history. For too long, institutions that were designed to uphold justice for individuals of all backgrounds have failed to provide equitable solutions to Black and African American populations in the United States and disenfranchised populations around the world. In this new era of social change, silence is compliance.... Read More
June 9, 2020 |
Think Fast: Fulfillment Center Planning Amid E-Commerce Chaos
Ecommerce was already eating away at brick and mortar retail sales. Since the onset of COVID 19 consumers have now greatly accelerated this shift. A large portion of this growth is from customers who are first time e-commerce shoppers with these brands. It is expected however, that a lot of these customers will be converts forever. Further fueling the constant trend in higher e-commerce volumes. Source: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/05/13/technology/online-shopping-buying-sales-coronavirus.html It is no surprise that this recent demand shock has stressed the fulfillment center operations of many retailers – evident by their increased shipping... Read More
June 3, 2020 |
What I learned about supply chain disruption sourcing PPE from China
How do you keep essential products moving during the biggest disruption of the century? COVID-19 has caused wild swings in demand, unpredictable disruptions to supply, and anomalous capacity constraints on a global scale. Matt Tichon joins Matt Gunn to share his personal account of the challenges and innovation that’s gone into scaling up a new supply chain to deliver PPE to those who need it the most. ... Read More
May 19, 2020 |
The Success of Digital Twins and Why They Matter Even More
Tim Judge, President and CEO of Agillitics presents his view on the purpose and creation of a Digital Twin to help Supply Chain organizations develop a nimble technique for quickly solving business questions that in the past only needed to be answered on a monthly, quarterly or yearly cadence. First step? Bite small, chew fast as you map things out. The Digital Twin is an idea that has grown over... Read More
May 8, 2020 |
A One-Year Journey with the Global Impact Team
FOREWORD By Ryan Purcell, LLamasoft Director of Global Impact One of the best parts of working at LLamasoft is getting to meet and work with all the smart, interesting, friendly, and fun LLamas in our Herd – folks like Emily Cho. As an intern over the past year, Emily showed a willingness to work and curiosity to learn that left a positive impact across LLamasoft. She hit the ground running... Read More
May 4, 2020 |
Demand Prioritization During COVID-19 Disruption
As economies and markets ramp to reopen, keeping a pulse on the current state of the COVID-19 pandemic and analyzing the impact to your customer demand will help you make more informed short-term forecasting and supply chain planning decisions. Rearview mirror methods that solely use your internal, historical point of sale, shipment and order data are not relevant as they rely on the assumption that past patterns are indicative of... Read More
May 1, 2020 |
How to Emerge Stronger and More Competitive Post Disruption
Who knew when we recorded this podcast March 6th in San Francisco with Sam Israelit, Partner in the Global Supply Chain Group at Bain, we would shelter in place as the COVID-19 pandemic spread beyond two countries, to many. Our topic was somewhat prescient, talking about the massive changes due to external forces beyond what businesses can control, and the resulting change in business models that require a shift in... Read More
April 29, 2020 |
E-Commerce Cockpit for Your CPG Supply Chain Fighter Pilots
A Fundamental Shift in the Retail Supply Chain There has been a fundamental shift in the retail supply chain as commercial leverage has moved downstream from vendors to the retailers. Not too long-ago manufacturers had leverage to establish attributes like package size, case packs, replenishment lot sizes and, to a large extent, the locations of replenishment. For most manufacturers, controlling those attributes is referred to by industry veterans simply as... Read More
April 29, 2020 |
What You Don’t Know About Your Supply Chain Can (and Will) Hurt You
Whether you’re operating out of your garage or running a multibillion-dollar enterprise, odds are high that your business relies on a global supply chain. And as the COVID-19 pandemic has shown us, those global supply chains are often more delicate than we think. Supply Chain Risk Management Consortium founder, Greg Schlegel joins Matt Gunn for an engaging discussion on the nature of risk, how to identify it, and the crucial... Read More
April 20, 2020 |
Sustainability and Adaptability in the Age of Disruption with enVista
Want Sustainability? Design a More Efficient Supply Chain LLamasoft has sustainability at its core and our partners are no different. LLamasoft partner enVista is also dedicated to the practice of sustainability and is a seven-time recipient of the Supply & Demand Chain Executive Green Supply Chain Award. Their goal is to help reduce a company’s overall footprint which reduces pollution while improving service and profitability. The right combination of perspective,... Read More
April 3, 2020 |
What the US Army Can Teach Us About Leadership in a Crisis – Adapt & Thrive Podcast
From the rapid rise of new business models and unexpected competition to the disruptive force of COVID-19, enterprises have entered a new age where the never normal operating conditions are the new normal. Although there is no clear end to the disruption caused by the pandemic, leaders in the front lines of the supply chain face the challenge of keeping critical goods moving in order to protect their business and,... Read More
February 28, 2020 |
AI, Robotics, Resiliency, Circular Economy and Other Topics at RILA Supply Chain Conference
The world around us is changing at a pace that most did not imagine was possible just a few decades ago. “Never Normal” is rapidly becoming, “The New Normal”. Market forces on the supply side, changing consumer preferences on the demand side and innovative uses of technology by retailers are all ushering in an era of productivity and convenience like never before. Many of these key themes were highlighted at... Read More
February 24, 2020 |
As technology evolves, so should our skills
By Ryan Hicks, Director of Learning Experience at LLamasoft The skills required to deliver business value are shifting with technology and time. Development of those skills must reflect a similar shift in technology and your learning and development philosophy will not escape the IoT, mobile technology, machine learning (ML), artificial and augmented intelligence (AI) and other emerging tech trends without sacrificing a competitive advantage. Skills are in demand which means... Read More
February 17, 2020 |
The Impact of Artificial Intelligence and Automation on Supply Chain Careers
By Vikram Murthi, Vice President, Industry Strategy, LLamasoft Rapid advances in automation and Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies have the potential to significantly disrupt supply chain roles. While automation and AI can augment the productivity of some supply chain workers, they can replace the work done by others and will likely transform almost all work to some degree. Experts and pundits put the impact of these advances broadly into two buckets... Read More
February 14, 2020 |
Digital Transformation is More than Arcane Wizardry – Adapt or Die Podcast
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February 10, 2020 |
Hack the Supply Chain with Your Digital Twin
By Vikram Murthi, Vice President, Industry Strategy, LLamasoft Psychologists refer to the happiness hack and give us tips on changing our relationships and habits to leap beyond our present melancholy and move to a state of well-being and joy. Neuroscientists are trying to hack the human brain by implanting electrodes or using functional MRI (fMRI) to get insights into its relationship to body movement, learning, memories and emotions. Marketers now resort... Read More
February 5, 2020 |
7 Steps to Build Your Digital Supply Chain Twin
We’re our pleased to host a guest blog from our partner Agillitics that provided their own perspective on how to approach the creation of a digital twin – a key component of our new platform offering, llama.ai. This was originally published on their blog on January 28, 2020. Today, as our partner LLamasoft announces the release of their llama.ai platform, we are sharing our perspective the steps organizations should take... Read More
January 15, 2020 |
Artificial Intelligence is Accelerating Business-to-Consumer Response
By Vikram Murthi, Vice President, Industry Strategy, LLamasoft I got an email recently from Amazon, that as a Prime member, I was now eligible for free grocery delivery, which previously cost $14.99/month with the AmazonFresh grocery delivery service. Amazon is rolling out this free service in phases. But soon, a large fraction of Prime members will have free grocery delivery services. This will put tremendous pressure on very large brick-and-mortar... Read More
December 30, 2019 |
The F.O.R.C.E is Strong with Kimberly-Clark
Planning Optimization with LLamasoft to deliver a Digital Twin and Repeatable App underpinned by AWS When one-quarter of the world’s population uses your company’s products, you have a significant planning system to wrangle. Three years ago, Kimberly-Clark started down its strategic path to 2022 where they could use the FORCE (Focus On Reducing Costs Everywhere) to: grow their portfolio of iconic brands, leverage cost and financial discipline and allocate capital... Read More
December 18, 2019 |
5 Mind-Blowing Uses for Enterprise Artificial Intelligence
Artificial intelligence (AI) is changing the ways businesses do business and consumers consume. From initiatives like customer-centricity and inventory management to predicting the future and helping human lives, the use cases for AI are seemingly limitless. LLamasoft works with many of the world’s largest enterprises across more than a dozen industries – all of which are impacted by the advancements of AI and machine learning (ML). After our recent acquisition... Read More
December 10, 2019 |
Inside one grocery CEO’s quest to transform delivery – Adapt or Die Podcast
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December 5, 2019 |
Event Takeaways from LLamaCon Japan
LLamaCon Japan 2019, a supply chain conference took place in October 2019 At LLamaCon Japan 2019, Carlos Valderrama, senior vice president of customer success at LLamasoft Inc. gave a keynote speech. Hitachi Transport System and PepsiCo shared their success stories and best practices. [Sponsor Company] Platinum sponsor: Nomura Research Institute, Ltd. [Main Conference] LLamasoft keynote (Carlos Valderrama, LLamasoft Inc.) During the keynote session, Carlos addressed the importance of data-based... Read More
November 15, 2019 |
AI Powered Enterprise Decisioning on Display at LLamaCon EMEA 2019
“Decisioning in today’s world is about allocating scarce resources under uncertainty,” said Caspar Berry, a professional poker player and risk expert during his keynote at the just concluded LLamaCon EMEA 2019 held in the historic city of Prague. With that statement, he had the full attention of a roomful of 225 supply chain professionals representing 80 countries and 25 companies! In a world where change is the new constant, uncertainty... Read More
October 31, 2019 |
5 Scary External Factors for Supply Chains
Meeting demand for fun-sized candies and trending costumes is only one grisly scenario supply chain professionals face. One thing Halloween can teach us is having the right inventory available at the start of the season is much better than empty shelves – yet no one wants too much leftover inventory on November 1st. Supply chains serve just about every person in the world. It’s a careful balancing act to ensure... Read More
October 9, 2019 |
Artificial Intelligence and the Supply Chain Disruptor
Can you see the minute changes that influence your supply chain daily? Even the most successful companies that spend time caring for their supply chain may miss the subtle clues of change that can snowball into something big if not reviewing and optimizing your network on a regular basis. Think of the many data inputs that feed your supply chain – customer demand information, available inventory, network configuration, distribution center... Read More
September 30, 2019 |