Many of us have heard the saying, “If you’re not first, you’re last” or “First is the only place that really matters.” Although that isn’t entirely accurate, it can truly feel that way when you miss the opportunity to be first to market with a new product. While Research & Development, Marketing, and Sales may…
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Often in supply chain, we talk about breaking down the silos and working across functional areas. However, there is one place where we want to still respect the division of responsibilities and that is the data between master data and transactional data. Master data should be heavily governed and does not typically change that often….
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Like many, I rose through various roles in Supply Chain due to my skills in crisis management. I had a cape and I wore it both proudly and regularly. As my responsibilities grew and I had a scope that covered planning all the way through manufacturing and distribution, it became clear. Organizationally, we needed to…
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Ok, I’ll admit it…I like a good strategy board game- you know, the ones that come with the long rule books and take hours to play. I like modeling scenarios and playing them through, trying to beat the problem or the clock, learning from the outcomes and repeating it all again. When my manager came…
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Becoming a procurement leader in today’s rapidly changing environment often comes down to one key factor: those who actively manage to spend based on real-time insights will generate cost savings. Those who rely on traditional spend management practices will not. For your organization, that means knowing what is bought and how it is being bought…
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First Scenario Mike: “Hello Bob. We have a big order that is starting production next week. Let’s make sure everything is to finish that up.” Bob: “Yeah Mike, just got a health check report from one of the equipment on our main production line. If we run the order through that line, the equipment will…
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The True Value That Comes from Effective EAM Working inside the system and effectively using the standard functionality you have already paid for, is a mantra that we at Reveal continue to propagate. The intent is to get the deserved Return On Investment (ROI) from the SAP ERP investment that you have already made. I…
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Work management processes are all following the same principals and even though some minor idiosyncrasies exist between industries the high-level principals remain consistent. Some companies are more successful than others when it comes to performing work management. If the processes are fairly the same, then why are some of us more successful than others? To…
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What does an enterprise gain by having precise production planning & production execution information in SAP? This is one of the many key questions when trying to achieve 100% customer service levels with the caveat to possess as little inventory as possible. A Make to Order (MTO) planning strategy would satisfy this goal if it…
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Real-time availability of production data and information is increasingly becoming critical in a modern-day connected manufacturing environment. ERP systems like SAP provide the backbone of tools that IT organizations use to model manufacturing processes. An optimized environment allows these organizations to model in detail, their products and processes providing seamless data flow across their internal…
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In this series of manufacturing execution, we will start to look into some of the pitfalls of the production planning process. Furthermore, how utilizing SAP as the sole source of information, or one system of record, as we like to say, serves to drive efficiencies throughout the supply chain. Imagine if you could harness the power…
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When I was in the operations department, those of us on the shop floor were seen almost as a nuisance and not seen as the last people to touch our products before they got to our customers, so to my mind we were a pretty important nuisance. This was 30+ years ago and it’s only…
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In the digital age, staying competitive requires speed, responsiveness, and innovation, all key drivers of the SAP S/4HANA solution. The impending 2025 deadline, when SAP will end support for ECC6 and by which time all SAP customers should be on S/4HANA, has two possible journeys: The first and most sought after is that all current…
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Many years ago, when I started a position as Operations Manager for a warehouse, I would ask myself questions, such as: Why is this material in the incorrect storage bin? Why are we picking materials this way? How are we so far behind in closing transactions? How are we losing so many materials? How are…
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There are many reasons why it is important to manage by exception. Some include reliance on a single record of truth, full integration throughout the supply chain, greater efficiencies in process and implementation, balanced achievement of supply and demand, improved customer service, and far greater cost efficiencies. Yet there is one more urgent reason to…
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Understanding, and using the power of MRP has many benefits and can help your organizations supply chain greatly. Setting off on the path from imbalance and inefficiency to balanced integration requires recognizing that data and material requirements planning (MRP) are the glue that holds everything together. As MRP runs, it touches everything — materials, BOM,…
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One way to think of exception monitoring is that it is a catalyst for change, letting you know what processes are out of balance and identifying where your energies need to be expended. The goal of understanding the power of exception monitoring is end-to-end supply chain integration. From sales and operations planning through demand management,…
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Exception monitoring is SAP’s way of showing you where your supply chain imbalances are. It’s a very simple method that works extremely well, but only works if everybody who uses SAP has their data set up correctly, trusts the data implicitly, and behaves correctly while analyzing the outputs of the data. Exception monitoring is such…
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There is a natural progression to reap the full benefits of a supply chain that is demand-driven, and it starts with optimizing the performance of your people, processes and SAP. Is everyone working from one system of record and viewing the same set of information to make decisions? Or, are spreadsheets being utilized in many…
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Your SAP ERP system provides decision-driving high-performance analytics that personal information systems (aka. spreadsheets) don’t because of features such as: All this is not to say that spreadsheets don’t have their place. They still offer value for ad hoc analysis and the visualization of data. They can even be linked with advanced digital solutions. But…
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Integration: The supply chain is one of the most critical processes within an organization and it demands that all systems and processes always remain linked. Using multiple personal information systems prevent an organization from becoming fully integrated. Tracking the details of business performance through a series of spreadsheets can quickly morph into a complex patchwork…
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The simple answer: external data sources, such as spreadsheets, kill integration, process efficiency, and visibility. They can cripple a company’s ability to react nimbly, to meet and exceed business goals, and build sustainable and enduring customer relationships. At their best, spreadsheets are good at analyzing historical data without being able to truly excel (no pun…
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Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) began in the 1960s with efforts at planning and scheduling materials for complex manufactured goods. In the 1970s, expensive and clunky MRP solutions began to take shape. In 1972, five engineers in Mannheim, Germany started SAP Systemanalyse und Programmentwicklung) with the purpose of producing and selling software to drive integrated business…
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It starts with aligning your business to your customer reality. Are you Make to Order? Make to Stock? Assemble to Order? Often, companies are misaligned with what they believe they are, how they operate, and how they set up their ERP system. You might think SAP is one-size-fits-all, or that your company is all one…
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It’s responsive, real-time, reliable, and predictable. It’s transparent, trustworthy, and integrated. The Intelligent Enterprise is just that, the ultimate data-driven organization, digitized through integrated systems and empowered to change paradigms. SAP defines the Intelligent Enterprise as one that leverages data assets to achieve desired outcomes faster and with less risk, by enabling employees through process…
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SAP research shows that 72% of CEOs believe that impending technological changes over the next 3 years will have more impact for their industries than the last 50 years combined. Only 5%, however, have been able to turn “digital” into a competitive advantage. Our research has shown there are 9 fundamentals that hold organizations back…
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In the 18th century, Benjamin Franklin, a printer by trade and a scientist by fame, said: “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” Recently, I received a call from a supply chain professional who has 30+ years of operations and supply chain experience, is Lean and APICs certified, and needed some help. He shared…
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Over and over again, I hear people say “SAP did this to me” or ask “Why did SAP do this to me?” While this may be a natural tendency, it is nevertheless a fallacy. SAP is not a sentient being, and it is not capable of “doing something” to a human. SAP does not make…
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There are times when using By-Product/Co-Product functionality is mandatory, or else be ready to pay significant consequences in managing your manufacturing operations using related SAP ECC functionality. What is By-Product/Co-Product? By-Product/Co-Product is manufacturing functionality where a single PP-PI/PP (Incl.PP-REM) order reflects that fact, and when attempting to produce inventory for a single material, the manufacturing…
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Reveal promotes the phrase “Changing lives, One Supply Chain At a time.” We turned these words into a core belief just less than 5 years ago in recognition that true change is really about the people, not about the technology. Truthfully, that might be over-simplifying the matter. We all understand that in today’s world, anything…
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In life, we have rules set up to guide different processes. There are rules for driving, rules for paying your bills online and there are rules that we set for our kids. Each one of these rules can be in three different states; they can either be followed, bent, or broken. We’ve all seen the…
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Culture fit gets a lot of attention by hiring managers, interviewers, and recruiters. But what does that mean? It does not mean to hire everyone just like you, diversity is what makes companies stronger. Make sure you’re not accidentally building a team of people who all think, look and act the exact same way. A…
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The Lack of Alignment Between Strategy and Execution Recently Gartner commented at a conference that, if organizations want to be or remain world-class, they need to consider spending 8 times more on execution than they spend on innovation. What?! Just yesterday everyone was saying ~ “innovate or die”. The context to the statement was not…
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This article introduces the concept of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and knowledge-based systems in a world where AI is now the buzzword. In doing so, this first part of the article looks at AI’s historical origin. In a subsequent article, the generic architecture that embraces such systems and a reasoning strategy based on fuzzy logic concepts…
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In my many years of working in various industry sectors, I have seen different organizational structures and heard differing opinions of what a Supply Chain is and what the role of the Supply Chain Manager is. In this article, I want to share with you the insight I have formed about what a Supply Chain…
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There I was, entering the office of the Customer Service manager (we’ll call her Maria because, well, that’s her name) at a new client when a framed picture on her wall caught my eye. It read: DID YOU JUST CALL MY BABY…UGLY? It reminded me of the Seinfeld episode where the gang learned that it’s…
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What Does Globalization Entail for the Modern Supply Chain? Before we had the luxury of exchanging information at the pace we do today, we relied on discussions by telephones, letters or memos. International transportation was limited to ships and local transportation moved at a snail’s pace. The business was localized and large companies were siloed….
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There are several challenges in an oVo® project especially when it comes to the Realization phase leading up to the Sustain phase. The challenges we face are predominantly people-centric and like it or not that is a make or a break kind of deal in terms of whether we can help the Process Aligned Team accomplish…
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Have you ever wondered why organizations appear to have Change Management programs that are separate from Leadership programs? I have! In my own experience with these programs, I have noticed that change is a constant theme … and Leaders are always in the midst of it in their organization or project. This change that Leaders…
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I heard this expression the other day and I could not help but think how that expression has changed over the years. First and foremost, who pays with cash anymore, and secondly who even carries cash? This world over the last several years has changed so significantly from how we pay for goods and services…
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This is an old adage that I have believed in when dealing with complex situations. I leverage this as part of a team when we are working with a client, optimizing their Supply Chain. Optimizing is about leveraging existing People, Process and Technology to their fullest capability/ability and to be successful everyone must “play their…
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Back when I began my SAP SD career, Sales and Distribution (SD), Materials Management (MM), Production Planning (PP), and FICO (Finance and Controlling) were referred to as modules. At some point, this changed, and they were called functional areas, but they were still easily identifiable as SD, MM, etc., at SAP conferences, on the ASUG…
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Recruiting today has become more of a marketing job for us at Reveal because we hire such a unique skill set that old recruiting techniques are just not relevant anymore. We are constantly seeking ways to reach the passive candidates with the perfect technical skills, business background, consulting experience, and most importantly finding someone who…
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We all dread going to the doctor for that first wellness checkup of the year. Typically it comes at the start of a new year; after all the holiday goodies we’ve consumed, lack of exercise and sleep, not to mention year-end stress. Some of us put off that check-up for months or even years. The…
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SAP’s Integrated Business Planning (SAP IBP) solution is a cloud-based real-time supply chain planning solution powered by SAP Hana in-memory technology. SAP IBP is one of SAP’s best examples of continuous innovation delivery of cloud-based solutions with quarterly releases that cover: Supply Chain Control Tower for an end to end visualization of your entire supply…
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Steps to Ensure Decisions and SC Optimization Activities Are Based upon Timely, Accurate, and Complete Data I have worked with multinational organizations on SCM Optimization initiatives for many years and am still amazed at how often senior management makes allowances to keep and manage critical data outside of the ERP system in … you…
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The Hands-on Education Seminar at SCM Optimization Bootcamp 2.0 December 4-6, 2017, LondonHouse, Chicago This unique learning experience you will not find anywhere else. The informative three-day SCM Optimization Bootcamp event will showcase a full slate of sessions that offer expert supply chain management advice on how to minimize inventory levels, improve service performance, reduce stock-outs with…
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The one thing we know for sure is a forecast can be wrong, so then why are they so important? Supply chains thrive on data, in this case, demand. Rules in SAP (or any ERP system) are designed to align supply to demand. The tricky part of the supply chain is having the right product…
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I have been on the trail of the illusive supply chain strategy for over 30 years. Just when I think I am getting close to a supply chain strategy, it vanishes and the search begins anew. Why is something that is so needed, so difficult to find? As a supply chain consultant who has been…
Read MoreI was sitting with a client this last week and we were talking about SAP’s roadmap to S/4HANA. We were trying to align it with the client’s IT strategy and Reveal’s recommendations for their Supply Chain initiatives. This was a lively discussion with just a little bit of tension about how they were going to…
Read MoreI have been working for Reveal for almost seven years. I joined the team because I loved the Reveal message. Reveal was a home with a methodology, ongoing Value optimization® (oVo®), around principles I had been living by for years. So, the other day when a colleague asked what I go through when I embark…
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MRP, Master Data, and Exception Management Last week I presented the Reveal April 2017 online seminar with the same title as this blog. It followed the theme from my previous blog “Surviving Supply Chain Optimization – Intelligent Demand Segmentation is a key dynamic”. I say that because both subjects aim to drive home the point…
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Being a father whose daughter is a freshman in college, I understand the importance of a good education. More importantly, I also understand it goes beyond textbook smarts. To bring true value to herself, her future family and the organization she may work for, she will need to apply the education she has received in…
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Have you ever been told to do one thing and know you should do the exact opposite? It happens to me all the time. Being a consultant, I travel incessantly – new airports, new cities, new addresses and different rental cars. Every week, I have to figure out how to connect my phone via Bluetooth…
Read Moreby Ed Elsbury Recently, I overheard my daughter’s soccer coach instructing the team on when to use certain tactical skills to move the ball upfield. He used two different scenarios to make his point. The first scenario entailed having the ball on the run in the open field and going up against one defender. The…
Read MoreReveal is proud to announce that our top SAP experts will be presenting at SAPinsider’s Supply Chain Optimization events, taking place in Orlando and Chicago in the last quarter of 2016:
Read MoreIn late June, I will be talking on this topic at the SAP Insider Supply Chain Management conference to be held in Vienna, Austria. I thought I would just share a few highlights before we get into the details at the conference. The topics I will cover in the talk include the following: Techniques to…
Read MoreA customer, placing an order for a product to a manufacturer or distributor, expects a certain service level for that order. In short, the customer typically expects the order to be fulfilled with the correct product, to the correct location, on the promised date and for the correct quantity. These four attributes of an order serve…
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“Transforming What Matters” is more than Reveal’s tagline — not merely a clever sequence of words, but a notion that took a lot of thought and described our inner belief. It describes what we love doing — helping companies change for the better; it describes how we do it — we assess, we transform and we…
Read Moreby Jim Cameron What if your SAP supply chain was truly optimized — what would it mean for your company? What if your initial SAP implementation focused on how you use SAP to improve your business — not on how you install SAP to run your business? What if your go-live acceptance test on inventory…
Read MoreMaintenance Organization Excellence Reveal’s John Bassi will cover 4 webinar sessions throughout the month of May, regarding the topic of Maintenance Organization Excellence. Each session will begin at 11AM CST every Tuesday in May. The sessions will cover: 1. Using core SAP R3 functionality to gain control of your maintenance planning and execution Do your…
Read MoreCIO Review Magazine has listed Reveal as one of the 20 Most Promising Manufacturing Technology Consulting Companies! CIO Review is a technology magazine that talks about the enterprise solutions that can redefine the business goals of enterprises tomorrow. It is the leading source that shares innovative enterprise solutions developed by established solutions providers, upcoming hot enterprises…
Read MoreReveal invites you to join our upcoming December webinar series, Thought Leadership Outlook – What’s Next! On Tuesday, December 10 from 11AM – 12PM, Reveal Thought Leader Joseph Grobler will discuss Basic Techniques that make global supply chains more effective. As supply chains are stretched globally with manufacturing on different continents and consumers stretching across the…
Read MoreRounding off the Maintenance Organization Excellence webinar series, we will follow through to look at some of the LIS reporting tools that help us evaluate our maintenance activity. With processes in place to capture all of the maintenance activity, as well as damage codes, see how this information can be used to drive further process…
Read MoreFind out why 100% of Supply Chain Bootcamp attendees in Chicago, IL recommend and approve of this seminar! The Supply Chain Bootcamp seminar is the only seminar for teams that optimize and improve supply chain management processes using the standard SAP systems already in place. Through interactive lectures and demonstrations you will: *Walk through proven…
Read MoreJoin Reveal on Tuesday Webinars during the month of October 2013. The topic is Production. If you struggle with using the Production functionality in standard SAP these sessions are a good place to start exploring the power of standard SAP. This Webinar series will walk through the process of setting up value streams and then…
Read MoreIs it putting data into, or getting information out of your system? Information systems have become an integral part of the business management landscape. It does not replace the years of business knowledge or experienced decisions to situations, but it does enhance the information available to make informed decisions. Is your planning team focused on…
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