SupplyChainBrain
November 2009


“Time to Take a Second Look at Railcar Planning”
Harpal Singh, PhD and CEO of Supply Chain Consultants explains how coordinating the distribution of bulk products with manufacturing can reduce the total distribution costs for your company.

Dilf Special
September 2009


“S&OP in a Depressed Economy”
Demand is weak and getting weaker. It's becoming harder and harder to borrow money to finance day-to-day operations. People are being let go. Those who remain have more and more to do.

Why should we continue with time-consuming sales and operations planning? This article explains how managing the S&OP process and its component parts are an integral part that allows you to manage your business during and economic downturn.

Manufacturing Today
Summer 2009


“Driving Improvements: Greening Your Supply Chain Can Yield Big Results”
In light of climate change concerns, protecting the enviroment has become a priority for many organizations and the line between awareness and action is still tentative. Supply Chain's Consultants' Farah Marasigan and Harpal Singh explain in this article how all indications are emphasising that reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions is not something that will go away any time soon.

CSCMP's Supply Chain Quaterly
July 2009


“When Supply Chains Merge: 5 Mistakes to Avoid”
Most mergers and acquisitions fail to live up to expectations. All too often companies focus on quick-fix cost-cutting opportunities and ignore the long-term, strategic supply chain implications. Supply Chain Consultants' CEO, Harpal Singh, explains the five steps that will help you avoid a trap.

Supply & Demand-Chain Executive
May 2009


“Critical Demand Planning Skills for Difficult Times”
Sujit Singh, chief operating officer of Supply Chain Consultants, provides a checklist of proficiencies and knowledge that demand planners must possess so that their companies can survive and thrive in the current economy.

Food Logistics
May 2008


“Ripe for Success”
Experiencing challenges in forecasting both the supply and demand simultaneously, Sunsweet Growers Inc. of California turned to Supply Chain Consultants’ Zemeter product to improve their demand planning model. Read about how Sunsweet went from using rough numbers on spreadsheets that resulted in an over supply of products to being able to extend their demand planning all the way to fruit utilization and crop forecasting as the year unfolds.

The Packer
March 2008


“Software pays off for Sunsweet Growers”
After investing in Supply Chain Consultants’ Zemeter supply chain planning suite in 2004, Sunsweet Growers Inc. has reached record-breaking returns for a third consecutive year. This article explains how the world’s largest producer of dried fruit has seen a reduction of warehousing, inventory, labor and distribution costs thanks to the implementation of the software. “If you have production variation and some storage time, I think Zemeter is beneficial,” said Harold Upton, vice president of strategic business process for Sunsweet Growers. “I think this is the next wave of supply chain management.”

Global Logistics & Supply Chain Strategies
February 2008


"Growing Demand Brings Its Own Kind of Growing Pains"
Increasing sales of its nitrogen-based products caused Terra Industries of Sioux City, Iowa to look to Supply Chain Consultants’ Zemeter Software to implement a demand planning solution. Read how Zemeter enabled Terra to run statistical and causal analysis scenarios, which ultimately helped Terra maximize their product margins and enabled their facilities to produce the right mix of products to maximize the company’s bottom line.

Managing Automation
October 2007


"Beating the Odds in Global Supply"
After facing two years of disastrously low yields, Sunsweet Growers invested in Supply Chain Consultant’s Zemeter supply chain planning suite in order to help them plan accordingly. Thanks to the Zemeter S&OP tool “we have ridden the perfect storm very well. Our president just congratulated the company on achieving the highest profit margin in 10 years. We did that in a market that otherwise would have been a disaster,” says Harold Upton, vice president of strategic business processes for Sunsweet Growers Inc.

Consumer Goods Technology
October 2007


"Taste of Success"
Representing more than one-third of the prune market worldwide, Sunsweet Growers provides 40,000 cases of dried fruit products to retail and food service outlets each day, but at one point or another, Sunsweet faces supply chain challenges. This article explains how Supply Chain Consultant’s Zemeter supply chain planning suite helps manage Sunsweet’s rapidly changing business environment. Through Zemeter’s forecasting functionalities, Sunsweet was able to help their member growers hit their highest financial returns in the history of the company.

Manufacturing Business Technology
April 2007


"Production Scheduling leads to fluid processes for coffee supplier Mother Parkers"
Mother Parkers Tea & Coffee in Mississauga, Ontario installed a unique solution designed by Supply Chain Consultants that created optimal schedules for the plant's 26 packaging lines. This article explains how SCC was able to trace each product backward from packaging through all production stages, create algorithms to account for each stage, and consolidate runs of blends and packaging types to minimize changeover on the packaging lines saving both time and money.

Supply Chain Management Review
March 2007


"Balanced S&OP: Sunsweet Grower’s story"
Harold Upton, vice president of strategic processes at Sunsweet Growers, Inc. and Dr. Harpal Singh, co-founder and CEO of Supply Chain Consultants discuss the successful results of implementing an S&OP program for the California-based dried fruit company.

Inbound Logistics
January 2007


"8 Commom-Sense Rules for Inventory Management"
Techniques and practices of Inventory management vary by industry, but when looking at the big picture, the process can be reduced. Jane Lee, Vice President, Supply Chain Solutions for Supply Chain Consultants discusses how eight common-sense principles can simplify Inventory management.

Global Logistics & Supply Chain Strategies
September 2006


"Low-Margin Products, High-Service Demands Drives Innovene's Supply Chain Choices"
Operating in the highly competitive petrochemical market, INEOS subsidiary Innovene needed a supply chain solution that would help it produce at low cost and keep inventories in check while meeting all of its customers' needs. After doing research on different systems, Innovene decided to implement the Zemeter supply chain software suite from Supply Chain Consultants.

Food Logistics
June 2006


"Brewing a Better Schedule"
Mother Parker's Tea and Coffee tackles manufacturing complexity with a scheduling system from SCC. "With the improved visibility in the schedule, we have saved several million dollars in inventory reduction," says Will Kappel, vice president of supply chain at Mother Parkers.

Global Logistics & Supply Chain Strategies
June 2006


"Supply Chain Assessment Isn't Child's Play. You Need a True Specialist"
Jane Lee, director of supply chain solutions for Supply Chain Consultants discusses the critical aspects of supply chain assessment, and the synergistic advantages of blending tools and processes for the best results.

Inbound Logistics
December 2005


"Demanding a Better Forecast"
A demand forecasting methodology that blends input from multiple sources is the right formula for one chemical manufacturer. Paul Johnson, director of supply chain planning at Hexion Chemicals says his company's forecasting has improved by 25 percent since implementing Zemeter.

Control Magazine
October 2005


"Supply Chain Management Bears Fruit at Sunsweet"
Harold Upton, vice president of strategic business processes at Sunsweet Growers shares how the Zemeter software suite from Supply Chain Consultants has generated meaningful savings such as cutting production overruns from 30 to 12 percent.

Global Logistics & Supply Chain Strategies
June 2005


"Major Manufacturer of Package Glass in Brazil Clearly Sees a Need for Demand Planning Tool"
Manufacturing both blown and press glass since 1955, CIV located in Recife, Brazil, was looking for better forecast of their demand, “We knew we would vastly improve our business processes if we could more accurately forecast our demand in the retail market,” says Odir Pedrazzi, operations director for the manufacturer. The Zemeter Software by Supply Chain Consultants was able to do just that for CIV, with the joint sales and marketing effort of Modus and Qualilog, SCC”s Partners in Brazil.

MSI Magazine
November 2004


"Planning With the Big "S" Sales & Operations planning (S&OP) Comes of Age to Suit the Demand Driven Suppy Networt."
Mark Wells, director of customer fulfillment at EMD Chemicals talks about how Zemeter has helped facilitate a significant cultural change and fostered collaboration across the supply chain.

Global Logistics & Supply Chain Strategies
October 2004


"How Sweet it Is! From Spreadsheets to Automated Planning"
Sunsweet Growers wanted a full suite of automated demand, inventory and supply planning functionality. Harold Upton, vice president of strategic business processes discusses the evaluation process they followed and why they selected Zemeter over five other potential solutions to manage their supply chain.