As we have moved to virtual briefings, I have increasingly been excerpting short video segments (with permission) as part of my Analyst Cam series.
This time it is Martin Rowan, Managing Partner of Reveal USA, based in Chicagoland.
Their website says “Our mission is to use our knowledge of the supply chain as an indispensable link toward commercial success and social good.”
Their client base ranges from global companies like BP to local Chicago-based companies with two common threads - they run SAP and they run some kind of a supply chain. “So, they make, buy, sell, distribute something - whether it's minerals, petroleum, petrochemicals or consumer goods.”
With 160 projects over the last couple of decades. he says he can actually guarantee results for clients - inventory reductions, turns and service level improvements, process efficiencies and product production throughput increase.
I like the client maturity model and the operational use cases he shares. And the sherpa metaphor he uses to describe how they help clients scale mountains.
As we have moved to virtual briefings, I have increasingly been excerpting short video segments (with permission ) as part of my Analyst Cam series.
This time it is Matthew Wright, Founder and CEO of Specright which provides specification data management to Fortune 1000 companies with complex needs.
They were introduced to me by SAP.iO Foundries, which represent SAP’s startup programs, including accelerators, that enable startups that can deliver value to SAP customers (see their presentation here ).
Specright was one of the startups in their Sustainability cohort last year but as you will hear precision in specifications can have an impact in every process which touches raw materials, ingredients, formulas, packaging and finished goods.
Matthew’s passion comes from a couple of decades in the packaging industry. As he describes in his book The Evolution of Products and Packaging, we have seen an explosion in SKUs and complexity in supply chains. As he says, existing ERP, PLM and other software were designed before complexity grew exponentially, and the lack of focus on specifications is the root cause of many supply chain issues we are seeing. BTW, Gartner identified them as a Cool Vendor in their Supply Chain category in 2020.
He presents on three customers and how they have benefited from better specs – one reduced scrap production, the second reduced spend on corrugate packaging and the third in sourcing a critical ingredient across multiple product SKUs. He also describes how they have helped industries set standards and work with other bodies which are tasked with defining them.
Very nicely done, and I am looking forward to reading his book.
As we have moved to virtual briefings, I have increasingly been excerpting short video segments (with permission ) as part of my Analyst Cam series.
This time it is Ashley Etling, co-founder and CEO of Limeloop, which is blending material and computer science to redefine packaging, shipping and reverse logistics for retailers
They were introduced to me by SAP.iO Foundries, which represent SAP’s startup programs, including accelerators, that enable startups that can deliver value to SAP customers (see their presentation here ). Limeloop was one of the startups in their Sustainability cohort last year.
In Limeloop world, products are shipped by retailers in their reusable packaging (in 3 sizes - weatherproof and temperature controlled) instead of cardboard boxes. The fabric is made from recycled billboard vinyl. Consumers use a prepaid shipping label to return the packages to a 3PL which sanitizes and redistributes them. They are designed to be reused over 200 times. In contrast, cardboard boxes can be reused only a handful of times. They supplement the packaging with sensors and a platform to track and trace shipments so the retailers get plenty of data beyond tracking information – package open rates, temperature data etc.
That could potentially eliminate millions of tons of waste in discarded boxes, emissions during recycling and countless hours in dealing with customer calls and returns, not to mention lower packaging costs for retailers – Ashley says 40% in those savings.
Ashley does a nice job is under 15 minutes covering her customer base, the landscape of other players in the emerging circular economy/reverse logistics space and the pedigree of her management team, investors and advisers.
As we have moved to virtual briefings, I have increasingly been excerpting short video segments (with permission ) as part of my Analyst Cam series.
This time it is Giacomo Franchini, founder and CEO of SupplHi which provides a sourcing and vendor management platform for complex industrial manufacturers and service providers
They were introduced to me by SAP.iO Foundries, which represent SAP’s startup programs, including accelerators, that enable startups that can deliver value to SAP customers (see their presentation to me here ). SupplHi was one of the startups in their Sustainability cohort last year.
Giacomo estimates SupplHi’s addressable market at $33 trillion or 30% of global GDP. This includes verticals like shipbuilding, energy equipment makers and various product manufacturing. He is a former Bain strategy consultant and unafraid to tackle complicated challenges which typify that world. As an example, they have built their own standard categorizations by verticals to better classify the nearly 70,000 suppliers across 100+ countries on their platform. As he says, you can drill down into not one, but 70 different types of pumps.
He spends time talking about the sustainability challenge – this segment is estimated to account for 21% of total CO2 emissions. You can measure suppliers on their pollution, energy efficiency and waste management attributes, and other ESG metrics like those on health and safety and governance.
Their supplier base and category filters also position them as useful sourcing tools. He provides an overview on a couple of large customers who use them more broadly like Fincantieri, a shipbuilder with over 12,000 suppliers and Maire Tecnimont, an engineering and construction company with over 30,000 suppliers.
I liked several things about SupplHi. They are tackling direct suppliers in highly specialized verticals. Too many other networks primarily focus on indirect, back office spend. In a separate conversation, Giacomo told me about his global experience while at Bain. We also talked about Italy’s creativity and industrial design aesthetics. The vertical and geographic quotient of this team is impressive, to say the least.
As we have moved to virtual briefings, I have increasingly been excerpting short video segments (with permission ) as part of my Analyst Cam series.
This time it is Guy Courtin, VP of Industry and Advanced Technology for Tecsys, a Toronto based supply chain software company. He had previously presented in this series about warehouse bots when he was at 6 River Systems
Tecsys is not a new company by any means (they were founded in 1983) but with all the supply chain chaos in the last couple of years, they have seen growing opportunities especially in the health care, retail and distribution verticals they focus on.
While Guy goes into product details I liked how he covered trends in those verticals. He talks about cold chain logistics in vaccine delivery and Integrated Delivery Networks (IDNs) in healthcare. We talk about reverse logistics, micro-fulfillment, direct to consumer and private label trends in retail and distribution. We spend some time on Costco’s Kirkland brand.
We talk about how lean inventories may be a thing of the past and how that is affecting inventory depot and warehouse sizing and design. He discusses the impact of sustainability on supply chains. And how consumer expect similar experiences across industries. (Accenture’s design agency Fjord has a term for that - “liquid expectations”)
He talks about how the supply chain planning market is evolving – still cannot handle the execution intricacies they can. And how broader planning vendors are still better at financial and hr planning, not supply chain.
He also discusses their own journey from an on-prem to a cloud vendor.
There is a lot of talk these days about the “Great Resignation” wave. To start off with, its not just resignations, there also retirements and relocations. But people are not staying home watching Netflix or playing golf, many of these ‘migrants” are starting a new generation of small businesses. It is in a wave of what I call micro-capitalism.
The changes have actually been happening for a while but the pandemic has significantly accelerated them. 5 years ago, when researching labor trends for my book on automation, Silicon Collar, I observed what I called the Alt-Job economy. People were glibly calling it the gig economy – there were many cross-currents underneath. Developers in the iOS ecosystem, people selling arts and crafts on Etsy, franchise owners, ethnic grocers, alternative healthcare practitioners among them – I summarized them in this blog post.
The last couple of years have only increased the fragmentation. Lots more small merchants are taking advantage of micro-fulfillment platforms that Spotify and others provide. Many savvy real estate professionals are launching syndicates with knowledge of regional markets and getting funded via sites like Crowdstreet. VCs are broadly investing LOTS more in startups. According to CB Insights, Global venture funding reached a record $621B in 2021, more than double the 2020 mark of $294B. According to Venture Forward, a multiyear research program from GoDaddy to quantify this entrepreneurial activity, Americans created 2.8 million more online microbusinesses in 2020 than in 2019. If they are not starting new businesses, lots of them are actively trading on platforms like Robinhood.
I have seen it first-hand at home. My daughter is a global traveler and would come back and tell of “digital nomads” working from Chiang Mai and Bali. As the pandemic started, she left her job in the hospitality sector and started a life coaching service and has clients around the world. After a long stint at psychiatric hospitals and clinics, my wife recently retired. But it is not “retire” in the traditional sense of the word. She is inspired by Tom Brady, the ageless quarterback of our home team, the Buccaneers. I am also seeing the “Great Relocation” as countless people move to our state and others like Texas. Some moved because their employers allowed them to work from anywhere. Many others did not move for a job. They are attracted by the potential for a more vibrant, entrepreneurial lifestyle. It is also fascinating to see them move to secondary and tertiary cities. Lots more people want a semi-rural lifestyle and retailers like Tractor Supply Co are growing exponentially as they provide them with poultry and other small farming needs.
Going forward, I plan to cover this trend of micro-capitalism a lot closer. Hopefully, in doing so, I can also help investors with some of their analysis. Ditto with HR and Procurement vendors and professionals who help with talent acquisition/development and supplier diversity. There are some truly profound changes happening in the entrepreneur, talent and supply chain economies.
In the 59th episode of Burning Platform, we (again) host Bob Ferrari of Supply Chain Matters.
We have a wide ranging conversation around supply chains - the challenges in the semiconductor sector, the chaos at the California ports, the labor shortages.
It's not all bad - we discuss the massive scaling of micro-fulfillment and last mile delivery. We discuss why after years of talk, we may see large amounts of manufacturing move back, why the Panama Canal widening may drive a lot more traffic to other N American ports, why the trend of direct-to-consumer is likely to accelerate.
We also discuss shifts in supply chain philosophies - away from lowest cost to resiliency focus and from just in time to just in case. We discuss sustainability and impact on supply chains, and we discuss technology - SCM software and automation in fulfillment.
Lots of ground in half an hour. More to come as supply chains will continue to dominate attention for several more months. Hopefully, it will not be because Santa had to deliver many lumps of coal instead of gifts stuck in containers.
As we have moved to virtual briefings, I have increasingly been excerpting short video segments (with permission ), as part of my Analyst Cam series.
I have invited SAP to present updates on various verticals as I discussed here
This time it is Achim Schneider, Global Head, SAP Retail Business Unit. It is a two part conversation.
In Part 1 below which runs about 18 minutes he discusses customer centricity and a "Segment of One" - the front office focus.
In Part 2 tomorrow he will cover in a slightly longer episode, logistics/supply chain issues, the store of the future and new business models, and a roadmap for further SAP innovation.
As we have moved to virtual briefings, I have increasingly been excerpting short video segments (with permission ) as part of my Analyst Cam series.
This time, it is Tom Ryan, my former Gartner colleague. Along with Michael Wohlwend, Managing Principal at Alpine Supply Chain Solutions, they recently presented an hour-long webinar "Battle of the Bots" focused on warehouse automation. They kindly allowed me to excerpt about 18 minutes below.
One of the most sophisticated examples of warehouse automation has shown up in Amazon's massive fulfillment centers. I wrote about my tour to one here. I also excerpted from their virtual tour of 5 of their centers in the Analyst Cam episode here. I also interviewed the co-CEOs of 6 River Systems (now part of Spotify, both Amazon alums) last year, and also had an Analyst Cam episode on their bots here.
Tom discussed 6 fulfillment methods/use cases where robots increasingly participate. I have excerpted 3 below - Goods to Person, Order to Person and Long Distance Product Moves. He also discusses some of the vendors and models for each. I have also included his commentary on economics of such automation.
Very nicely done in plain English and with crisp graphics.
The full webinar which contains more commentary on the evolution of warehouse automation, some polling and q&a during the webinar and 3 other fulfillment scenarios is available here.
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