Thinking on supply chain intelligence
From the LinkedIn series: practitioner perspectives on profit-oriented SCM, decision architecture, and the gap between planning systems and intelligence.
The Two Clocks of Inventory: Balancing Cost vs. Leverage
Inventory management involves two simultaneous, opposing metrics: the cost curve and the negotiation leverage curve. Understanding this intersection is critical before options vanish.
The High Price of "Deal With It Later"
Delaying action on slow-moving inventory is consistently the most expensive decision an organisation can make, leading to total margin collapse.
Beyond the "Unprofitable" Label: The 3 Layers of SKU Loss
Classifying all loss-making SKUs under a single label prevents targeted resolution. Effective remediation requires distinguishing between three specific layers of loss.
What Consulting Taught Me — and What the Ground Made Me Realise
Profit leakage follows the same structure, wherever you look. The Aggregation Trap and the Long-tail Trap explain why loss-making SKUs survive undetected.
Why No-Touch Planning Still Ends in Spreadsheets
Planning systems do not all do the same job. Some consolidate plans. Others are where plans are actually formed, tested, and reshaped as conditions change. Only the second type moves closer to autonomy.
Before Automation, Define the Decision Architecture
A system cannot meaningfully automate a decision that the organisation itself has not clearly defined. Five elements must be explicit before any planning decision becomes operationally credible.
A Planning System Is Not Yet Intelligence
Planning tells you what the rules say should happen next. Intelligence tells you what happens to the margin when rules are broken — and whether breaking them might actually be the right answer.
The Deletion Trap
When a loss-making SKU is removed, the costs it absorbed don't disappear — they redistribute. The upside is capped. The downside is open-ended. Simulation before deletion is mandatory.