The Strategic Supplier: What I Wish Every Executive Knew
There’s a lesson I learned in the late ’90s I won’t forget. I was running the supply chain for a telecom company during a boom cycle. Business was exploding, and like a lot of companies at the time, we were pushing hard—ramping capacity, driving suppliers to increase output, and betting big on our forecasts. We […]
Is Your Supply Chain Optimization a Strategic Advantage — or a Liability?
Most organizations don’t realize how much value they’re losing through their supply chains, missing key opportunities in supply chain optimization and digital transformation to drive operational excellence. I’ve seen it time and again: inventory that looks healthy on paper, but in practice, it’s either stuck, stale, or scattered. Metrics that are being tracked religiously, but […]
Rethinking Collaboration: How Trust Transforms Supply Chains
“Collaboration” makes for a nice slide. Clean. Polished. Easy to nod along to in a boardroom. But the real thing? It’s raw. It’s messy. It’s uncomfortable as hell. Real collaboration happens in the hard moments — when someone on the floor speaks up, even if it’s not what the boss wants to hear. When a […]
Balancing Supply and Demand: Key to Business Performance
As someone who’s been helping businesses thrive for decades, I’ve learned that effective strategy development is all about finding the right balance between supply and demand. It’s a delicate dance that requires constant communication, data-driven decision-making, and the ability to adapt quickly to changing market conditions. The Universal Instrument Experience I’ll never forget the experience […]
Aligning Sales and Operations for Sustainable Growth
As a business leader, one of your key responsibilities is to ensure your organization can consistently meet customer demand while maintaining operational efficiency. This delicate balance is the core of sales and operations planning (S&OP)–a cross-functional process that aligns your sales forecasts with your production and inventory capabilities. Done right, S&OP creates a shared view […]
What To Do About Your Supply Chain Problems
In recent years, supply chain resiliency has become a critical focus for businesses across industries. As new challenges arise and existing ones persist, organizations are reevaluating their strategies to build resilience and mitigate potential risks. As CBS continues to work with the industry to mitigate the risk, here are some of the key trends currently […]
Navigating High Interest Rates: Strategies that Actually Work
Interest rates have always had a profound impact on the manufacturing sector. As an economic inevitability, their rise can take businesses by surprise, triggering a series of responses to mitigate the effects. While I’m not an economist, throughout my decades in the industry I’ve noticed several trends in the industry as businesses grapple with these […]
A Fresh Approach to Optimizing Supply Chain Efficiency
If the COVID-19 epidemic taught the manufacturing industry anything, it was the significance of an efficient and streamlined supply chain. When supply chain issues arise, businesses often tend to solely focus on external factors and fail to recognize the potential for improvement within their own internal processes. Let’s take a look at the importance of […]
Putting Certainty Back into Supply Chain Management
Supply chain management, traditionally, has been a complex negotiation process between customers, vendors, and suppliers. This intricate dance of agreeing on specifications, requirements, delivery, parts, and more results in a delivery schedule that customers rely on for their production needs. However, this system is not without its flaws. Last-minute disruptions can occur when vendors fail […]
SIOP: The Heartbeat of Success
Is your company facing challenges with … Obsolete inventory. Meeting customer demand. Supply chain issues. Cash flow. Overstocked inventory. and more? You are not alone. CBS Provides Timely, Proven Solutions While these circumstances can feel overwhelming, there is help available with proven and timely solutions. Our consultants at Competitive Business Solutions regularly assist managers […]