Could Uber Freight future-proof supply chains in Europe?
Logistics is evolving fast, with new technologies supporting the emergence of solutions that are disrupting the status quo. In many markets, a small number of large players dominate, holding a large portion of the overall pie, with the size of operators’ fleets and a track-record on delivering (literally) helping them secure and maintain their advantage and win long-term contracts. But with ...
Walmart: innovating at pace
My colleague, Stewart Samuel, recently published a report outlining Walmart’s digitisation strategy across its store network in the US, having attended Walmart’s Shareholders Week. The event detailed several examples of how Walmart is looking to drive supply chain efficiencies in stores through digitisation and automation of previously manual activities. What became immediately apparent wa...
Customer-centricity: where to start and how to progress
Customer-centric organisations are built around the customer. They measure success from the point of consumption back to the point of creation ; they are functional and organisationally agnostic. While the phrase is becoming increasingly mainstream, truly customer-centric organisations are few and far between. Customer-centricity isn’t easy to get right. An example that encapsulates this ha...
Supply Chain Leaders: the empirical approach
With part two of our Supply Chain Leaders series published last week, I thought it would be a great time to explore further how you can embrace the empirical approach in your journey to supply chain excellence. Our Supply Chain Leaders work has improved our understanding of how supply chain is changing, and the attributes needed to succeed. The first attribute explored in depth is empirica...
Leading supply chains: the five attributes you’ll need
We’ve just published our first report in IGD’s Supply Chain Leaders series, reflecting the views of over 100 senior figures from more than 60 businesses around the world. The survey was run to help us get a better understanding of food and consumer goods supply chains from those who know them best: the people who actually run them. Our respondents reflected a wide range of job titles, ...
The ingredients for a successful last mile partnership
There has been a lot of activity concerning retailers and their last mile delivery partners recently. Several retailers have cut ties with existing partners or cut schemes altogether, while others have decided now is the time to commit. So, what’s going on? Why are some retailers pulling back, while others are investing? Let’s start by looking at what’s expected of a delivery scheme. Each is...
Building digital supply chain capabilities
We’ve recently published the latest report in our ‘ Powered by People ’ research stream. It explores how organisations progress on their journey to becoming digitally capable and outlines the need for change in this increasingly important area and reviews case studies from the industry. This research follows an excellent report my colleagues in our charity team on the same subject. It help...
Doing good is good business: Three inspiring case studies
“Doing good is good business” – One of IGD’s five predictions that will drive change in our industry in 2019. It describes the industry’s move towards more sustainable, green practices, helping to reduce and prevent waste. Sustainability is now at the heart of many companies’ marketing messages to shoppers, and the supply chain is at the heart of efforts to make progress. The halo effect tha...
Setting up for supply chain success in 2019
The start of each new year provides us with a fantastic opportunity to assess where we are and what we want to achieve in the year to come. It’s a time for locking down objectives and plotting a course to deliver them. While much of the focus is on how to do bigger and better things, a good proportion of what we end up doing is likely to be a build on last year’s activities. As ever, there a...