James Cooke is a principal analyst with Nucleus Research in Boston, covering supply chain planning software. He was previously the editor of CSCMP?s Supply Chain Quarterly and a staff writer for DC Velocity.
Before embarking on a string of acquisitions in the late '90s, Church & Dwight Co. Inc. took stock of its operations to figure out what it would need to support that growth. The review revealed that the company, which is perhaps best known for its Arm & Hammer baking soda and cleaning products, would have to upgrade its supply chain software. Soon after, it began replacing its in-house programs with a suite of applications designed to manage what would soon be an expanding array of consumer products.
Among the half-dozen applications it licensed was a powerful, top-of-the-line demand forecasting solution. To obtain the kind of forecasts it considered essential to good production planning and inventory management, the company invested in sophisticated software that was capable of analyzing three years' worth of customer orders and, based on its analysis, create demand forecasts 18 months out for key clients in the United States, Canada, and Mexico.
Company executives were confident they had the right software tools for the job. Yet over time, it became apparent that the employees tasked with forecasting weren't using the application bought for that purpose. Among other problems, this created extra work for the staffers who used the forecasts to set manufacturing requirements and schedule plant production.
After evaluating the situation, the executives concluded that the problem lay not in the tools, but in the company's organizational setup. To fix things, they would have to reshuffle the organization and realign reporting responsibilities. And they would no longer leave the choice of forecasting tools to the users' discretion. Instead, they would create a team of specialists and make it their job to learn the ins and outs of the forecasting application and see that it was used to its full potential.
Tools for growth
Founded in 1846, the Princeton, N.J.-based Church & Dwight makes household, personal care, and specialty products under the Arm & Hammer name as well as other well-known brands like Brillo, Arrid, and Pepsodent. Its annual revenues total about $2.4 billion.
For nearly 160 years, Church & Dwight concentrated on selling products within the United States and Canada. But that changed in 2000, when the company began a series of acquisitions that have continued up through this year. Through those acquisitions, the company has expanded globally, entering markets in Latin America, Europe, the Middle East, and Asia.
To meet worldwide demand for its products, the company operates nine plants in the United States and two overseas. It also uses about 40 contract manufacturers. Finished goods are kept in four primary distribution centers in the United States, each of which serves a specific region of the country. Outside the United States, Church & Dwight has distribution centers in Mexico, Canada, England, France, Australia, and China.
To get a better handle on its burgeoning supply chain operation, in the late 1990s, the company began replacing its in-house systems with a host of software applications from Manugistics, now owned by JDA Software Group Inc. of Scottsdale, Ariz. "We wanted tools that could support standardized procedures so we could grow," says Steve Barrow, the company's supply chain manager.
Today, Church & Dwight uses a variety of JDA software applications to manage functions ranging from transportation planning and inventory management to freight auditing and payment. On the forecasting and planning side of its operation, the company uses JDA Demand and JDA Fulfillment. JDA Demand, which is the application that set the reorganization in motion, creates sales forecasts based on historical order data it pulls from Church & Dwight's SAP system. JDA Fulfillment, an inventory optimization tool, takes the forecast data and calculates what the plants need to manufacture and where to ship the finished products. Church & Dwight also uses the application to schedule manufacturing operations at its own plants and to determine what to order from its contract manufacturers.
Organizational shake-up
Up until 18 months ago, responsibility for creating the demand forecasts lay with the Sales & Operations Planning (S&OP) department, which reported to the sales division. Although the group had access to the JDA Demand software, it wasn't using the tool to develop its forecasts, preferring to use a system of its own devising.
That made life difficult for the supply chain planners who used the S&OP group's forecasts to set manufacturing requirements and schedule plant production. The planners were already using several other JDA applications in their work, and it created an extra step for them when they received data in a format that wasn't readily usable by those programs. In some cases, they would end up loading the S&OP forecast into the JDA Fulfillment tool they were using to set manufacturing requirements; in others, they would simply take the data and create their own forecasts using the JDA Demand tool. Either way, it represented an added burden for a staff that was already carrying a full load.
To fix the problem, the company decided to move the S&OP group out of sales and change its job description. From that point forward, the group's primary role would be to use JDA Demand to create forecasts. In effect, the staffers would become master craftsmen who would develop expertise in the software. That would free up the supply chain planners to concentrate on production requirements and plant scheduling. It would also, the company hoped, lead to more accurate demand forecasts, which would, in turn, lead to more efficient production plans.
Better forecasts
In May 2007, the S&OP department was shifted to the supply chain organization and renamed the demand planning department. "Now we have a department that can put 100 percent of its time into forecasting," says Shara Fash, Church & Dwight's supply chain optimization manager, who heads up the four-person department.
Along with developing expertise in the specific software, the demand planning department also works to develop cross-functional relationships with the marketing, sales, and supply chain departments. That cross-functional communication, Fash says, enables the planners to "find out what's happening with customers and make sure that the forecasts reflect what's going on in the marketplace."
As for how it's all working out, the reports to date are positive. Since the change, the group has taken forecast accuracy to a whole new level, according to Fash. "In the last year," she reports, "we went from 60 to 80 percent forecast accuracy because of the creation of this department."
States across the Southeast woke up today to find that the immediate weather impacts from Hurricane Helene are done, but the impacts to people, businesses, and the supply chain continue to be a major headache, according to Everstream Analytics.
The primary problem is the collection of massive power outages caused by the storm’s punishing winds and rainfall, now affecting some 2 million customers across the Southeast region of the U.S.
One organization working to rush help to affected regions since the storm hit Florida’s western coast on Thursday night is the American Logistics Aid Network (ALAN). As it does after most serious storms, the group continues to marshal donated resources from supply chain service providers in order to store, stage, and deliver help where it’s needed.
Support for recovery efforts is coming from a massive injection of federal aid, since the White House declared states of emergency last week for Alabama, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, and South Carolina. Affected states are also supporting the rush of materials to needed zones by suspending transportation requirement such as certain licensing agreements, fuel taxes, weight restrictions, and hours of service caps, ALAN said.
E-commerce activity remains robust, but a growing number of consumers are reintegrating physical stores into their shopping journeys in 2024, emphasizing the need for retailers to focus on omnichannel business strategies. That’s according to an e-commerce study from Ryder System, Inc., released this week.
Ryder surveyed more than 1,300 consumers for its 2024 E-Commerce Consumer Study and found that 61% of consumers shop in-store “because they enjoy the experience,” a 21% increase compared to results from Ryder’s 2023 survey on the same subject. The current survey also found that 35% shop in-store because they don’t want to wait for online orders in the mail (up 4% from last year), and 15% say they shop in-store to avoid package theft (up 8% from last year).
“Retail and e-commerce continue to evolve,” Jeff Wolpov, Ryder’s senior vice president of e-commerce, said in a statement announcing the survey’s findings. “The emergence of e-commerce and growth of omnichannel fulfillment, particularly over the past four years, has altered consumer expectations and behavior dramatically and will continue to do so as time and technology allow.
“This latest study demonstrates that, while consumers maintain a robust
appetite for e-commerce, they are simultaneously embracing in-person shopping, presenting an impetus for merchants to refine their omnichannel strategies.”
Other findings include:
• Apparel and cosmetics shoppers show growing attraction to buying in-store. When purchasing apparel and cosmetics, shoppers are more inclined to make purchases in a physical location than they were last year, according to Ryder. Forty-one percent of shoppers who buy cosmetics said they prefer to do so either in a brand’s physical retail location or a department/convenience store (+9%). As for apparel shoppers, 54% said they prefer to buy clothing in those same brick-and-mortar locations (+9%).
• More customers prefer returning online purchases in physical stores. Fifty-five percent of shoppers (+15%) now say they would rather return online purchases in-store–the first time since early 2020 the preference to Buy Online Return In-Store (BORIS) has outweighed returning via mail, according to the survey. Forty percent of shoppers said they often make additional purchases when picking up or returning online purchases in-store (+2%).
• Consumers are extremely reliant on mobile devices when shopping in-store. This year’s survey reveals that 77% of consumers search for items on their mobile devices while in a store, Ryder said. Sixty-nine percent said they compare prices with items in nearby stores, 58% check availability at other stores, 31% want to learn more about a product, and 17% want to see other items frequently purchased with a product they’re considering.
Ryder said the findings also underscore the importance of investing in technology solutions that allow companies to provide customers with flexible purchasing options.
“Omnichannel strength is not a fad; it is a strategic necessity for e-commerce and retail businesses to stay competitive and achieve sustainable success in 2024 and beyond,” Wolpov also said. “The findings from this year’s study underscore what we know our customers are experiencing, which is the positive impact of integrating supply chain technology solutions across their sales channels, enabling them to provide their customers with flexible, convenient options to personalize their experience and heighten customer satisfaction.”
Transportation industry veteran Anne Reinke will become president & CEO of trade group the Intermodal Association of North America (IANA) at the end of the year, stepping into the position from her previous post leading third party logistics (3PL) trade group the Transportation Intermediaries Association (TIA), both organizations said today.
Meanwhile, TIA today announced that insider Christopher Burroughs would fill Reinke’s shoes as president & CEO. Burroughs has been with TIA for 13 years, most recently as its vice president of Government Affairs for the past six years, during which time he oversaw all legislative and regulatory efforts before Congress and the federal agencies.
Before her four years leading TIA, Reinke spent two years as Deputy Assistant Secretary with the U.S. Department of Transportation and 16 years with CSX Corporation.
Two European companies are among the most recent firms to put autonomous last-mile delivery to the test with a project in Bern, Switzerland, that debuted this month.
Swiss transportation and logistics company Planzer has teamed up with fellow Swiss firm Loxo, which develops autonomous driving software solutions, for a two-year pilot project in which a Loxo-equipped, Planzer parcel delivery van will handle last-mile logistics in Bern’s city center.
The project coincides with Swiss regulations on autonomous driving that are expected to take effect next spring.
Referred to as “Planzer–Dynamic Micro-Hub w LOXO,” the project aims to address both sustainability issues and traffic congestion in urban areas.
The delivery vehicle, a Volkswagen ID. Buzz battery-electric minivan, will feature Loxo’s Level 4 Digital Driver navigation software, a highly automated solution that allows driverless operation. The van was retrofitted to include space for two swap boxes for parcel storage.
During the two-year pilot phase, Loxo’s Digital Driver will navigate a commercial vehicle several times a day from Planzer’s railway center to various logistics points in Bern's city center. There, the parcels will be reloaded onto small electric vehicles and delivered to end customers by Planzer’s parcel delivery staff.
Following the completion of the pilot phase, Planzer and Loxo will build on the program for rollout in other Swiss cities, the companies said.
The partners said the project addresses the increasing requirements of urban supply chains and aims to ensure the “scalability of their disruptive solution.” With largely emission-free delivery, it contributes to greater levels of sustainability for the city as a living space, they also said.
“The uniqueness of this project lies in the fact that it will have a direct impact on society,” Planzer’s CEO and Chairman Nils Planzer said in a statement announcing the project. “We didn't just want to integrate automated technology into existing systems, we wanted to develop a completely new concept and a new business model.”
As the hours tick down toward a “seemingly imminent” strike by East Coast and Gulf Coast dockworkers, experts are warning that the impacts of that move would mushroom well-beyond the actual strike locations, causing prevalent shipping delays, container ship congestion, port congestion on West coast ports, and stranded freight.
However, a strike now seems “nearly unavoidable,” as no bargaining sessions are scheduled prior to the September 30 contract expiration between the International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA) and the U.S. Maritime Alliance (USMX) in their negotiations over wages and automation, according to the transportation law firm Scopelitis, Garvin, Light, Hanson & Feary.
The facilities affected would include some 45,000 port workers at 36 locations, including high-volume U.S. ports from Boston, New York / New Jersey, and Norfolk, to Savannah and Charleston, and down to New Orleans and Houston. With such widespread geography, a strike would likely lead to congestion from diverted traffic, as well as knock-on effects include the potential risk of increased freight rates and costly charges such as demurrage, detention, per diem, and dwell time fees on containers that may be slowed due to the congestion, according to an analysis by another transportation and logistics sector law firm, Benesch.
The weight of those combined blows means that many companies are already planning ways to minimize damage and recover quickly from the event. According to Scopelitis’ advice, mitigation measures could include: preparing for congestion on West coast ports, taking advantage of intermodal ground transportation where possible, looking for alternatives including air transport when necessary for urgent delivery, delaying shipping from East and Gulf coast ports until after the strike, and budgeting for increased freight and container fees.
Additional advice on softening the blow of a potential coastwide strike came from John Donigian, senior director of supply chain strategy at Moody’s. In a statement, he named six supply chain strategies for companies to consider: expedite certain shipments, reallocate existing inventory strategically, lock in alternative capacity with trucking and rail providers , communicate transparently with stakeholders to set realistic expectations for delivery timelines, shift sourcing to regional suppliers if possible, and utilize drop shipping to maintain sales.