by Trevor Branch | Mar 29, 2023 | Cannabis
Reading Time: 5 minutesThe cannabis industry is rapidly expanding, with more and more states legalizing cannabis for both medicinal and recreational use. As new dispensaries and cultivation facilities pop up around the country, the cannabis distribution supply chain grows increasingly complex. Product shelf life, regulations, and the standard obstacles expected from any new industry have posed major obstacles to getting cannabis on store shelves. As a result, efficient supply chain management is growing increasingly important within the industry.
Data analytics platforms, such as Dimensional Insight’s CannaBI Analytics, can provide the supply chain insights that your business needs to answer the important questions such as:
- How do we align supply with demand?
- How do we meet compliance?
- How do we manage multiple channels?
- And, most importantly, how do we increase sales?
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by John Sucich | Feb 16, 2023 | Manufacturing & Supply Chain
Reading Time: 5 minutesWhen it comes to sustainability in the supply chain, the one consistent thread is that companies are facing increasing pressure to be as environmentally friendly as possible. Perhaps another consistent thread is the fact that for those organizations, meeting those sustainability demands can be a difficult task.
For the companies that are serious about reaching their sustainability goals, though, difficult is not impossible. Here are some ways organizations can approach sustainability in the supply chain, and how they can use data to help achieve their goals.
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by John Sucich | Jan 19, 2023 | Manufacturing & Supply Chain
Reading Time: 4 minutesWhen the pandemic hit, the companies that found the most success were the ones that could pivot the most quickly. Instead of closing their doors and waiting for people to dine out again, some restaurants sold some of their ingredients for customers to make food at home. Some in-person activities – like fitness centers or escape rooms – changed their operations to a live interactive experience using an app like Zoom. Retail stores began offering curbside pickup.
Some organizations were able to pivot production because they had the materials available, which is how breweries began to make hand sanitizer, for example, or an engine filter factory began churning out masks. Creativity helps when a disruption hits. But you shouldn’t have to rely on a lucky alignment of circumstances for ways that your business might survive an interruption. It’s not too late to put a system in place so your organization can get an idea of what to expect the next time the unexpected happens.
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by John Sucich | Oct 13, 2022 | Manufacturing & Supply Chain
Reading Time: 4 minutesMore than two and a half years after the onset of a global pandemic, the supply chain continues to experience disruption. What started out with the closure of factories has become a shortage of workers to help get goods from one place to another.
Warehouse workers, truck drivers, railroad workers, and port workers – many pieces along the supply chain are seeing shortages that have affected the smooth movement of goods. Organizations are hoping there is a light at the end of the tunnel, though, and they think data can help show them the way.
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by John Sucich | Sep 15, 2022 | Manufacturing & Supply Chain
Reading Time: 4 minutesThe ordinary person doesn’t think much about the supply chain until something goes wrong. It’s the product that doesn’t reach them that draws the most attention. As everyone has come to realize over the past couple of years, any one weak link in the supply chain can cause that product to not reach its destination.
One of the generally unnoticed parts of the supply chain is packaging. If the supply chain is working smoothly, no one thinks about it. But packaging is something that can end up causing a disruption along the line. Here are some of the ways packaging can impact the supply chain, and how data can help make sure your organization’s packaging is at its most efficient.
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by John Sucich | Aug 11, 2022 | Manufacturing & Supply Chain
Reading Time: 4 minutesFor most industries, the scariest thing about a disruption to “business as usual” is the unpredictability of it. It’s hard to control every aspect of a business, but controlling as much as possible certainly eliminates those unpredictable elements.
The right analytics solution can help you make decisions about which parts of your business are the ones you can best control. Here are a few examples of companies that were able to use data to eliminate some of the uncertainty of the supply chain.
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by John Sucich | Jan 25, 2022 | Manufacturing & Supply Chain
Reading Time: 4 minutesFeatured image source: rarrarorro—stock.adobe.com.
For organizations that deal with the global supply chain, making an adjustment at this time of year is nothing new. The Lunar New Year is the most important holiday in China, and it typically falls between the end of January and the end of February. Companies know the holiday is coming and the impact it will have, and they know what to do to adjust.
This year’s Lunar New Year, though, which was beginning to look like an opportunity for the supply chain to right itself, might end up causing even more problems.
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by John Sucich | Nov 18, 2021 | Manufacturing & Supply Chain
Reading Time: 4 minutesWhen President Biden signed a $1 trillion infrastructure bill into law on November 15, a number of industries stood to benefit. Organizations that rely on America’s role in the supply chain were chief among them.
With billions of dollars already aimed at American ports, the hope is that some of the bad news that has dogged the supply chain for months will turn to some good news. Here are some of the issues the supply chain has been facing and how the infrastructure bill could help.
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by John Sucich | Oct 7, 2021 | Manufacturing & Supply Chain
Reading Time: 4 minutesFor a while now, the difficulties the supply chain has been facing have been at a higher level than the average American might be paying attention to. After initial shortages, the grocery store shelves looked re-stocked, appliances seemed more readily available, and construction projects that were paused picked back up. Everything seemed to be normal again, though maybe at a higher price to cover rising costs.
But as manufacturers know, critical issues throughout the pandemic impacted the availability of certain parts and slowed production, while the flow of shipping has been interrupted by backups at ports around the world. And those disruptions are starting to be felt by everyone – especially children.
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by John Sucich | Mar 25, 2021 | Manufacturing & Supply Chain
Reading Time: 4 minutesOne byproduct of a disruption is that it forces organizations to look at the way they do business through a lens they might not have used before. The pandemic was one such disruption, and it has certainly had that effect on organizations within the food distribution industry.
Many organizations that have waited to invest in an analytics solution are now finding that they can’t put it off any longer. What can they expect from their investment?
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