Over the last decade lean and six sigma methods and tools have helped organizations improve to historic productivity levels with the data driven, systematic elimination of waste and improvement of flow. Today many organizations have enjoyed the benefits of Lean and Six sigma initiatives, and are looking more to sustain the gains, and aggressively drive a systematic and on-going approach to improvement and problem solving. The concept of diminishing returns applies here, when in the early stages, organizations were able to find 'low-hanging fruit' and to quickly make significant improvements. Now the easy work is done, and organizations need a simple yet systematic approach to continuing their continuous improvement efforts. Operations and supply chain leaders will benefit from this book by developing a clear understanding of why and how metric scorecards and dashboards can be used as a powerful data driven improvement tool. This book illustrates visual management, scorecards, and dashboards for a full range of organizations, and focuses on Operations and Supply Chain Management areas. By covering these tools in these environments in a story book format, organization leaders can begin to understand how these methods and tools can be applied in their organizations.

The "Top 25 Logistics / Distribution KPIs of 2011-2012" report provides insights into the state of logistics and distribution performance measurement today by listing and analyzing the most visited KPIs for this industry on smartKPIs.com in 2011. In addition to KPI names, it contains a detailed description of each KPI, in the standard smartKPIs.com KPI documentation format, that includes fields such as: definition, purpose, calculation, limitation, overall notes and additional resources. This product is part of the "Top KPIs of 2011-2012" series of reports and a result of the research program conducted by the analysts of smartKPIs.com in the area of integrated performance management and measurement. smartKPIs.com hosts the largest catalogue of thoroughly documented KPI examples, representing an excellent platform for research and dissemination of insights on KPIs and related topics. The hundreds of thousands of visits to smartKPIs.com and the thousands of KPIs visited, bookmarked and rated by members of this online community in 2011 provided a rich data set, which combined with further analysis from the editorial team, formed the basis of these research reports.

The green or environmental sustainability movement has taken hold throughout the world. Its staying power is confirmed by that fact that environmental emphasis did not decrease during the recent global recession, but rather increased. Organizations see that greater environmental emphasis in their product and service offerings not only helps their image, but also may help reduce inefficiency, waste and corresponding cost. However, since most organizations rely heavily on their supply base for providing components, materials and services that become part of their final products, organizations must revisit their sourcing processes and choices to have a real impact on the environment. Sourcing to support an organizations green initiatives begins in the conception stage of new product development. Just as organizations consider the features that their products will provide to customers, they should also consider the environmental footprint of their products and services, and design them accordingly. Ideally, an environmentally sound product should be a goal of product design and suppliers should be made aware of that goal up front. Their continued role as a supplier may depend on their ability to meet the criteria set by the developer and they may need to retool for green in order to retain business. This book begins with an introduction to the idea of sustainability and to the concept of what it means to source to support organizations green initiatives, and why this is important from a holistic, life cycle perspective. The initial chapters will also provide a point of view of how green sourcing fits into the organizations entire portfolio of sustainability initiatives. Examples of industries and associations that lead the way in green sourcing will be presented. In addition, best practices in green sourcing will be discussed. The book also provides a viewpoint on how organizations can encourage and support their suppliers in pursuing green initiatives, and what types of initiatives provide a good starting point. The final chapters of the book will present a view on end-of-life product issues and how they relate to green sourcing, and how the organizations transportation decisions and choices can support green sourcing and the overall goal of the organization to reduce its environmental footprint

As we enter the 21st Century, we find ourselves faced by two major developments. The first is emergence of the supply chain as a critical strategic and tactical weapon. As has been pointed out by many researchers, with the emergence of the supply chain, the unit of competition has shifted from the firm to the supply chain. However, with the advent of the supply chain, it is important to recognize that we have to view strategic objectives within a context that stresses not simply the internal operations of the firm but also the elements of the supply chain - elements that include the supplier base, customers, logistics linkages, and relationships, both visible and virtual. We are now coming to realize that the supply chain is no stronger than its weakest link. The second development is that of sustainability. This is more than simply being environmentally responsible. Rather, it is overall sustainability as measured in terms of the firm's ability to reduce waste, improve profitability, generating strategic competitive advantages, and ensure that it treats its employees well. Sustainability is increasingly becoming at a minimum an expectation and a requirement for doing business (i.e., an order qualifier) and under many conditions something that differentiates firms and makes them more attractive to potential critical consumers (i.e., an order winner). These two developments, while often treated as separate entities, are interrelated. It is this interrelationship that forms the major focus and thrust of this book. This book presents the reader with an integrated, business oriented treatment of sustainable supply chain management that explores why it is no longer enough for a firm to focus on sustainability within the four walls of the firm. Rather, in today's environment, sustainability must involve the supply chain in a deliberate and integrated fashion. To succeed with sustainability, a firm must ensure that this outcome is not only present within the firm but is also present within the supply chain. As the book will show, the market and consumers will punish those firms that promise sustainability but are not able to deliver on this promise because of problems in the supply chain.

Using this book, you will learn about numerous ideas for income sources, expense reduction, employee productivity improvement, enhanced space utilization, measurement techniques and other ideas that, if applied, will justify the book purchase many times over

This book covers the area of unpaced, unbalanced production lines. You will find an up-to-date discussion of how designing these lines can be made more efficient by taking advantage of inherent imbalance, for example operators who work at different speeds - a concept which has traditionally been seen as an obstacle to efficient production. A series of experiments are presented to illustrate the issues involved in improving performance through production line imbalance. This area is of interest to postgraduate and executive level students interested in the area of production, and to managers of manual or semi-automated production lines who are interested in innovative approaches to line design. In this book you will find some surprisingly easy ways to improve performance with low or zero costs. Emphasis is placed on reducing the amount of time production lines lie idle, and on reducing work in process. This is a timely contribution to the field when managers are casting around for new ways to cut waste and reduce their use of natural resources.

In today's competitive global economy, a firm's market position and bottom-line financial performance is closely linked to its supply chain performance. All too often considerable managerial resources are directed towards planning activities and processes with little in the way of tangible results and outcomes. What supply chain executives require is the know-how to efficiently and effectively direct their planning activities so that the results lead to better business decisions from the long-term down to day-to-day operations. In this book, we present proven, practical management frameworks and techniques used by the authors to support supply chain operations management and planning in private industry. These frameworks describe supply chain strategic planning and project selection techniques, integrated manufacturing-distribution planning and scheduling approaches, performance measurement and balanced scorecard methodologies, customer logistics and inventory deployment decision support systems, and other well-tested management frameworks. The book is intended for supply chain managers and executives in private industry and the public sector, as well as graduate and advanced undergraduate students. Practitioners will obtain valuable new insights and examples of implementable frameworks and methods for managing their supply chain functions and organizations. Students will develop an understanding of leading edge, real world approaches for supply chain strategic planning and scheduling, decision support, project development and selection, performance measurement and many other key activities.

The book can be viewed from the perspective of a medium to large firm's journey towards sustainability. A firm that wants to be sustainable considers the triple bottom line when making decisions, i.e., the firm takes into account economic (profit), environmental (planet), and social (people) impacts when making decisions. By focusing on the triple bottom line (3Ps), the firm ensures a steady supply of inputs such as raw materials and labor indefinitely. The first step towards sustainability is aimed at reducing waste in operations (mainly production), with the help of such tools as lean and six-sigma. The firm then performs a Life-Cycle Assessment (LCA) for each of its main products and processes. LCA is a methodology designed to assess the environmental impact (e.g., energy consumption) of a product or process, from raw material extraction to production (in its different stages), packaging, distribution, sales, consumer use, and end-of-life disposal. With a better understanding of the major impacts, the firm can then target actions designed to reduce the firm's environmental impact (which in most cases also improves the economic bottom line), that is, the firm aims to be eco-efficient. The final step in the journey towards sustainability, which is the ultimate goal, is to close the loop. To close the loop, the firm starts by designing products for multiple life cycles (as in design for remanufacturing), or products designed according to a "cradle-to-cradle" philosophy that ensures ease of disassembly and 100% recyclability (up-cycling as opposed to down-cycling).

Developing more brands to expand your business Brands Designs for making brands A valuable way of expanding business includes by developing more brands, such experience is proved by today's well- known companies in the world as automobile makers and other fields. A significant outcome of sales will come out basing on a project of creating more brands for commodities to carry out in business of your company. A plan of classification on commodities by brands is developed by the author for reference: 1. "a" brand: for the best quality. 2. "b" brand: for the standard quality. 3. "c" brand: for cheap quality and cheap pricing. 4. "d" brand: for domestic tradition. 5. "e" brand: for international market. 6. "f " brand: for specific commodity in a marketplace of America, Europe, Asia or other. 7. "g" brand: for specific commodity in a country or group of countries. 8. "h" brand: for any workable one(s). A reader may use one of designs in the book to be modified and added a name to it to build a brand of your own.

The quality and effectiveness of decisions made within an organization and its supply chain depend upon the accuracy and timeliness of the information upon which they are based. Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) is a technology that can provide more accurate information in near real time and thus increase the quality and timeliness of decisions based on that information. RFID systems are currently in use in areas such as inventory management, process control, asset tracking and monitoring, and retail point of sale. Organizations which appropriately incorporate RFID into their operations and information management systems have increased their agility, effectiveness, and efficiency resulting in organizational growth and increased profitability. The appropriate utilization of RFID allows organizations to become more agile resulting in their ability to respond to customers more efficiently and effectively. Technology by itself does not result in improvements and RFID is no exception. RFID is not a solution for every problem. However, when coupled with other appropriate technologies to address an appropriate objective, RFID can offer a variety of benefits to businesses. The proper integration into the firm's competitive plans and processes, and the ability to leverage those technologies for competitive advantage results in increased performance for organizations. The intent of this book is to provide a sufficient discussion of RFID to enable readers with no prior knowledge to develop a basic understanding of the technology. The book discusses current applications and specific examples of RFID usage taken from a variety of industries. The appropriate coupling of RFID with other technologies such as GPS, ERP, and robotics is discussed as well as an overview of the RFID implementation process. This book will help readers develop an understanding of the capability of the technology to increase an organization's customer responsiveness.

"The Logistics Handbook" encompasses all of the latest advances in warehousing and distribution. It provides invaluable "how to" problem-solving tools and techniques for all the ever-increasing logistical problems managers face -- making it the most complete and authoritative handbook to date.

Special features include:

* The most in-depth coverage of a wide range of topics, including information systems, benchmarking, and environmental issues

* Contributions found nowhere else from the leading executives, consultants, and academics in the field, such as C. John Langley, James Heskett, and David Anderson

* State of the art graphics

* Information-packed appendixes of logistics publications and organizations

This all-inclusive reference will enable the next generation of managers to thoroughly integrate their logistics operations at all levels -- strategic, structural, functional, and implementation -- into a comprehensive logistics strategy.

Warehouse and supply chain experts Share over 700 practical everyday concepts and ideas for productivity improvement. Learn invaluable touchpoints and considerations for expense savings, boosting employee productivity, enhanced space utilization and other ideas that, when applied, will justify the book purchase many times over.

Learn to develop and sell your beverages including new age beverages, alcoholic and non alcoholic beverages like energy drinks, soda, tea, water, vodka, tequila beer or any other type of beverage. A step by step guide teaching you how to develop and brand your beverage, reach your perfect target market and sell it using wholesalers, distributors, convenience stores and supermarkets. Discover every single beverage sales and distribution channel and how to penetrate it with your beverages. While reading the book you will prepare spectacular distributor programs to support all type of accounts, get see through in stores and have customers for life. This book is a must read for anyone in the beverage industry from executives to sales people, marketing managers, brand managers, merchandisers as well as production specialists. After finishing the book you will be an expert in every segment of the beverage business; from developing a brand in the drawing board to reaching your target market correctly, writing your business plan and executing it with sales and distribution. Learn from the authors, Carlos Lopez and Jorge Olson, founders of Liquid Brands Management, Inc. and the national experts in beverage branding, sales and marketing.

Publisher's Note: Products purchased from Third Party sellers are not guaranteed by the publisher for quality, authenticity, or access to any online entitlements included with the product. Your Hands-On Guide to SAP Business Information Warehouse Give your company the competitive edge by delivering up-to-date, pertinent business reports to users inside and outside your enterprise. SAP Business Information Warehouse Reporting shows you how to construct Enterprise Data Warehouses, create workbooks and queries, analyze and format results, and supply meaningful reports. Learn how to use the BEx and Web Analyzers, Web Application Designer, Visual Composer, and Information Broadcaster. You will also find out how to forecast future business trends, build enterprise portals and websites, and tune performance. Group data into InfoCubes and DataStore Objects and generate reports using queries and workbooks Work with the BEx Analyzer, Web Analyzer, and Query Designer Build queries and reports using the Business Administration Workbench Add attachments and drill-through using Document Integration and RRI Format and distribute results using Report Designer and Information Broadcaster Extend functionality with Enterprise Portal, Data Modeling, and Visual Composer Deploy charts, maps, diagrams, and unit of measure conversions Predict trends and possible outcomes using SBC and Integrated Planning Generate HTML pages using Enterprise Reporting and Web Application Designer Create BI-based corporate Web and intranet sites using SAP Enterprise Portal

Little has been written on the links between Inventory and Supply Chain Management, yet it is a critical component of all Supply Chains. This book explores and explains these critical links, and is intended for: . Professional managers in all supply chain roles and job positions. . Academics such as lecturers or students studying business topics like procurement, logistics, distribution, and the supply chain. . Students of professional institutes such as the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport, The Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply. The style of the book is direct, with little jargon. It covers all the basics, as well as providing detailed and wider discussions to encourage thought. Practical application remains a central theme, illustrated by the extensive use of case studies, application checklists and visual and graphic illustrations.

This direct sales through in-home demonstration epic outlines the most common industry mistakes and reveals the million dollar secrets that can change your life and financial future forever. It is one of the only books where you can memorize a passage and get immediate increased sales and recruiting results. Become empowered to take Nike's advice and just do it Sales Representatives: Sell more by performing better sales presentations and answering objections with field tested closes that really work. Distributors: Get secrets on recruiting and keeping your people. Save tens of thousands, even your business, with advanced knowledge of industry pitfalls. Get real-time answers to your questions through the author's comprehensive website at www.thesalesmansbible.com

One of the largest distributors of food service products and Anheuser-Busch beers in the country, the privately held Ben E. Keith Company has focused on the Southwest from it's headquarters in Fort Worth, Texas. "The First One Hundred Years" tells how the company began with a limited inventory of fresh produce in 1906 to it's current position among the top ten, full line (produce, frozen foods, meats, dry groceries, paper goods, equipment and supplies) food service distributors in the country. At the end of Prohibition in 1933, the company became a beer distributor. Now among the largest beer distributors in the country, Ben E. Keith is an exclusive distributor of Anheuser-Busch products in 60 counties in north, central and west Texas.

Operations Management presents Terry Hill's vision of how operations can deliver real competitive advantage for organizations. Drawing on his extensive industrial and consultancy experience, Hill balances the strategic role of the operations manager with day-to-day management tasks, and shows how each step and decision in operations is affected by market needs and wants. Operations Management: - Provides detailed consideration of service delivery system design, with a dedicated chapter on the subject - Introduces the importance of people management from the beginning - Provides expanded discussion of operations strategy and market linkage, ERP, and supply chain issues including e-procurement - Demonstrates operations in the 'real world' with over 100 mini-cases, plus detailed long case studies at the end of the book to encourage critical analysis - Offers a range of companion materials for lecturers and students

Implement Oracles Internet-based Manufacturing and Supply Chain Management products using this Oracle authorized resource. This comprehensive guide explains how to implement the planning, engineering, pricing, order fulfillment, and inventory management components of Oracle Manufacturing and Supply Chain--and develop and deliver goods and services faster, cheaper, and more efficiently than your competitors.

With logistics becoming increasingly important within business management, it is essential that today's managers are familiar with this approach to solving business problems. This text focuses on how business decisions can be made in a manner which integrates all the resources available to the organization. Organizations in almost all sectors of industry from manufacturing to retailing see the effective management of logistics as the key to their competitive advantage. This book is invaluable reading for practicing managers and students on undergraduate business courses and those studying for an MBA.

A groundbreaking, up-to-date look at the Best Practice in Inventory Management

"This book is aimed to show how good inventory control can be used in practice. It is a result of working continuously on inventory control with a large number of companies over many years. It contains the distilled techniques which have been tried out and proved to work. . . . [It] is a driver's manual of inventory controllers. It will cover the working of the engine (how inventory control techniques work), how to use the controls (what the techniques do and how to manage them), and how to get the best out of the vehicle (how to optimize inventory). Understand the text and it will show the way to guaranteed improved inventory control, reduced stock levels, and higher availability."—from the Preface

"The development of inventory management is a dynamic activity, with new approaches being made, techniques being refined, and new challenges being met. . . .

It is imperative that [these] challenges are met, since continuing competitiveness is based on ever-improving customer service and ever-reducing inventory costs."—from the text

As a vital function of an organization's operational structure, effective inventory management is key to improving a company's customer service, cash flow, and ultimately, its profitability margin. While it may sound simple, it is, in fact, far more complex than most managers perceive, requiring very specific knowledge and understanding. It is based upon a framework of unique tools and techniques essential to achieving complete success. Best Practice in Inventory Management gives you these essentials, with in-depth coverage of the latest practices in the field. The book delivers a wealth of solid solutions for lowering inventory overhead, bettering customer relations, and increasing productivity and performance.

An ideal reference for APICS certification candidates, as well as participants in training programs, this authoritative resource outlines basic techniques, describes how and where to apply them, and explains how to ensure their effective implementation. The techniques are placed within the context of stores operations, which can be applied in a variety of situations, from manufacturing and distribution to warehousing, consumable stores, and spares and service.

Best Practice in Inventory Management follows a logical progression, beginning with targets and moving forward through inventory structuring, individual item control, and coordination. In the process, it probes cutting-edge strategies, including Pareto analysis, Just in Time (JIT), and Material Requirements Planning (MRP), and offers a rational approach to the risks of stockouts. Aided by a host of new applications, practical methods, and real-world examples, you'll learn to implement a variety of processes vital to inventory structure and control. From effective stock monitoring to forecasting, setting, and assessing stock level guidelines, this book outlines the crucial steps in having suitable product available at an acceptable price and within a reasonable timescale.

Data warehousing is about transforming the data which an organization possesses and turning it into information of strategic significance. Data Warehousing explores the most pressing issue in business today — the means to improve strategic decision making. Data Warehousing represents a map for a new way of looking at data and information. Data exists in abundance but it is often unusable to support decision making because it is unstructured, unintegrated, aged or polluted.

• explores the issue whether to build a full enterprise data warehouse, or whether to go for a scaled down "data mart"
• updated to include the latest developments, acronyms, and techniques
• compares and contrasts relational and multidimensional databases
• evaluates the use of data warehousing to support operational processing
• reports on innovative designs for optimal performance of relational databases for a "query intensive" world
• analyzes artificial intelligence data mining tools
• examines new case histories…and the reactions of the organizations involved

Focuses on the changing role of distribution in the nation's economy during the period 1869 to 1950.

Ordnungspolitische Massnahmen loesen vielfaltige Anpassungsreaktionen der Marktakteure aus. Es fehlt jedoch ein einheitliches und standardisiertes Bewertungsverfahren, um die Dynamik und Anpassungen auf Markten zu ermitteln und zu beurteilen. Das Forschungsziel der Arbeit ist die Entwicklung eines Verfahrens fur die gesamtwirtschaftliche Bewertung der Marktwirkungen von ordnungspolitischen Massnahmen. Analytischer Ausgangspunkt ist die Industrieoekonomik, mit der der Wirkungszusammenhang von Marktstruktur, -verhalten und -ergebnis realitatsnah abgebildet werden kann. Um die Marktdynamik, Interdependenzen und Interaktionen zu erfassen, muss der industrieoekonomische Ansatz um eine system-dynamische Modellierung erweitert werden. Veranderungen des Marktsystems koennen damit unter Berucksichtigung aller Zusammenhange simultan ermittelt werden. Mit einem empirischen Anwendungsfall wird die Anwendbarkeit der system-dynamischen Modellierung demonstriert. Kleine und mittelstandische Unternehmen sind einem hohen Anpassungsdruck ausgesetzt, weil sie nur einen geringen Einfluss gegenuber der Politik haben. Als Beispiel fur einen mittelstandisch strukturierten Markt wird daher der Strassenguterverkehr gewahlt. Ordnungspolitische Eingriffe haben auf diesem Markt zudem weitergehende gesamtwirtschaftliche Auswirkungen, da es sich um einen Vorleistungsmarkt handelt. Fur Lkw-Maut und Unterinvestitionen in die Strasseninfrastruktur werden die Wirkungen auf die Marktdynamik und die Marktanpassungen im Strassenguterverkehr system-dynamisch modelliert. Es werden Aussagen zu folgenden Marktindikatoren getroffen: Fahrleistungen, Fahrzeugauslastung, Entwicklung des Verkehrsleistungsangebots, Marktanteile, Beschaftigtenzahl und Gewinne. Aufgrund des anwendungsorientierten Ansatzes leistet das Buch nicht nur einen Beitrag fur die industrieoekonomische und system-dynamische Forschungsrichtung, sondern es richtet sich auch an Entscheidungstrager in Unternehmen und in der Politik.