tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-65803778505080859782024-03-13T11:19:16.488-04:00REanalyze This!Analytics and Supply Chain Management BlogRob Endehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15455028763105019992noreply@blogger.comBlogger13125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6580377850508085978.post-5417443474287693792013-07-03T10:47:00.001-04:002013-07-05T07:54:56.612-04:00Big Data - What's in it for the Little Guy?I had the pleasure of speaking at the <a href="http://events.r20.constantcontact.com/register/event?oeidk=a07e7g86m1x948d5ae7&llr=c8hz4xeab" target="_blank">LIFT-IT Big Data Panel</a> hosted by the Long Island Forum for Technology on June 19. The other speakers included Pete Moran, CEO of <a href="http://generalsentiment.com/" target="_blank">General Sentiment</a>, who gave a fascinating talk on the use of Big Data and Analytics in Social Media, as well as Darryl Ramsey and James Toscano of Juniper Networks. Many thanks to the moderator, Peter Rothman, CIO of Alcott HR and Chairman of the LIFT-IT group, as well as Diane Muscarella of LIFT for organizing the event.<br />
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While the other speakers were focused on the more typical aspects of Big Data, I decided to address the topic of "Small Data", specifically the data and analytics needs of small and medium sized businesses. You can find my presentation, <a href="http://www.reanalyzeinc.com/files/LIFT_Big_Data_Panel_-_Rob_Ende_-_Big_Data_for_the_Little_Guy_-_2013-06-19_Final.pdf" target="_blank">Big Data for the Little Guy: What's in it for the rest of us?</a>, on the REanalyze web site.<br />
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Not every company deals with “big” data, but every company
can use data and analytics to make better decisions and transform their
business.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There’s no “magic” solution,
and the answer won’t just “pop out” of a Business Intelligence tool.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Rather, it’s a matter of framing the problem,
defining the data requirements, and visualizing the data.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I suggested that business executives start by
asking and answering three simple questions:
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<li>What business questions are you trying to
answer?</li>
<li>What data do you need to answer the questions?</li>
<li>How can you visualize the data to gain insight?</li>
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One deceptively simple, yet powerful, way to frame an
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">“If
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Just fill in the blanks, and you’re well on your way to a
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The presentation included some examples, as well a brief case
study from a client, a medical components distributor looking to improve its
Demand Planning and Inventory Management capabilities. I concluded with the following
takeaway:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>
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<li>Data without analysis is nothing…</li>
<li><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"></span></span></span>Analysis without insight is nothing…</li>
<li><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"></span></span></span>Insight is everything</li>
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What are your thoughts on Big Data and Analytics for the Little
Guy?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’d love to hear your comments. Until next time...</div>
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Rob</div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>Rob Ende is Founder and President of </i><a href="http://www.reanalyzeinc.com/"><i><span style="color: blue;">REanalyze Inc.</span></i></a><i>,
a Supply Chain, Inventory Management and Analytics consultancy based on Long
Island, New York. Rob can be reached at 631-807-2339 or </i><a href="mailto:rende@reanalyzeinc.com"><i><span style="color: blue;">rende@reanalyzeinc.com</span></i></a><i>.</i></span></div>
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</xml><![endif]-->Rob Endehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15455028763105019992noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6580377850508085978.post-60855330713907526102012-04-19T13:12:00.000-04:002012-04-19T13:30:36.973-04:00Top 5 Takeaways from INFORMS 2012 Business Analytics Conference<div style="color: blue; font-family: inherit;">
<i>Rob was a Guest Blogger for the <a href="http://meetings2.informs.org/Analytics2012" target="_blank">INFORMS Analytics 2012 Conference</a>. This was originally posted on the <a href="http://meetings2.informs.org/Analytics2012/" target="_blank">Conference Blog</a>.</i> </div>
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As expected, it was a great conference with valuable presentations and plenty of opportunities to network with professional colleagues. After a day to reflect, here are my top 5 takeaways (not necessarily in order). Hopefully they will be useful to both experienced analytical professionals and executives, and those just starting the journey.</div>
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(1) <b>Google Insights for Search<br />
</b>Hal Varian, Google’s Chief Economist, gave a compelling keynote that made great use of this <a href="http://www.google.com/insights/search/">free tool</a>.
Check it out if you haven’t done so already. It’s a great way to
identify market trends based on search frequency. The data goes all the
way back to 2004, and you can download the results to combine with
other data sources.</div>
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(2) <b>It’s not just about the analytics<br />
</b>Congratulations to TNT Express, winners of the <a href="http://www.informs.org/About-INFORMS/News-Room/Press-Releases/TNT-2012-Edelman-Winner" target="_blank">2012 Edelman Award</a>.
My biggest takeaway from their presentation had nothing to do with
their network optimization models. Rather, it was how they built an
entire optimization “ecosystem” centered on their GO (Global
Optimisation) Academy.</div>
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<li> “(In addition) to adopting OR tools, TNT Express has teamed up with
the Tilburg University/TiasNimbas Business School (Netherlands) to
create a two-year management development program in transportation
network optimization. Called the GO Academy, the training has been
delivered to more than 150 managers from TNT since 2008.”</li>
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Lots of companies have advanced analytical capabilities, but TNT
have added huge value to the organization – and set a great example for
other companies -- through leadership, education, training and change
management.</div>
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<b>(3) </b><b>The role of Analytics in Decision-Making<br />
</b>We’re always looking for better ways to describe what we do and how
we add value through Analytics, and I thought a few of the speakers had
particularly interesting angles.</div>
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<li>Thomas Olavson of Google described his team’s role as “replacing intuition with data-driven decisions”.</li>
<li>Colin Kessinger of End-to-End Analytics reinforced the role of
leadership. “Math supports the decision-making process, but the math
doesn’t make the decisions”. Don’t expect an analytical model to give
you “the answer”.</li>
<li>Both Colin and Glenn Wegryn of P&G focused on visualization
& interactive decision support. According to Colin, “This is what
gets you a seat at the executive table”, and Glenn provided the evidence
when he described the weekly “immersive business reviews” for P&G’s
executive team (with a great picture of the huge hi-def screens that
surround the conference room).</li>
<li>Focus on the “so what” or the “why” – not the “what”. Reports are a
dime a dozen. How are you going to help drive better decisions?</li>
<li>A neat quote from Glenn Wegryn: “We bear gifts - in the form of
rational business insights”. (In my words, "Geeks bearing gifts" -- OK,
that's a really bad pun...)</li>
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(4) <b>Simpler is Better<br />
</b>The simplest approach that solves your problem is usually the best one. Several speakers hit on this point in different ways.</div>
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<li>There is “no correlation between analytic complexity and business value”, according to Glenn Bailey of Manheim.</li>
<li>Chris Fry of Strategic Management Solutions paraphrased Einstein – A model “should be as simple as possible, but no simpler”.</li>
<li>Before you jump into a big, complex analysis with expensive 3<sup>rd</sup>-party
software, make sure you really understand the problem you’re trying to
solve. Colin Kessinger advises that if you can’t build and understand a
prototype in Excel, you don’t really understand the problem and you’re
not likely to be successful with a complicated off-the-shelf software
solution.</li>
<li>Thomas Olavson echoed the sentiment that “small steps lead to big
wins”. He favors analytical building blocks and rapid prototypes, and
cautions against looking for “grand unified theories”.</li>
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(5) <b>50 Minutes with the 5 minute analyst<br />
</b>It seems only appropriate to make the 5 Minute Analyst my 5<sup>th</sup>
highlight. In a very interactive conference session, Harrison Schramm
of the Naval Postgraduate School shared some fun and thought-provoking
“toy problems”. Be sure to check out the 5 Minute Analyst column in
Analytics Magazine. The most recent column is available <a href="http://www.analytics-magazine.org/march-april-2012/542-five-minute-analyst-wikipedias-protest">here</a>.</div>
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Let me know your thoughts. It's been fun being one of the Conference Bloggers and I look forward to continuing these interesting
discussions. Until next time...</div>
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Rob</div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>Rob Ende is Founder and President of </i><a href="http://www.reanalyzeinc.com/"><i><span style="color: blue;">REanalyze Inc.</span></i></a><i>,
a Supply Chain, Inventory Management and Analytics consultancy based on Long
Island, New York. Rob can be reached at 631-807-2339 or </i><a href="mailto:rende@reanalyzeinc.com"><i><span style="color: blue;">rende@reanalyzeinc.com</span></i></a><i>.</i></span></div>
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2012 REanalyze.Inc.. All Rights Reserved.</span></span></div>
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<br /></div>Rob Endehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15455028763105019992noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6580377850508085978.post-58937109718908013052012-04-11T18:54:00.000-04:002012-04-11T22:04:01.415-04:00So Much to See, So Little Time...<div style="color: blue; font-family: inherit;">
<i>This is the first of several posts as a Guest Blogger for the INFORMS Analytics 2012 Conference. It was originally posted on the <a href="http://meetings2.informs.org/Analytics2012/" target="_blank">Conference Blog</a>.</i></div>
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I can't wait to get to Huntington Beach and the INFORMS 2012 Business Analytics Conference. I'm looking forward to
connecting with colleagues and friends, both old and new. And this
conference is one of the best "idea generators" I've ever found. I
always come back with pages full of ideas (most of which I unfortunately
never pursue!).</div>
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If you're anything like me, the biggest challenge with any good
conference, like this one, is deciding which presentations to attend.
I've been attending this conference
for about 10 years, and the presentations seem to get better every
year. But that only makes it harder to decide which ones to see. I
spend most of my time doing Supply Chain work, but I'm often just as
interested in topics outside of the Supply Chain tracks. In fact,
there's hardly a time slot without two, three or even four presentations
that I'd really like to see. It certainly helps that we can see the <a href="http://www.informs.org/Sites/site/Analytics-2012-Conference-Slides" target="_blank">presentation slides </a>in
advance (thank you INFORMS!). They're a good (not always great)
indicator of presentation quality. Clear writer = clear speaker?</div>
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Here's an optimization problem to ponder. Wouldn't it be great if
each attendee could rate each presentation in terms of likely interest,
and then have a scheduling algorithm create a schedule to maximize the
total utility, i.e., people get to see the most presentations they’re
interested in? I know that might wreak havoc with the track structure.
In a simpler scenario, you could maintain the integrity of the tracks
(which presentations go in which tracks), but just vary the scheduling
of tracks and of presentations within tracks. What do you think?</div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Rob</span>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">_________________________________________________________________</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>Rob Ende is Founder and President of </i><a href="http://www.reanalyzeinc.com/"><i><span style="color: blue;">REanalyze Inc.</span></i></a><i>,
a Supply Chain, Inventory Management and Analytics consultancy based on Long
Island, New York. Rob can be reached at 631-807-2339 or </i><a href="mailto:rende@reanalyzeinc.com"><i><span style="color: blue;">rende@reanalyzeinc.com</span></i></a><i>.</i></span></div>
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<span style="color: #376092; font-size: 7.5pt;">©
2012 REanalyze.Inc.. All Rights Reserved.</span></div>Rob Endehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15455028763105019992noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6580377850508085978.post-43182515565193687412012-04-05T08:41:00.000-04:002012-04-05T08:41:08.888-04:00Rob Ende Guest Blogging at INFORMS Business Analytics Conference<div style="font-family: inherit;">
<a href="http://meetings2.informs.org/Analytics2012/" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img align="right" alt="INFORMS_2012_Conf_Header" border="0" height="150" hspace="7" src="http://img.pcdn.marketingcenter.intuit.com/media/2/f/4/2f4025dff1/d23604faf9/a12b392c18/library/INFORMS_2012_Conf_Header.jpg" title="INFORMS_2012_Conf_Header" vspace="7" width="200" /></a><span style="font-size: small;">I am very excited that I've been selected as a guest blogger for the<span style="color: black;"> <a href="http://meetings2.informs.org/Analytics2012/" target="_blank">INFORMS 2012 Conference on Business Analytics & Operations Research</a>.</span><span style="color: black;"></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;">The conference takes place April 15-17 in Huntington Beach, CA, and is the leading venue where world-class organizations
showcase the strategic use of business analytics and O.R.<br />
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<span class="style28">The <a href="http://meetings2.informs.org/Analytics2012/blog/" target="_blank">conference blog</a> can be found <a href="http://meetings2.informs.org/Analytics2012/blog/" target="_blank">here</a>, and the blog will replace the conference home page once the conference begins. I will also mirror my posts right here on <a href="http://reanalyzethis.reanalyzeinc.com/" target="_blank">REanalyze This!</a></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span class="style28"><span style="color: black;">In addition to taking in some great presentations on the success of Business Analytics in areas such as Supply Chain and Forecasting, I will be co-facilitating a discussion group on best practices in spreadsheet modeling:</span></span></span></div>
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<li>Garbage In, Gospel Out? Join Rob Ende, CEO of REanalyze Inc. and SPRIG
President Rick Carter, CEO of <a href="http://www.equationconsulting.com/" target="_blank">Equation</a>, in a discussion of tips and tricks on
spreadsheet design, development and auditing to prevent errors, reduce risk and
ensure quality results.<span style="font-size: small;"><span class="style28"><span style="color: black;"></span></span><span class="style26"><span style="color: black;"></span></span><span style="color: black;"> </span></span></li>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;">Please check back for conference updates starting April 15. Until next time...</span></span><br />
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Rob</div>
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_________________________________________________________________</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>Rob Ende is Founder and President of </i><a href="http://www.reanalyzeinc.com/"><i><span style="color: blue;">REanalyze Inc.</span></i></a><i>,
a Supply Chain, Inventory Management and Analytics consultancy based on Long
Island, New York. Rob can be reached at 631-807-2339 or </i><a href="mailto:rende@reanalyzeinc.com"><i><span style="color: blue;">rende@reanalyzeinc.com</span></i></a><i>.</i></span></div>
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<span style="color: #376092; font-size: 7.5pt;">©
2012 REanalyze.Inc.. All Rights Reserved.</span></div>Rob Endehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15455028763105019992noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6580377850508085978.post-7404361770808788712012-03-22T10:22:00.000-04:002012-03-22T10:22:41.621-04:00Nominations for 2012 ‘Assembly Plant of the Year’ Award<div style="font-family: inherit;">
Are you proud of your manufacturing operation? If so, you should consider nominating your facility for the 2012 Assembly Plant of the Year award, co-sponsored by The Boston Consulting Group and ASSEMBLY Magazine.</div>
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The press release from BCG can be found <a href="http://www.bcg.com/media/PressReleaseDetails.aspx?id=tcm:12-96029" target="_blank">here</a>.</div>
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<span id="ctl00_MainContent__ctrl_0_lblBody">Companies interested in applying can fill out the online form at <a href="http://www.assemblymag.com/plantoftheyearform">www.assemblymag.com/plantoftheyearform</a>. There is no entry fee, and more than one plant may be nominated. The deadline for submissions is <strong>April 30, 2012</strong>.</span></div>
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Rob</div>
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_________________________________________________________________</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>Rob Ende is Founder and President of </i><a href="http://www.reanalyzeinc.com/"><i><span style="color: blue;">REanalyze Inc.</span></i></a><i>,
a Supply Chain, Inventory Management and Analytics consultancy based on Long
Island, New York. Rob can be reached at 631-807-2339 or </i><a href="mailto:rende@reanalyzeinc.com"><i><span style="color: blue;">rende@reanalyzeinc.com</span></i></a><i>.</i></span><br />
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<span style="color: #376092; font-size: 7.5pt;">©
2012 REanalyze.Inc.. All Rights Reserved.</span></div>Rob Endehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15455028763105019992noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6580377850508085978.post-81206479483842233112012-03-13T12:02:00.000-04:002012-03-13T12:15:17.737-04:00Analytics Magazine - a Must Read for Business Analytics<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
If you manage a business analytics function or analytically-oriented projects, or if you think your organization would benefit from a more analytically-oriented and data-driven approach to decision-making, I highly recommend that you subscribe to <a href="http://www.analytics-magazine.org/issues/current-issue" target="_blank"><i>Analytics </i></a>magazine. <br />
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<a href="http://www.blogger.com/goog_1245259246" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-J4j9CTb6M_I/T19s7p9UZjI/AAAAAAAAACA/aDZflhyaKMA/s1600/cover-marapr12.jpg" /></a><a href="http://www.analytics-magazine.org/issues/current-issue" style="color: #0b5394;" target="_blank"><i>Analytics</i></a><span style="color: #0b5394;">, a digital magazine published by the Institute for
Operations Research and the Management Sciences (INFORMS), provides
readers with real-life examples of how data, modeling and mathematical
analysis is used to drive better business decisions and provide
concrete competitive advantage.</span></blockquote>
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I'm a fan of the "Executive Edge" column. The current issue's column features Kathy Chou, VP of Sales Strategy & Operations at Hewlett-Packard, on how HP achieved great rewards by applying analytics to the <i>Sales </i>function, typically one of the most difficult places to make headway with data-driven analysis and decision-making (<a href="http://www.analytics-magazine.org/march-april-2012/530-executive-edge-how-analytics-turned-sales-from-art-to-science-at-hewlett-packard" target="_blank"><i>How Analytics Turned Sales from Art to Science at Hewlett-Packard</i></a>).</div>
<br />
Another recent column from Chris Fry of Strategic Management Solutions talked about some keys to producing real, sustained value from analytics projects (<a href="http://www.analytics-magazine.org/november-december-2011/466-executive-edge-closing-the-gap-between-analytics-and-action" target="_blank"><i>Closing the Gap Between Analytics and Action</i></a>), including:<br />
<ol>
<li>Focus on the business process, not just the model</li>
<li>Make the model transparent to users and stakeholders (no "black box")</li>
<li>Highlight the "so-what's" - the conclusions and actions you want the user to take </li>
</ol>
It's best to view <i>Analytics </i>in the <a href="http://viewer.zmags.com/publication/ccfa8fef" target="_blank">digital reader version</a> and you can download .pdf versions of your favorite articles.<br />
<br />
Happy Reading!<br />
<br /></div>
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Rob</div>
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_________________________________________________________________</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><i>Rob Ende is Founder and President of </i><a href="http://www.reanalyzeinc.com/"><i><span style="color: blue;">REanalyze Inc.</span></i></a><i>,
a Supply Chain, Inventory Management and Analytics consultancy based on Long
Island, New York. Rob can be reached at 631-807-2339 or </i><a href="mailto:rende@reanalyzeinc.com"><i><span style="color: blue;">rende@reanalyzeinc.com</span></i></a><i>.</i></span><br />
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<span style="color: #376092; font-size: 7.5pt;">©
2012 REanalyze.Inc.. All Rights Reserved.</span></div>Rob Endehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15455028763105019992noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6580377850508085978.post-73414270609589070712012-01-04T11:56:00.000-05:002012-01-05T12:25:17.423-05:00What’s Lurking in your Spreadsheets? (Part 2)<div style="font-family: inherit;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 0.5in;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: #1f497d; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">Note: This series
of posts is not intended to be a “How To” guide. My purpose is to highlight some common issues
and mistakes in spreadsheet development and how to avoid them and the resulting
risk to your business. Even if you don’t
develop spreadsheet models yourself, hopefully this will help you know what to
look for and questions to ask those who DO develop spreadsheets for your
business. If you would like more
detailed “how to” instructions and examples on any of these topics, I refer you to a good Excel reference book like the <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Excel-2010-Bible-John-Walkenbach/dp/0470474874/" target="_blank">Microsoft Excel 2010 Bible</a> by John Walkenbach. </span></i></div>
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In a
<a href="http://reanalyzeinc.blogspot.com/2011/12/whats-lurking-in-your-spreadsheets.html" target="_blank">previous post</a> I discussed the prevalence of poor
spreadsheet modeling practice in most organizations, and the resulting risk to
the business. In that post, I covered
one very common mistake – using fixed or hard-coded values or constants in
formulas. </div>
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<br /></div>
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This time I
would like to cover another common type of spreadsheet error: incorrect cell references or ranges. You are probably familiar with Relative and
Fixed references (even if you didn’t know what they were called).</div>
<ul>
<li><span style="-moz-font-feature-settings: normal; -moz-font-language-override: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span>“A1” is a Relative reference referring to Column
A, Row 1. If you copy or drag a formula
to the right, the A1 becomes B1, C1, etc. If you copy or drag it down, it
becomes A2, A3, etc. In other words, the
reference is “relative” to whatever cell you’re in.</li>
<li><span style="-moz-font-feature-settings: normal; -moz-font-language-override: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span>“$A$1” is a Fixed reference. No matter where you copy or drag it, it
remains $A$1 and always refers to the same cell. In other words, the reference is “fixed” no
matter what cell you’re in. And of
course you can fix just the row (e.g., A$1) or just the column (e.g., $A1).</li>
</ul>
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Each type of
reference is appropriate in different circumstances. The problem is that it’s easy to use the
wrong type in a formula and not realize it.
Then when you copy and paste the formula somewhere else, you may end up
referring to incorrect cells and getting incorrect results. Things may appear OK but the calculations may
be totally wrong!</div>
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It’s
critical to review all the formulas in a spreadsheet model to make sure the
correct types of references are being used.
You can also use Excel’s built-in auditing features, e.g., Trace
Precedents, to look for mistakes.</div>
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Here’s
another neat trick: Press Ctrl and the
accent key (it looks like ` and is next to the “1” key on the top left of your
keyboard). This turns on the Formula
View which shows the formulas in every cell on your worksheet. This is a great way to scan your formulas for
errors, especially incorrect references.</div>
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Perhaps the
best way to prevent incorrect references is to use Range Names. To name a cell
or a range of cells, just select the cell(s), click in the Name box which can
be found toward the upper left corner of the window, type in a name and hit Enter. Then, whenever you refer to that cell or
cells in a formula, you can use the Range Name instead of entering the cell
reference. Here’s an example, first with
a normal reference to cell A2, and second where cell A2 has been named “Margin”.
</div>
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a.<span style="-moz-font-feature-settings: normal; -moz-font-language-override: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span>= SUM(B3:B6)*A2</div>
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b.<span style="-moz-font-feature-settings: normal; -moz-font-language-override: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span>= SUM(Q4_Sales)*Margin</div>
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Why is (b)
so much better than (a)? Three main reasons. </div>
<ol>
<li><span style="-moz-font-feature-settings: normal; -moz-font-language-override: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"></span>First, when you’re writing a formula you don’t
need to remember that the margin is in cell A2; you just type “Margin”. </li>
<li><span style="-moz-font-feature-settings: normal; -moz-font-language-override: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"></span>Second, you don’t have to worry about using the
wrong type of cell reference. If you
write a formula using “A2” (a Relative reference) instead of “$A$2” (a Fixed
reference) and then you drag or copy it to other cells, you will end up with
the wrong values. If you write a formula
using “Margin”, you can drag or copy at will with no concerns.</li>
<li><span style="-moz-font-feature-settings: normal; -moz-font-language-override: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"></span>Third, it’s much easier to understand what a
formula is doing. In example (b), it’s
easy to see that you are multiplying Sales by Margin. Not so in example (a).</li>
</ol>
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In future
posts I’ll continue to point out other problems to look for in spreadsheet
models, along with some best practices to reduce the risk to your business.</div>
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Meanwhile, I’ll
close with the same question from last time: <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Do you
run critical parts of your business on spreadsheets? If so, have you thought about where and how
they are being developed, and what sorts of errors may be lurking inside?</i></div>
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<br /></div>
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Until next time…</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
Rob</div>
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_________________________________________________________________</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<i>Rob Ende is Founder and President of </i><a href="http://www.reanalyzeinc.com/"><i><span style="color: blue;">REanalyze Inc.</span></i></a><i>,
a Supply Chain, Inventory Management and Analytics consultancy based on Long
Island, New York. Rob can be reached at 631-807-2339 or </i><a href="mailto:rende@reanalyzeinc.com"><i><span style="color: blue;">rende@reanalyzeinc.com</span></i></a><i>.</i></div>
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<span style="color: #376092; font-size: 7.5pt;">©
2012 REanalyze.Inc.. All Rights Reserved.</span></div>Rob Endehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15455028763105019992noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6580377850508085978.post-49796639609113639852011-12-13T23:05:00.000-05:002011-12-13T23:05:47.463-05:00Can U B like P&G?<div style="font-family: inherit;">
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
I read a great article in the McKinsey Quarterly today
entitled <a href="https://www.mckinseyquarterly.com/Inside_PGs_digital_revolution_2893" target="_blank"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Inside P&G’s Digital Revolution</i></a>,
about how Procter and Gamble is using digital technology and advanced analytics
to revolutionize its business.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
I encourage you to read the entire article (note: you may have to register), but in case you’re
pressed for time, the first paragraph sums things up nicely:</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit; margin-left: 0.25in;">
“Robert McDonald is a CEO on a
mission: to make Procter & Gamble the most technologically enabled business
in the world… [He is] overseeing the large-scale application of digital
technology and advanced analytics across every aspect of P&G’s operations
and activities—from the way the consumer goods giant creates molecules in its
R&D labs to how it maintains relationships with retailers, manufactures
products, builds brands, and interacts with customers. The prize: better
innovation, higher productivity, lower costs, and the promise of faster growth.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
A few of P&G’s keys to success:</div>
<ul>
<li><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="-moz-font-feature-settings: normal; -moz-font-language-override: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"></span></span>Enable better decision-making through real time
information (or as close to real time as possible) </li>
<li><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="-moz-font-feature-settings: normal; -moz-font-language-override: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"></span></span>Apply advanced modeling & simulation tools
to test new product concepts and new manufacturing & supply chain
strategies in the virtual world before spending money in the real world.</li>
<li><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"></span>Hire people with great analytical skills, then
continually train them & develop those skills at all levels of the
organization</li>
</ul>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
I’ll add a couple of thoughts of my own.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>First, it starts at the top.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>P&G’s CEO, Robert McDonald, is not just
bought into the strategy, he understands the details and is an active champion
for using technology and advanced analytics to drive his business.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
Second, the competition is moving fast so there’s no time to
waste.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Get started now.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Don’t wait for perfect data – use what you
have today, BUT… do your best to build in data integrity from the beginning so
poor data integrity doesn’t come back to bite you later.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
Few companies have the resources and capabilities to be like
P&G.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But almost any company can use
P&G as an aspirational ideal – an example to shoot for as you develop your
own analytics strategy.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
Ask yourself a few questions about your business:</div>
<ul>
<li><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"></span>How are you using advanced analytics to drive
your business?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></li>
<li><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"></span>Do you know what parts of your business offer
the greatest opportunity?</li>
<li><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"></span>What information do you have today that you can
leverage for greater insights and improved business results?</li>
<li><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"></span>What information that you <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">don’t</i> have today would have the most value?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What’s the next step to getting that data (or
at least getting closer to it)?</li>
</ul>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
Until next time…</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
Rob</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
_________________________________________________________________</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<i>Rob Ende is Founder and President of </i><a href="http://www.reanalyzeinc.com/"><i><span style="color: blue;">REanalyze Inc.</span></i></a><i>,
a Supply Chain, Inventory Management and Analytics consultancy based on Long
Island, New York. Rob can be reached at 631-807-2339 or </i><a href="mailto:rende@reanalyzeinc.com"><i><span style="color: blue;">rende@reanalyzeinc.com</span></i></a><i>.</i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="color: #376092; font-size: 7.5pt;">©
2011 REanalyze.Inc.. All Rights Reserved.</span></div>Rob Endehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15455028763105019992noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6580377850508085978.post-34730038910419234962011-12-06T15:58:00.001-05:002012-01-04T17:25:27.977-05:00What’s Lurking in your Spreadsheets?<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
What’s wrong
with this formula from a spreadsheet model?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 0.5in;">
=A2*.18</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
Seems simple
enough. Imagine you’re calculating an
annual inventory holding cost. Cell A2 contains the inventory value in dollars, and you estimate the annual holding
cost percentage at 18%. Multiply them
together and you’ve got the correct answer, right?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
Technically,
yes. But…</div>
<ul>
<li><span style="-moz-font-feature-settings: normal; -moz-font-language-override: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"></span>What if the holding cost percentage changes next
year? Will you or an analyst or whoever
uses this spreadsheet remember to change the formula? </li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li><span style="-moz-font-feature-settings: normal; -moz-font-language-override: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"></span>What if different items have different holding
costs? For example, obsolete items might
require a higher value due to the risk of write-offs.</li>
</ul>
<span style="-moz-font-feature-settings: normal; -moz-font-language-override: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"></span><br />
<ul>
<li>What if someone passes this spreadsheet along to
a colleague working on a different product line, where the holding cost
percentage should be 25% instead of 18%? </li>
</ul>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
Any time a
parameter like this is fixed or “hard-coded” in a formula, rather than in an
input cell, you are much more likely to get burned in one of these situations. If you are lucky, this is
only an informational report. But what
if it’s in a financial model that you use to set operating budgets? Or to calculate someone’s bonus? </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
In this case, the solution
is pretty simple. Just put the holding
cost percentage into an input cell (or maybe a range of input cells for different products). Highlight
the cell with shading and borders for good measure. That way anyone who uses the model can easily
see the value and change it if necessary.
Even better, give the input cell a name like “HoldingCost” and then you
can put it into a formula anywhere in your spreadsheet without having to
remember what cell it’s in.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
This may
seem ridiculously easy, and it is. But
you would be amazed at how prevalent poor practices like these are in otherwise
very sophisticated companies. Virtually
every business uses Excel spreadsheets to a lesser or greater extent. And no matter where I’ve been in my career as
an analyst, an executive and a consultant – small and large companies, different
functional areas, various industries – I have seen poor modeling practices and
outright mistakes in almost every spreadsheet I’ve come across. In fact, some people have remarked that I
have a special talent for finding this stuff!
Some are obvious formula errors.
Others, a result that “just doesn’t look right” based on what I know
about the business <i>(note: the published research on spreadsheet errors is a little scary: See this literature review from <a href="http://mba.tuck.dartmouth.edu/spreadsheet/product_pubs_files/Literature.pdf" target="_blank">Powell, Baker & Lawson</a> or this research article from <a href="http://panko.shidler.hawaii.edu/ssr/Mypapers/whatknow.htm" target="_blank">Panko</a>). </i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
When you get
right down to it, spreadsheets are software that perform some function or
process for your business. But unlike
other types of software, which are usually developed by trained software developers with a
controlled process, just about anyone can create or modify a spreadsheet. Think about all the rigor and quality control
that go into typical software development in your company. Then think about whether your spreadsheets
are getting a comparable level of attention.
If not, you could be introducing a lot of uncertainty and risk into your
business. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
In upcoming
posts I’ll point out some other problems to look for in your spreadsheet models,
along with some best practices to reduce the risk to your business. You may consider starting with a "No fixed values" or "No hard-coded constants" rule for your spreadsheet developers.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
In the
meantime, here’s something to think about.
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> </i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<i>Do you run critical parts of your
business on spreadsheets? If so, have
you thought about where and how they are being developed, and what sorts of
errors may be lurking inside?</i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Until next time…</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Rob</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">_________________________________________________________________</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Rob Ende is Founder and President of </span></i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><a href="http://www.reanalyzeinc.com/"><i><span style="color: blue;">REanalyze Inc.</span></i></a></span><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">,
a Supply Chain, Inventory Management and Analytics consultancy based on Long
Island, New York. Rob can be reached at 631-807-2339 or </span></i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><a href="mailto:rende@reanalyzeinc.com"><i><span style="color: blue;">rende@reanalyzeinc.com</span></i></a></span><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">.</span></i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><span style="color: #376092;">© 2011 REanalyze.Inc.. All Rights Reserved.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>Rob Endehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15455028763105019992noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6580377850508085978.post-22584740948823968722011-12-02T08:46:00.001-05:002011-12-02T09:24:53.292-05:00In Supply Chain Planning, One Size Does Not Fit All<div style="font-family: inherit;">
Supply Chain leaders recognize that their planning processes need to be tailored to the attributes or characteristics of specific items. However, many manufacturing and distribution companies still use"one-size-fits-all" approaches to Demand and Supply Planning. This often results in too much inventory on some items, and not enough inventory on others which can cause shortages and stock-outs.</div>
<div style="font-family: inherit;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: inherit;">
A number of years ago, at Arrow Electronics, we implemented a Categorization approach that applied different forecasting and inventory policies to each item based on the item's demand characteristics, e.g., sales volume, variability of demand and risk profile (mainly, how much of the demand was concentrated with one or a few customers). This allowed planners to focus on the right items to ensure we had the right amount of inventory in the right place at the right time. It was a key element of an inventory strategy that improved inventory turns from 3.5 to 6 while improving customer service levels.</div>
<div style="font-family: inherit;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: inherit;">
Ask yourself these questions:</div>
<ul style="font-family: inherit;">
<li>Do you use the same forecasting process for all items? Or do you vary the process based on an item's demand characteristics such as volume, variability or risk? How about life-cycle stage, i.e., do you forecast new items differently from mature or end-of-life items? </li>
</ul>
<ul style="font-family: inherit;">
<li>Do you set your inventory targets or reorder points based on consistent rules-of-thumb, e.g., 30 days coverage ? Or do you set them based on each item's demand variability, lead time and variability of lead time? </li>
</ul>
<ul style="font-family: inherit;">
<li>Do you set lot sizes or MOQ's for production or purchasing based on "gut feel"? Or do you employ some sort of Economic Order Quantity or Total Cost of Ownership approach to minimize total supply chain costs?</li>
</ul>
<div style="font-family: inherit;">
For a good example of what I'm talking about, check out this video from SupplyChainBrain, featuring Tim Conrad of Gates Corporation. Gates implemented a process called "Plan for Every Part" or PFEP, which tailors Supply Chain and inventory strategies based on each item's unique DNA. <a href="http://www.supplychainbrain.com/content/videos/2011-videos/scope-west-2011/why-you-should-plan-for-every-part/" target="_blank">Click here to watch the video.</a> </div>
<div style="font-family: inherit;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: inherit;">
<i>How well does your company align its Supply Chain Planning processes with the unique characteristics of each item? Have you thought about the inventory, service and cost benefits of a more tailored approach?</i><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
Until next time…</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Rob</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
_________________________________________________________________</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>Rob Ende is Founder and President of <a href="http://www.reanalyzeinc.com/" style="color: blue;">REanalyze Inc.</a>,
a Supply Chain, Inventory Management and Analytics consultancy based
on Long Island, New York. Rob can be reached at 631-807-2339 or <a href="mailto:rende@reanalyzeinc.com" style="color: blue;">rende@reanalyzeinc.com</a>.</i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><span style="color: #376092;">© 2011 REanalyze.Inc.. All Rights Reserved.</span></span></div>
</div>Rob Endehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15455028763105019992noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6580377850508085978.post-55954377564071767632011-11-08T23:23:00.000-05:002012-01-04T17:26:18.468-05:00Talking to Students About Supply Chain Careers<div style="font-family: inherit;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Last week I was invited to speak to the APICS student chapter at Farmingdale State College. It’s always great to talk to an audience of budding supply chain professionals, and I let them know they are entering a great field. Even in these challenging economic times, they have skills that are in demand and they have bright futures ahead of them. Manufacturing and Distribution companies hire a lot of supply chain talent – even in tough times. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit; margin-bottom: 0in;">
As I typically do with an audience like this, I described my career journey in Supply Chain Management, Inventory Management and Analytics, peppered with some real-life examples. I also shared some lessons-learned for career-management. This is certainly not an exhaustive list, but a few things to remind yourself of periodically… </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<ol style="font-family: inherit;">
<li>You have a long career ahead of you. Try different things. Do what you enjoy. Don’t chase money. If you do what you enjoy and are good at, the rewards will come.<span style="-moz-font-feature-settings: normal; -moz-font-language-override: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"><br />
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<li><span style="-moz-font-feature-settings: normal; -moz-font-language-override: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span>Make an impact. Apply what you learn in school and on the job. Tie ideas back to a business case – how will you make the company more profitable?<br />
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<li>Look out for #1. Don’t expect someone else to manage your career. Nobody cares about it more than you do. Keep developing and learning.</li>
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Nothing earth-shattering here, but it’s amazing how often people (myself included!) don’t consistently adhere to these relatively simple concepts. </div>
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I have posted the entire presentation at on the <a href="http://reanalyzeinc.com/resources.html" target="_blank">Resources</a> page at REanalyzeinc.com - <a href="http://reanalyzeinc.com/Rob_Ende_APICS_Farmingdale_2011-11-01.pdf" target="_blank">click here</a>. It includes a bunch of project examples and some lessons-learned that are more functionally-oriented (as opposed to career-oriented).</div>
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<i>What are your most important career-management lessons? </i><br />
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Until next time…</div>
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Rob</div>
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<span style="background-color: red;"></span> _________________________________________________________________</div>
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<span style="background-color: red;"></span> </div>
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<span style="background-color: red;"></span><i>Rob Ende is Founder and President of <a href="http://www.reanalyzeinc.com/" style="color: blue;">REanalyze Inc.</a>, a Supply Chain, Inventory Management and Analytics consultancy based on Long Island, New York. Rob can be reached at 631-807-2339 or <a href="mailto:rende@reanalyzeinc.com" style="color: blue;">rende@reanalyzeinc.com</a>.</i></div>
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><span style="color: #376092;">© 2011 REanalyze.Inc.. All Rights Reserved.</span></span></div>
</div>Rob Endehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15455028763105019992noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6580377850508085978.post-23768665129589307312011-07-06T14:27:00.000-04:002012-01-04T17:27:28.643-05:00Highlights from Llamasoft Conference on Supply Chain Design<div class="MsoNormal">
Last week I attended <a href="http://www.llamasoft.com/" style="color: blue;">Llamasoft’s</a> first annual Summer Conference on Supply Chain Design in Ann Arbor, Michigan, along with a couple of days training on their <a href="http://llamasoft.com/Technology/SupplyChainGuru.aspx" style="background-color: white; color: blue;">Supply Chain Guru</a> applications. I met some great people, gained a lot of insight about Llamasoft and their product roadmap, and enjoyed some spectacular early-summer weather in Ann Arbor.</div>
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Llamasoft is growing fast, and they are now the only major independent Supply Chain Design software vendor, since the acquisition of LogicTools/LogicNet by ILOG and then IBM, and Optiant's acquisition by Logility. </div>
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Founder, President and CEO Don Hicks talked about (OK, I’ll say it…) changing the paradigm for Supply Chain software. Instead of the traditional “Planning versus Execution” framework, Don talks about “<u>Design</u> versus Planning versus Execution”. Planning applications will become increasingly automated and IT driven, cutting across the usual distinctions between strategic, tactical and operational planning. Meanwhile, Llamasoft is squarely targeting the Design space, which will continue to require human input and creativity. To that point, late this year they will add Transportation Optimization to their existing capabilities in Network Optimization & Simulation and Inventory Optimization.</div>
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The conference featured some interesting keynote speakers:</div>
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<li><span style="font-family: Symbol;"><span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";"></span></span>Dr. John Gattorna of Australia highlighted his Dynamic Alignment Model, emphasizing the need to develop multiple Supply Chains – with distinct strategies -- that align with different customer behavior models. His book <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Dynamic-Supply-Chains-Delivering-Financial/dp/0273730401/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1309901415&sr=8-1" style="color: blue;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Dynamic Supply Chains</i></a> is available on Amazon. </li>
<li><span style="font-family: Symbol;"><span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span>Astronaut Buzz Aldrin shared some great stories, images and video from the Apollo program and the 1969 moon landing -- and his strong opinions on how we can and must regain the initiative in space exploration. </li>
<li><span style="font-family: Symbol;"></span>Developmental Cognitive Neuroscientist Dr. Bruce Hood talked about how the decision-biases that are hard-wired into our brains can lead people to cling to incorrect beliefs and make decisions counter to all available evidence – something to keep in mind the next time someone questions the “obvious” recommendations from your analysis!</li>
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<b>A question for my readers</b>: What are the pros & cons of building your Supply Chain Design capabilities around software, services and solutions from:<br />
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: Symbol;"></span>…a small but fast growing, independent software company focused exclusively on SC Design (Llamasoft)?</li>
<li><span style="font-family: Symbol;"></span>…an established Supply Chain Planning software company integrating an acquired SC Design solution (Logility/Optiant)?</li>
<li><span style="font-family: Symbol;"><span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";"></span></span>…a huge global conglomerate integrating a SC Design Solution (itself part of a larger acquisition) with extensive software and consulting resources as part of an aggressive Supply Chain Analytics strategy (IBM / ILOG / LogicNet)? </li>
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What do you think? I'd love to hear what you have to say!</div>
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OK, that’s all for now. Please visit our web site at <a href="http://www.reanalyzeinc.com/" style="color: blue;">www.reanalyzeinc.com</a>. Until next time…</div>
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Rob</div>
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<span style="background-color: red;"></span> _________________________________________________________________</div>
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<span style="background-color: red;"></span> </div>
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<span style="background-color: red;"></span><i>Rob Ende is Founder and President of <a href="http://www.reanalyzeinc.com/" style="color: blue;">REanalyze Inc.</a>, a Supply Chain, Inventory Management and Analytics consultancy based on Long Island, New York. Rob can be reached at 631-807-2339 or <a href="mailto:rende@reanalyzeinc.com" style="color: blue;">rende@reanalyzeinc.com</a>.</i></div>
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><span style="color: #376092; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">© 2011 REanalyze.Inc.. All Rights Reserved.</span></span><span style="color: #376092; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"></span></div>Rob Endehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15455028763105019992noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6580377850508085978.post-71938529820223860532011-06-24T10:16:00.000-04:002011-06-24T10:16:25.038-04:00Welcome to REanalyze This!<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: large;">Welcome to my blog everyone! First of all, I want to thank all my friends and colleagues who have offered your congratulations, best wishes and advice over the past few months as I made this “great leap” from the corporate world to founding my own consulting practice. If I am half as successful as you all expect me to be, I will be very successful and happy indeed!</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: large;">I intend to use this space to discuss topics that interest me – and that I hope interest you. These include Supply Chain Strategy, Demand Planning, Inventory Management, Business Analytics and Spreadsheet Modeling, just to name a few. These are all areas with which I have some experience, and hopefully a meaningful point of view (my readers can judge). I encourage you to offer your feedback and comments. And I hope to learn as much from your input as you might from mine.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: large;">Please remember to visit </span><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.reanalyzeinc.com/"><span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif";">www.reanalyzeinc.com</span></a></span><span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: large;"> for more information. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: large;">Rob</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif";">========</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Tahoma","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">Rob Ende</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Tahoma","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">President</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Tahoma","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">REanalyze Inc.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Tahoma","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">Supply Chain, Inventory Management and Analytics Consulting</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Tahoma","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">631-807-2339</span><span style="font-family: "Tahoma","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><a href="http://www.reanalyzeinc.com/"><span style="font-family: "Tahoma","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">www.reanalyzeinc.com</span></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><a href="mailto:rende@reanalyzeinc.com"><span style="font-family: "Tahoma","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">rende@reanalyzeinc.com</span></a><span style="font-family: "Tahoma","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><a href="http://www.linkedin.com/in/robertende"><span style="font-family: "Tahoma","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">www.linkedin.com/in/robertende</span></a><span style="font-family: "Tahoma","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"></span></div>Rob Endehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15455028763105019992noreply@blogger.com0