Goal of a project is to complete a project, which usually translates into:– minimizing the costs associated with the project, – completing the project on time, and – completing the project as described in the specifications. But what is the real goal of the project? We can classify project goals into 2 types: Read more…
Most projects fail. Failure means: – The project scope changed, – the project delivered late, or – the budget exceeded In some projects, two or even all three of these objectives were not realized. 2 streams of research have emerged from project management. 1. Management science stream:Determine the most efficient algorithm which identifies Read more…
The Mass Layoffs: Does it help? POOGI is the short form of Process Of On Going Improvement. POOGI claims that performance should go up as time advances. This contains two different curves—the red curve and green curve. In the red curve the rate of improvement grows leading to exponential growth. In Read more…
Rarely does a company have a decisive competitive edge. Are the sales meeting between companies who have decisive competitive edge different? Stop focusing on the company’s products.The meeting should, instead, revolve around the client environment. We should expose the significant need that currently isn’t satisfied by the vendors. Taking advantage of a Read more…
The standard ways to:– identify the needed actions, – focus the improvements, are NOT adequate. We usually start with a list of gaps between the current situation and the desired situation. The gaps are then quantified. Items at the top of the list are taken as the targets for improvement. This approach leads, Read more…
The vast majority of the elements of a system are non-constraints. Ignoring a non-constraint impacts the constraint. This results in the performance of the entire system going bad. The maxim “More is better” is correct only for the constraints. It is NOT correct for the non-constraints. For the non-constraints, “more is better” Read more…
Key measure of retailer’s success is – selling as much merchandise as possible at the highest profit margin. Earlier the focus was on:– the right product– in the right place– at the right time In today’s hyper competitive omni channel world, we also need:– at the right price– in the right Read more…
1. MYTH #1: Aggregation or Disaggregation has no impact on variation. At a store, an item may sell between 10 to 100 pieces (10x Variation)For manufacturer, the difference might be 1,000 to 2,000 pieces (2x Variation). The more disaggregated the data is, the higher the variation. 2. MYTH #2: Sophisticated Read more…
It was 2009, and I was struggling .. I was head of Merchandise planning and replenishment for a 500+ store chain. My target was to get 99% availability with less than 2% stock which was more than 6 months old in my stores. I tried many forecasting techniques to ensure Read more…
Imagine a manufacturer producing a variety of products. These products are then sold through stores which are serviced by a few warehouses. Usually, the retailer will order an entire season’s supply of an item. The retailer will want the items to arrive before the season begins based on a forecast Read more…