A holistic, integrated approach to predictive maintenance incorporates data, systems, and human expertise from various functions including engineering, manufacturing, field service, logistics, supply chain, HR, finance, and maintenance.
Industry
Industry-specific categories.
Direct Materials P2P—Part Three
Freshness Wars — Part Three: Leveraging the Cloud to Improve Freshness
Direct Materials P2P—Part Two
In our research on direct materials Procure-to-Pay (P2P) processes, we saw tremendous variation between industries or types of companies regarding how they execute P2P. One major difference is the level of ‘relationship-intensity’ for P2P processes, i.e., how much person-to-person negotiation and dialog is required at each stage of P2P for each industry.
Freshness Wars — Part Two: Challenges and Solutions for Improving Freshness
Maintaining freshness of produce and other fresh products is challenging for grocers and their suppliers. Here we discuss why, and how some of these challenges can be solved.
Freshness Wars — Part One: Freshness, the Foundation of Competitiveness in Grocery
The quality of fresh food is the prime determinant of where consumers decide to shop for their groceries. Here we discuss why that is so and the role of freshness in competition for grocery market share.
The Case for Autonomous Long-Haul Trucking
Predictions for rollout of driverless cars have shifted from “before 2020” to “after 2030”. Here we explore the many reasons we will likely see driverless long-haul trucking in a hub-to-hub model well before driverless cars are plying our city streets.
Space-Based Manufacturing and Logistics — Part Three: Mining and Logistics
In this final article of the series, we discuss current activities and future potential in space-based mining, as well as the various kinds of logistics that will be required for the emerging, diverse, space economy.
Last Mile Delivery Excellence – Part One: Perfecting the Customer’s Experience
Customers’ expectations for delivery excellence continue to climb for faster, error-free delivery, more granular visibility, more convenience, and increased flexibility. Here we discuss specific strategies and capabilities that leading companies are using to try and perfect the customer’s delivery experience, such as via hyperlocal delivery, dynamic dispatch and routing, adaptable workflows, dwell time reduction, real-time visibility, expanding the range of delivery windows, locations, and options, sustainable delivery, last minute rescheduling, and more
Space-Based Manufacturing and Logistics: Part Two – Examples of Types of Manufacturing Being Pursued Now
We explore examples of space-based manufacturing that are currently being considered or pursued, such as ZBLAN optical fibers, biomanufacturing, construction of large structures, space-based farming, drugs, microfabrication, carbon nanotubes, and perfect spheres.
Retails’ Climate Change Responsibility – Part Two: Diverse Strategies for Rapidly Reducing Transportation Emissions
We examine strategies and techniques for making near-term reductions to carbon emissions from transportation, such as improving driving behavior and vehicle performance, minimizing and optimizing returns, increasing first-attempt delivery rates, consolidation and mix-mode strategies, integrating private fleet with purchased transportation, and forecast accuracy and inventory optimization for hyperlocal distribution.