Medical Specialties Distributors improves its fill rate performance for its customers’ patients through distribution enhancements.
By Janice Hoppe-Spiers
As a leading healthcare solutions provider serving the home infusion, home medical equipment, oncology and long-term care markets, it is vital for Medical Specialties Distributors (MSD) to offer fast delivery of supplies to meet the ever-changing needs of its customers. To ensure the company’s success, Director of Supply Chain Tony Calabria has been focused on improvements to materials management processes for the past two years. “MSD’s supply chain is very fluid and continues to adapt to service the needs of patients,” Calabria says. “If we don’t have what they need, don’t do a good job processing the demand signals we get and don’t collaborate well with our suppliers, we impact the patient. People are reliant on us and we take that mission very seriously.”
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With innovative technology and a customer driven mentality, Safelite AutoGlass aims to continue to grow further.
By Bianca Herron
Safelite® Group exists to make a difference and bring unexpected happiness to people’s everyday lives through an array of services. It is comprised of three major businesses: Safelite AutoGlass®, the largest provider of vehicle glass repair and replacement services in the U.S.; Safelite® Solutions, the nation’s leading fleet and insurance claims management service partner; and Service AutoGlass®, a sophisticated vehicle glass wholesale supply chain and distribution operation.
Together, the businesses serve 10 million customers annually through more than 9,200 MobileGlassShopsTM and facilities. Safelite Group employs nearly 14,000 people throughout the United States. Based in Columbus, Ohio, the company has been in business since 1947.
Although Safelite is a 70-year old company, the company likes to think of itself more like a startup, according to Senior Vice President of Operations and Supply Chain Steve Miggo. He notes that the company revitalized its strategy about eight years ago to become people powered and customer driven.
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Supply chain organizations are discovering the benefits of integrated business planning.
By Neal Goffman
Executive teams need accurate forecasts to set performance benchmarks, and optimize targets for revenue, profit, territory, pipeline opportunity, and more. Production and procurement teams need them to optimize required resources such as raw materials, people, and equipment. Finance needs them to weigh capital investments against liquidity needs. Wouldn’t it be great if every functional team in the organization could work off of and share the same, statistically derived, continually updated, cloud-based demand data?
Fact is, too many organizations still email spreadsheet updates and manually aggregate inputs from sales teams based on gut-feel assumptions. Other organizations rely on Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) applications or other transactional databases to inform their monthly or quarterly Sales and Operations Planning (S&OP) meetings. These systems, though highly valuable, are simply not geared for forecasting and planning. Truth be told, the manual and non-statistical processes associated with both spreadsheets and legacy BI systems are error-prone, labor-intensive, and generally ineffective for forecasting and planning.
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Procurement Requires a Strategic Spend Analysis Solution
By David Bush
At a high level, spend analysis is the process of aggregating, classifying and leveraging spend data for the purpose of gaining visibility into cost reduction, performance improvement, compliance and other value generation opportunities. It is part of an overall spend management and visibility process that includes the analysis, award and monitoring of direct and indirect corporate spend. Additionally, it is the first and last step of the strategic sourcing process that both identifies the opportunity and measures the organization's achievement thereof.
While these solutions have been around for decades, many companies that own them still struggle achieving enterprise-level spend visibility. Much of their time is spent manipulating the data on their own or managing the tool itself, rather than managing strategic initiatives.
Which begs the obvious question. In a world where several spend analysis solutions claim to provide enterprise-level spend visibility, why are these tools failing to achieve complete visibility for organizations?
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By better understanding its customers’ needs now, Höegh Autoliners is positioning itself for the future to expand in the automotive supply chain.
By Janice Hoppe-Spiers
Höegh Autoliners strives to be the go-to roll-on/roll-off [RO/RO] carrier in a globalized marketplace by remaining flexible and reliable while developing creative solutions at competitive prices. As its customers needs continue to evolve, the company is working to offer a wider range of services in the automotive supply chain.
“I think that what sets us apart is our flexibility and our relentless dedication and focus on customer excellence,” Head of Region Americas Shane Warren says. “We are not the biggest RO/RO carrier, but that helps us because we have more flexibility to meet their needs. It’s about understanding the customers’ needs, helping them understand where they have waste in their system and how we can help them to be more efficient.”
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FinishMaster expands its footprint through acquisitions and organic growth.
By Chris Kelsch
Anyone who has experienced a car accident knows it is an emotionally stressful ordeal. Dealing with insurance and finding a collision repair center is challenging enough, to say nothing of possible physical injuries.
When faced with such a situation, consumers tend to go to a local collision repair center they have used in the past or that came recommended from a friend. Collision repair centers work hard to build a strong presence in their community as someone you can hand your car over to without a worry. Steve Arndt, president and COO of FinishMaster, notes that is exactly the same relationship his company aims to create with the market it serves. “We consider ourselves a key supplier and partner to the local collision shop,” Arndt explains. “Vehicle repairs have to be done to pre-accident specifications and it is our job to support collision shops with products and services to get the car back on the road as quickly as possible.”
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Etsy hires a rocket scientist to run its shipping department.
By Kat Zeman
If you call Roman Sobieri a rocket scientist, it won’t be an exaggeration. He started his career in aerospace as a mechanical engineer in 1990. For 10 years, he worked for Pratt & Whitney, the East Hartford, Conn.-based aerospace manufacturer with global service operations.
With a job that took him all over the world, his exploits included Africa and the Middle East. He zigzagged his way through China and Japan and made stops in Zimbabwe, Yemen and Israel.
“I’ve been every place where there’s been an airline,” says Sobieri, who is the new head of shipping and orders at Etsy, a Brooklyn, N.Y.-based peer-to-peer e-commerce website focused on handmade or vintage items and supplies. “When I started, I focused on jet engines. I was helping the airlines maintain those engines. I would go to their airports and look at what they were doing. It was enjoyable work and I liked traveling.”
But when the 1990s ended and aircraft manufacturing profits started to take a nosedive as the country headed towards recession, Sobieri decided to split. It was time for a new adventure. A global computer network, called ”the internet,” was all the rage. “I saw that the airline industry was going to go through some downturns and I decided to get involved with the internet,” he says.
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Craft Brew Alliance strives to continuously improve its processes as it competes in an ever-growing market.
By Janice Hoppe-Spiers
Guided by its World Class Craft initiative, Craft Brew Alliance (CBA) strives for continuous improvement throughout the organization. “World Class Craft originally started as a concept in brewing and operations, but has very quickly become part of the lingo across all of CBA,” says Sujit Srinivas, senior director of supply chain. “It is our guiding light in the pursuit of continuous improvement and the overarching theme in everything we do at CBA.”
Formed in 2008, CBA is headquartered in Portland, Ore., and operates breweries and brewpubs across the U.S. CBA beers are available in all 50 U.S. states and 30 different countries around the world.
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