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Do you want visibility or transparency? Polly Mitchell-Guthrie, posed that provocative question to supply chain professionals on her LinkedIn feed. Ms. Mitchell-Guthrie is the VP of Industry Outreach and Thought Leadership at Kinaxis. Kinaxis is a top supplier of supply chain planning software.

“People matter here. Music matters here. We needed to demonstrate our commitment to the music industry as a whole including the people behind the scenes and the artists themselves.” – John Sicard, CEO, Kinaxis

With the help of powerful advances in technology, business leaders are unifying supply chain and finance teams across everything from daily operations to long-term strategic planning. Firms in various industries are unlocking opportunities by shifting from manual and disconnected planning and data forecasts to “concurrent planning”—a technique based on synchronizing data and unifying teams to improve analytics and business insights. Under this technique, what was once static, calendar-driven planning can transform into agile, continuous reevaluation and data-driven decisions.

As with other industries, the COVID-19 pandemic crippled consumer goods supply chains. Customers became unsettled because common products disappeared off shelves with no promise of a restocking date. From toilet paper, hair dye and meat to exercise equipment, the list of items impacted seemed never ending, and the uncertainty of accessibility drove shoppers to extreme behavior, including hoarding and robbery.

Developing a COVID-19 vaccine was only the first step in beating the pandemic. Now the supply chain must manage the challenges and complexities of getting those vaccines delivered.

The most recent McKinsey Global Survey on AI shows a 25% increase in use by companies over the prior year, a trend that shows no signs of slowing. At this pace, have we entered the Age of AI? Do we even need supply chain planners, or can we turn out the lights and go home, because we now live in a world of autonomous planning? The short answer is that planners are more important than ever, and not just because the hype may be ahead of the curve. According to the MHI Industry Annual Report, AI and machine learning adoption in supply chains is only 12% today, but the curve is expected to rise rapidly to 60% within five years. More importantly, while AI may promise the world driverless cars, supply chains still need humans in the driver’s seat. Although human hands need to remain on the wheel, it is time for a shift change. We are driving on a different kind of supply chain landscape these days, which calls for a different kind of planner.

In supply chain management, it is widely accepted that holding enough finished goods inventory to fulfill every order is just too costly. The thinking goes that at some point, improving service levels means you are not adding inventory in a linear manner but rather exponentially. Ipsen, a global bio-pharmaceutical company with $3 billion in annual revenues, disproves that.

To prevent failure, leadership needs to consult with supply chain leaders and planners to determine the root causes of the issues that can be solved with technology’s help and choose the right approach for their organization.

Kinaxis partners early next year will have access to an enhanced global partner program — PartnerLink. The company expects it will be mutually beneficial to Kinaxis and its partner community.

Kinaxis has announced PartnerLink, an enhanced partner program designed to empower global partners to augment and extend services, sales, marketing and product capabilities to better support Kinaxis’ customers and foster mutual growth.

In a year that saw toilet paper become a precious commodity while sales of cars and other big-ticket merchandise plummeted, Kinaxis boss John Sicard has often said his company’s supply-chain management software is more relevant than ever.

It seems only fitting, then, that Sicard is being honoured as the city’s 2020 CEO of the Year by OBJ and the Ottawa Board of Trade.

Many Americans will celebrate Halloween this year sitting at home, costumeless, chowing down on candy. They might stand up every now and then to throw miniature chocolate bars at the neighbors.

Welcome to Halloween, Covid-19 edition.

Global disruptions in the wake of COVID-19 have IT leaders accelerating adoption of data analytics to ensure supply chain effectiveness and integrity.

Now. Now is the time: now we have the sense of urgency, now we have the spotlight. The global pandemic has ripped the rug out from under supply chains but has also shed light on how supply chain management IS strategy, giving supply chains more prominence than ever. We are thrust forward into an unknown future and cannot afford to invest in returning to the old normal. Crises create opportunities while also begetting casualties. 

A new partnership brings together Kinaxis RapidResponse supply chain planning platform and concurrent planning technique with Pactera Consulting’s dedicated digital consulting team.

Managing the triple threat - how Life Sciences can build pandemic-ready supply chains

The medical systems division of Fujifilm has selected Kinaxis RapidResponse to gain supply chain visibility across its global supply chain.

Shopify is not the only hot tech stock in Canada. Kinaxis is another one making waves -- the stock is up over 115 per cent this year. John Sicard, CEO of Kinaxis joins BNN Bloomberg to discuss.
 

As scientists race to test coronavirus vaccines in humans, a parallel scramble is underway to produce billions of medical-grade vials and syringes that will be needed to inoculate the world’s population.

Mobility specialist Alstom has renewed the contract for the use of Kinaxis RapidResponse to gain visibility and agility for its train manufacturing supply chain planning activities.

Software provider Kinaxis Inc. surged to a record high as it completed a deal for Rubikloud Technologies Inc. to boost its artificial intelligence capabilities.

In this age of digital transformation, organisations are increasingly seeking out new approaches that allow them to remove the time and latency between different processes and decision points, enabling people across the wider business ecosystem to collaborate on an always-on, synchronised supply chain.

Last week, Supply Chain Matters sponsor Kinaxis conducted a themed Big Ideas in Supply Chain Online Conference- Planning for the New Normal, an online delivery conference with thankfully, no program accessibility glitches.

Almost half (48%) of firms globally will overhaul their entire procurement and supply chain strategy in the case of a prolonged Covid-19 crisis, according to a survey.