Articles
Total 87 Articles
Shifting gears in auto spare parts business
The lockdown and the economic slowdown in the wake of nCovid-19 pandemic has had a huge impact on the auto spare parts industry. Find out how this sector can revive its operations.
Spare the trouble
Ensuring spares availability is naturally a major challenge due to the enormous variety of parts involved across the portfolio of the OEM’s vehicles.
The Race from BS IV to BS VI: How to win by solving the woes in Auto R&D
Read to understand how R&D divisions can respond competently to sudden regulatory requirements like a quick conversion to BS VI
De-stressing NPD
New Product development processes can be de-stressed to meet all stakeholder expectations in terms of cost and delivery deadlines
Auto e-tailing: Mistakes & opportunities
Finding an eCommerce model that works for them is a top strategic issue for auto company CEOs…
Rally with your allies
Forging long-term relationships with vendors is crucial for supply chain excellence. Find out how?
More is not merrier
Know more about how to escape from the chronic delays and poor output that NPD of automotive organizations find themselves in
An afterthought on the aftermarket
Find out how auto supply chains can ride industry waves easily and continue to grow
Auto supply chain in India – A mishmash of “Push” and “Pull” methods
Read more about creating fully pull-based supply chain systems based on Theory of Constraints in Indian auto companies.
Fleetguard’s distribution strategy using the Theory of Constraints
To succeed in the aftermarket it was obvious that FFPL would need to have 100% availability of a wide range of their products
The liquidity crunch
Maintaining liquidity is providing to be a major problem for the automotive industry but it can be tackled.
A viable vision
Most business and supply chain strategies focus on reducing cost at each link in the chain, and thus they create adversarial relationships.
The great Indian productivity myth
Find out how companies can improve their productivity by using the flow techniques of TOC
The ‘Delhi effect’
Distribution companies have always been wary of wholesalers in their distribution chain.
An SOS for the OEMs
The actions of the OEMs have cascading effects in the entire supply chain
Who dares to play the Russian roulette
Russian Roulette is a lethal game of chance in which participants place a single round in a revolver
The cascading effect!
Managing New Product Development Projects in Auto Component Industry.
The agony of the tier 1 suppliers: Caught between a rock & a hard place
Find out how Tier 1 suppliers can enhance customer service levels to ~ 100% by building a highly responsive "pull" based supply chain
Three rules for rapid new product development
Find out how three simple rules of design, WIP and planning can help reduce lead time and increase output
After sales not a lip service
After sales service is extremely important to ensure customer satisfaction however ensuring availability of spare parts without escalating inventory is a huge challenge.
The new aftermarket highway
Read how TOC offers a win-win solution for auto aftermarket companies and their channel partners
Spare parts strategy for OEMs in automobile sector
Find out how OEMs can earn high ROI with higher sales and better availability at lower level of inventory
Generic drug development: The prescription for success
Find out how companies can crash lead-time in their filing process, increase FDA submissions and earn higher margins
Retail sales operations: Challenges in the current COVID environment
Companies who sell through retailers and depend on salespeople for order collection are facing unprecedented challenges to manage sales in the current COVID environment. Is there a way out?
Solar eclipse in sales & distribution
A study was conducted to understand the impact of absence of wholesaling on market availability of FMCG during and immediately after the complete lockdown. The results are surprising but conclusive.
The road less travelled
Find out how companies can solve the sales dilemma with ‘pull’ mode of sales
Overcoming the threat of e-tailers
Find out how brands and retailers can evolve themselves by using TOC while addressing the needs of customers
Battle for India’s retail market: Who will rescue traditional stores from online retailers?
A replenishment based distribution system can help consumer good companies protect their traditional channel from being decimated by e-commerce.
Pandemic-resistant manufacturing and distribution
Find out how consumer goods companies can build immunity with six levels of supply chain flexibility.
Accelerated pharma manufacturing
Pharmaceutical plants can discover hidden capacity, significantly increase output and respond quickly to market demand. Find out how.
Small is big
Find out a highly cost effective solution to reaching out to even the smallest of retailer point with a single tier distribution network
The unresolved conflict: Modern retail vs. consumer goods companies
Is a win-win solution possible for this ubiquitous tug of war over “margins” between brands and their retailers?
100% availability with less than half the inventory
Find out how stock replenishment time is the key to bringing down inventory in the entire distribution channel
The devolution marketing
A large portion of what drove us into the Great Recession is rooted in this dysfunctional pattern of distribution.
Build to buffer
One challenge in the fashion industry is that forecasts often are wrong, especially at the individual item and retailer levels. Additionally, only about 15 percent of new designs turn out to be winners, selling out in about six to eight weeks.
Who creates slow movers?
Read about how can companies convert slow-movers into a fast-mover
Power of availability
Find out how you can grow sales at double the market growth rate without any additional investment!
From inventory turns to norm turns
In Distribution centric organizations, the level of Inventory is perceived to be a critical measure to understand the health of the system (inventory with respect to sale).
Managing distribution chain: Is there a better way than gazing the crystal ball?
Find out how companies can get the right material to the right place and ensure availability
Old is gold no more
Perishable goods industry is finding it increasingly difficult to live with the problem of low freshness of stocks at the point of sale. Find out how TOC can help?
TOC replenishment in a wholesale- dominated market, an oxymoron?
A lot of my friends in the distribution industry (and I have lots of them!) are quite intrigued by the fact I make a living out of implementing things as simple as “The Goal ” and “Its Not Luck ”.
Profitability percentage (%)
A good measure for evaluation of operational productivity should avoid the two errors—false positives and false negatives. Let us check if the measure of profitability calculated as PBDIT as percent of sales meets the criteria. A growing company, improving profitability IPBDIT as percent of sales (PBDIT%)] over the years is often seen as an improvement in performance.
What enables effective decisions?
With cloud computing and ever reducing prices of storage systems, the available capacity to store data has gone up exponentially.
Counter counterfeiting
Find out how companies can fight fakes by leveraging their direct distribution
Preventing the demise of a store
Find out why retail stores die and how it can be prevented by implementing a TOC based supply chain
Enhancing profitability of retail chains: Using the fundamental principles!
Despite significant mark-ups, most retail chains struggle to make profits. Find out how TOC can help?
Size does matter!
Find out how to prevent sale loss due to stock out of ‘sizes’ without inflating inventory
Leveraging franchisees for profitable growth in retail
Find out how retail companies via franchisee model can profitably grow without increasing operating expenses
A folly called trade promotions
Read about how the results of a field research into retailer behaviour indicates contrary to the entrenched belief in the consumer good industry
Retailer’s dilemma
It is not uncommon for a manufacturing company to enjoy a profitability of around eight percent when the gross contribution is about thirty percent.
Rethinking Indian pharma distribution: Countering e-pharmacies
Will the direct-to-customer model of e-pharmacies overtake the traditional multi-echelon distribution model of pharmaceutical companies?
Straightening the hockey stick in sales and distribution
Read about how to break the omnipresent month end skew and release capacity
Manufacturing strategy for fashion garments
Textile manufacturing practices in India are primarily geared towards leveraging economies of scale and an increasingly non-existent " low cost advantage". This makes it an enormous challenge for large Indian garment manufacturing firms to take up higher margin but lower volume fashion garment orders. Find out how this industry can change gears.
Disentangling sales: Increasing sales productivity in textile companies
Find out how to increase bandwidth and bring transparency and agility in textile & garment companies.
A stitch in time: Cutting lead time and improving reliability of textile supply chains
Read about how garment and textile manufacturing plants can not just reduce costs but also reduce lead time of supply
Weaving magic in textile sampling with Theory of Constraints
Find out how an effective sampling process can help textile and garment companies to stay at par with the continuously evolving global trends
Reclaiming global leadership in textile manufacturing: Challenges & solutions
Find out why to be globally competitive, Indian textile exporters have no option but to make a huge paradigm change
Dealing with variety in supply chain
Companies can continuously add product variety without creating chaos in their supply chain. Find out how
Think small, reap big
Textile companies can solve their problems with huge inventory and significant markdowns
Everyone can win!
Read to understand how textile companies can get an edge over competition keeping with the current trends in markets
Managing a Fashion Supply Chain
Implementing pull based supply chain solutions of TOC from the conventional push based supply chain
Managing Large Capex Projects: Moving away from “Project Management” to “Project Flow Management”
Managing capex project using milestone commitments of stakeholders is the root of delays and budget overruns.
Bridging the pandemic chasm
Read this article to know how infrastructure companies can manage a quick post-lockdown transition and revival, in spite of the current working capital woes
Uncovering the hidden profit
Focusing on timely completion of projects is necessary, but it’s not sufficient to protect all of a large infrastructure project’s margins. Find out how companies can prevent margin erosion due to lack of timely material reconciliation!
Right for accounting. Wrong for project management.
Financial accounting is a challenge in project organizations involved in delivering large construction projects for its clients.
EPC reborn focus on flow
Find out how to deliver EPC projects on time even in an environment of high uncertainty
What is more important in projects – time, cost or quality?
Project management literature talks about the need to measure and control all three variables of the project – Time, Quality, and Costs (or budget).
Getting CCPM implementation right
Cherry-picking solution components and sequencing them incorrectly can lead to the failure of CCPM implementations
Unshackling infrastructure industry
Find out how companies can not only manage but also flourish in spite of the inherent challenges of project environments
The curse of multi-project environments
Find out how TOC can help companies avoid havoc of delays in projects
Deadline culture – does it help?
Do task deadlines really help control wastage of time? Find out.
Improving flow in large infrastructure projects
Most of the large infrastructure projects are actually many independent sub-projects, almost executed in parallel with integration at the end.
Caught in a time wrap!
Large construction and erection projects seem to have a dubious record – most of them are delayed with significant cost overruns.
Critical chain project management: doing more projects – faster!
Read about how projects can be managed differently and more effectively using the Theory of Constraints approach
Enabling resource productivity in project environments
Find out how most projects are managed under several erroneous paradigms which lead to chronic delays
Stop digging if you are already in a hole!
Find out how design departments can continuously increase output even when capacity is limited by adopting TOC
The Equipment Enigma: Aligning NPD processes to deliver business growth
Find out how the Indian equipment manufacturing companies can align their R&D processes to grow consistently
Exploiting sales capacity
Find out how the salesmen can focus on selling and not waste time on sales support tasks!
Revving up the agri-equipment business
Read to see how the agri-equipment businesses can quickly ramp up operations to take advantage of the rising demand in the segment
Spares distribution- When the long tail wags the dog
Find out how to ensure availability of equipment spares without increasing inventory
Standing on the shoulder of the giants
It is easy to trace the popularity of Lean production to Toyota’s success. Toyota’s success is undeniable.
Get more out of less
Read about how production skews can be broken to expose the hidden capacity in manufacturing plants
Planning improvement projects
Knowing WHAT TO improve is as important as knowing WHEN TO improve and WHAT NOT to improve!
What is new in simplified DBR?
DBR was developed in the mid 80s as a relatively simple, yet effective, production planning methodology.
Dealing with emperor’s new clothes
Find out how TOC can help plant managers maximize speed of order flow while improving capacity utilization
How bad are local efficiency measures?
Find out how manufacturing plants using TOC can maximize output by abolishing the concept of local efficiencies
Reliability of delivery: Brand positioning opportunity for custom manufacturing organizations
Find out how supply chains build on the principles of Theory of constraints can provide the competitive edge to stay ahead in the market