How solid business rules can help planners to avoid chaos

June 30

When someone on the other end of the phone begins with “Hey, it’s urgent!” before even bothering with a proper greeting, supply chain planners will be ready for what comes next. Most likely it’ll be something like: “Stop... Read blog

How KPIs can seriously damage your business

June 22

“Selling is easy,” confided a former classmate at our latest reunion party. “It’s the customers that result from it who give you nightmares.” The statement came with an exaggerated wink, and then this: “Thank goodness that’s not my department.” We... Read blog

Why planners distrust foxes and love cats

June 16

A planner once asked me whether our planning automation solvers are programmed to be like cats or like foxes. When I stared back in bewilderment, she explained that she was referring to the Aesop fable in which the fox boasts about having multiple... Read blog

The customer support speculation game

June 2

“OMP support. Good morning, Danielle speaking.” Silence. We never know for sure who’s calling us, but we do love to guess. Back when COVID-19 was just another excellent random password, my colleague and I used to bet on it. Just to give each other that old school sassy... Read blog

The mysterious job of a Documentation Satellite

May 18

Working at home due to COVID-19 has its upsides and downsides. During the first days of the lockdown, my roomie and I thought that it was an opportunity to get to understand each other’s jobs better. My role at OMP had always puzzled her, so she... Read blog

Designing software while walking the dog

May 13

What do software design, walking the dog and taking the kids to an amusement park have in common? Not a lot you might think, but personal experience can tell us otherwise. About 20 years ago we had a small dog. And, despite the children’s... Read blog

How demand planners can address the COVID-19 challenge

May 4

Amid the heart-breaking catastrophic effects of the coronavirus pandemic on families and communities around the world, COVID-19 is also putting severe strain on supply chains vital to business sustainability and recovery. The new landscape is... Read blog

How happy numbers can spice up a programmer’s job interview

April 13

Imagine you’re in a spaceship being hunted down by co-workers who’ve been taken over by an evil force. The only way to open the lock to the safe area of the ship is by finding a set of happy primes. This is exactly what... Read blog

Interview: Harmonizing human and artificial intelligence

April 9

Q&A with Philip Vervloesem, SVP OMP USA for Supply Chain Management Review. Is it realistic to fully robotize supply chain planning? "The level of automation in supply chain planning has tremendously increased and I strongly believe that it will... Read blog

Algorithms demystified – Who’s afraid of heuristic risotto?

March 31

In the 9th century, the Persian mathematician and astronomer Muhammad ibn Musa al-Khwarizmi devised a detailed set of rules on how to solve linear and quadratic equations. Three hundred years later, his set of rules, as... Read blog

An educational “why” experience

March 17

Experience is what you get when you didn’t get what you wanted. I learned that lesson the hard way as a junior consultant, fresh out of university. One day, a bunch of specifications for a planning solver landed on my desk. Basically, a solver is an automated resolution of a... Read blog

Orchestrate your supply chain like Hans Zimmer

March 3

A few months ago, I had the opportunity to see ‘The World of Hans Zimmer’ in Antwerp. It was an overwhelming experience that really made my day, but the deeper reason for my joy only occurred to me later when I reflected on what I had witnessed. I... Read blog