A Cautionary Real-Time Case Study: Cisco Remember the inventory/production debacle at Cisco in 2001?  Perhaps the story got lost in the deflating of the Internet bubble, but it is worth recounting as we look at the promised and pitfalls of using real-time data to manage supply chains. Cisco bragged in the Harvard Business Review in…

What are some opportunities for using real-time data beyond alerts and monitoring? Real-time data is being used today by a number of innovative companies to improve supply chain performance and customer satisfaction. At Toyota, for example, when you buy a new car off a dealer’s lot, they are ready to dispatch the replacement vehicle to…

If I Get It, Can I Use It? Perhaps the major issue for professionals seeking to use real-time data in their supply chain decision processes is how to convert real-time data into real-time information. As we noted earlier, current supply chain software applications, other than visibility, are not well equipped to manage much real-time data.…

Is Real Time the Answer or the Question? One thing is apparent in all these discussions–we probably do not have the right data to answer many of these questions. Internal enterprise information, while voluminous and correct, can often be weeks old by the time it becomes available for use in monitoring or analysis–and does not…

Let’s start with a multiple choice question. The real-time data revolution is: a) already here, or b) right around the corner, or c) will not happen for a long time. Which is right? Are they perhaps all right? Predictions of a major revolution in supply chain management due to the availability of real-time data have…