Supply Chain Shaman

Side-step Oxymorons to Make Progress in Planning

I need to clear the air. My goal is to...

March 27, 2023

Inventory Everywhere, But Not the Right Product to Ship

Rethinking the role of inventory in inflationary times.

March 21, 2023

Demand Planning. When The Answer To Two Simple Questions Is Not So Simple.

The answer to a simple question of why do consumer...

January 2, 2023

Do Digital Your Way. Sidestep the Supply Chain Conquistadors

In a recent research project, we found that 2/3 of...

December 27, 2022

Organizational Alignment: Overlooked, but So Important.

When reviewing strategy decks for supply chain teams, I often...

December 15, 2022

Four Strategies That Worked

An analysis of four strategies that worked over the last...

December 7, 2022

The Fallacy of the Self-driving Supply Chain

Architectural shifts to take advantage of more advanced optimization in...

November 21, 2022

The Saga of Supply Chain Innovation

This November is a layoff season. As pink slips ripple...

November 13, 2022

In Search of Shiny Objects

Investments come in waves. In my lifetime, I watched business...

November 1, 2022

Making Time Real

While companies ask for planning solutions that are real-time, should...

October 19, 2022

No Time Like the Present

In the face of disruption-after-disruption, now is the time to...

October 13, 2022

The Courage to Jump

Only 1/3 of companies feel that they are doing well...

September 29, 2022

When the Rubber Hits the Road

Definition: “Someone’s efforts, resolve, or viability are tested; things are meaningfully challenging.“ Wikipedia The supply chain team’s past thirty-two months...

September 27, 2022

Avoiding Dead-end Streets As We Build the Future of Supply Chain Planning

Disruption after disruption is the current state of today's supply...

September 21, 2022

Save The Supply Chain Leader From Groupthink

Thirty-one months of supply chain disruption. Currently, companies struggle with...

September 4, 2022

Navigating The River of Demand

At the end of a long day of a strategy...

August 18, 2022

The Big Sigh

A blog post outlining the mistakes companies make in the...

August 12, 2022

Overcoming The Barriers to Use Channel Data

I remember the evening well. A requirement to apply as...

July 30, 2022

My Lessons in Interviewing Supply Chains to Admire Award Winners

The Supply Chains to Admire Analysis, now in its 9th...

July 21, 2022

Adapting in the Face of Change

Supply chain resilience is “the capacity of a supply chain...

July 12, 2022

Pushing the Supply Chain Reset Button

Over the last three years, these three fundamental assumptions unraveled:...

June 30, 2022

Supply Chain Leaders, Chained to Tradition, Face the Whip

As my arms stretch forward to pull for the next...

June 24, 2022

When It Comes to Planning, Please Vote with Ike!

What is the role of planning? The goal should be...

June 1, 2022

Uh-Oh! Insights On How P&G Failed And What This Means For You

Supply chain excellence is easier to say than to explain....

April 27, 2022

Courage to Paint Outside the Lines

As a child, I never painted within the lines. Always...

April 26, 2022

The Risk of Venture Capital Takeover of Supply Chain Software Providers–Anaplan A New Victim

Venture capital investment in the software market poses risk for...

March 23, 2022

When Variability Is Our Only Constant

For the past three weeks, I attempted to move my...

March 21, 2022

How We Stubbed Our Toe in The Evolution of S&OP

I wrote my first report on Sales and Operations Planning...

February 14, 2022

Seven Mistakes You Wish Your CFO Had Not Made You Make

Uncanny. The US GDP in 2021 grew at an unexpected...

February 7, 2022

My Quest to Build Holistic Thinking

My quest to build holistic thinking in organizations stretches over...

January 15, 2022

Lora Cecere is the Founder and CEO of Supply Chain Insights , the research firm that’s paving new directions in building thought-leading supply chain research. She is also the author of the enterprise software blog Supply Chain Shaman. The blog focuses on the use of enterprise applications to drive supply chain excellence. Her book, Bricks Matter, published in December of 2012.

As an enterprise strategist, Lora focuses on the changing face of enterprise technologies. Her research is designed for the early adopter seeking first mover advantage. Current research topics include the digital consumer, supply chain sensing, demand shaping and revenue management, market-driven value networks, accelerating innovation through open design networks, the evolution of predictive analytics, emerging business intelligence solutions, and technologies to improve safe and secure product delivery.

She comes to the stage with over thirty years of diverse supply chain experience. She spent nine years as an industry analyst with Gartner Group, AMR Research, Altimeter Group and is now the founder of her own firm Supply Chain Insights. Prior to becoming a supply chain analyst she spent fifteen years as a leader in the building of supply chain software at Manugistics and Descartes Systems Group, and twenty years as a supply chain practitioner at Procter & Gamble, Kraft/General Foods, Clorox, and Dreyers Grand Ice Cream (now a division of Nestle).