Rick DeFiesta

Special Guest Blog Post written by Jeff Echel and Steve Lykken with e2open   Supply chain planners in high-tech don’t just manage shipments; they’re crisis managers, data detectives, and sometimes, referees in a high-stakes game of inventory tug-of-war. Why do these planners find themselves huddled in “war rooms,” surrounded by spreadsheets and urgent emails? It starts with relentless pressure: customers expect rapid, reliable service, but the reality is a maze of long lead times, outsourced manufacturing, and unpredictable global logistics. Securing critical components can take months, and a single misstep, like overstocking or missing a shipment, can ripple through the business, impacting revenue and margins. The chaos: War rooms and spreadsheet battles Add to that, the complexity of forecasting demand. Planners reconcile noisy, inconsistent data from retailers and distributors, often with little visibility, into . Forecasts are built, torn down, and rebuilt, sometimes manually, as teams try to align bottom-up channel data with top-down financial targets. Meanwhile, supply plans are constantly threatened by shortages, excess inventory, and last-minute changes. When demand surges or supply is disrupted, channels compete for limited stock, sometimes “stealing” from each other, and sometimes winning simply by being the loudest voice in the room. All of…

Another great week here at Supply Chain Now! Have you listened to all the episodes? If not, you can check them all out here: On Monday, Scott and Greg chatted with Jenny Froome and Dominique Zwinkels. Supply Chain Now · “Supply Chain Front & Center: Jenny Froome & Dominique Zwinkels”   Then on Tuesday, we continued in the Logistics with Purpose series and welcomed Jeremy Newhouse with MATTER to the podcast.   Supply Chain Now · “Logistics with Purpose: Jeremy Newhouse with MATTER”   On Wednesday, Scott and Greg tackled the top news in supply chain on the Buzz, and welcomed special guest Rob Lopez with Peach Tree Commercial Capital.   Supply Chain Now · “Supply Chain Buzz with Rob Lopez & Peach Tree Commercial Captial: Manufacturing, Money & More”   Scott and Greg were joined by Lynne Johnson and Joe Barto with AME on Thursday:   Supply Chain Now · “Helping Manufacturers Share, Learn, & Grow: Joe Barto & Lynne Johnson with AME”   And we wrapped up the week as Scott and Greg were joined by Ricahrd Schrade with Automation Intelligence:   Supply Chain Now · “Tomorrow’s Automation Today: Richard Schrade, Co-Founder & President of Automation Intelligence” Which…