Optilogic Resources
Cosmic Frog Analyzes 1000s of Future-State Supply Chain Scenarios in Minutes
Watch a 5-minute demo of Cosmic Frog
Optilogic Extends Partnership with Gurobi, Driving Progress to Solve the Biggest, Most Complicated Supply Chain Problems
The leading supply chain design software innovator Optilogic, and Gurobi, the leader in decision intelligence technology, have announced an extended partnership. The two companies are collaborating on exciting new ways MILP (mixed integer linear programming) and AI can be used to solve the biggest, most complicated supply chain problems.
Key Supply Chain Design Trends Transforming Asia’s Market
Discover how intelligent supply chain design enables executives to evaluate cost, service, risk, and sustainability trade-offs of changes to global supply chains. Explore case studies and strategies shaping the future of supply chains in Asia and around the world.
Drive Value Faster with Six Innovative Supply Chain Modeling Tools in Cosmic Frog
Discover how these six innovative modeling tools within Cosmic Frog revolutionize supply chain design, driving efficiency and value in complex environments. Transform your operations, streamline processes, and enhance decision-making with our game-changing solutions.
Supply Chain Simulation Explained
Supply chain simulation is the most granular modeling technique. This preferred method for service level analysis shows how business rules, policies, product requirements, etc. impact demand, manufacturing cycle times, staffing requirements, transportation lead times, and more. These insights can be instrumental for a multi-tiered supply chain’s inventory strategy.
Is Supply Chain Design for Mid-Market Companies Too?
Mid-market company supply chains grapple with many of the same challenges large companies face. Here’s why supply chain design is crucial to the future success of mid-market companies and how they can take advantage of the same technology and benefits as their Fortune 100 counterparts.
Optilogic Cosmic Frog Companion Apps Revolutionize How Designers Answer Supply Chain Questions Across the Enterprise
New Cosmic Frog Companion Apps enable designers to deploy Cosmic Frog to Microsoft Excel and mobile applications to answer unlimited supply chain questions in a self-serve environment.
2024 Elections Could Shake Up the Global Supply Chain—Here’s Your Voter’s Guide
With elections in roughly 50 countries worldwide and U.S. voting day right around the corner, supply chain executives must understand how major shifts in trade policies could impact their operations. Here are some tactics for using supply chain design to prepare for election outcomes.
Rebecca Janowiak of Optilogic Named Recipient of 2024 Women in Supply Chain Award
Rebecca Janowiak of Optilogic named recipient of 2024 Women in Supply Chain Award. Award honors female supply chain leaders and executives whose accomplishments, mentorship and examples set a foundation for women in all levels of a company’s supply chain network.
Revealed: 6 Must-Know Tips for Evaluating Supply Chain Design Solutions
Discover six crucial tips for evaluating supply chain design solutions and ensure you select the best fit for your company. Learn about ease of integration, advanced analytics, customization, and expert support to optimize your supply chain strategy effectively.
Evaluating Sustainability Metrics with Supply Chain Modeling
Taking a truly proactive approach to supply chain design that enables sustainability and profitability is easier today than ever before thanks to solutions that can model sustainability risk factors and evaluate. Gain insights from Optilogic’s VP Business Development, John Ames Jr.
How Cosmic Frog Transformed a Global Automotive Leader’s Supply Chain with 11% Cost Savings
Explore the strategic and tactical solutions Cosmic Frog implemented to optimize a global automotive parts leader’s supply chain, resulting in a significant 11% reduction in costs through enhanced efficiency and supplier optimization.
Redefining a Life Sciences Distribution Network using Supply Chain Design
Argon & Co. and Optilogic teamed up to help a life sciences client redefine their distribution strategy to adapt to manufacturing changes, reduce costs, and enhance customer service. This article explains how we approached the project and why we selected Optilogic Cosmic Frog as the supply chain design solution.
Mike Stafiej of General Motors on Optilogic Supply Chain Design
Listen to General Motors’ Manager of Network Intelligence and Design Michael Stafiej talk about how supply chain design helps his company thrive, his favorite thing about Cosmic Frog, and his experience working with the Optilogic team.
Greg Colabello of Argon & Co. on Supply Chain Design with Optilogic
Hear Greg Colabello, managing principal for Argon & Co., explain how supply chain design helps his clients thrive, what he likes most about Cosmic Frog, and his experience working with the Optilogic team.Greg Colabello of Argon & Co: Why We Partner With Optilogic
Optilogic Founder Don Hicks on How to Prepare Supply Chains for Election Outcomes
This election cycle has introduced many potential shifts in government regulations and policies around the world. Don Hicks explains why companies must use supply chain design to proactively adapt supply chain strategies and mitigate these disruptions–or risk extinction.
Why Optilogic Is the Best Supply Chain Design Solution for Consultants
Optilogic loves consultants. Optilogic founder and CEO Don Hicks explains how Optilogic is the only supply chain design solution that allows the consulting community to have free access to the technology to learn and train and only pay when its used for client work. Optilogic will be there to support you every step of the way.
How Can You Use Supply Chain Design When Capital Budgets are Tight?
Many people mistakenly believe supply chain design is just about “big bang” strategic projects like moving facilities and changing suppliers. Don Hicks explains that supply chain design is also for evaluating things like changing which SKUs are stocked in which location, different transportation modes, frequencies of replenishment, and other updates. Supply chain design is about changing supply chain structure and policies and detailed business rules. You can evaluate any potential changes to the supply chain: from the biggest to the tiniest operational changes.
What Are the Biggest Misconceptions about Supply Chain Design?
Supply chain design isn’t just about the technology (and Cosmic Frog is the best). Listen to Don Hicks explain how the majority of the success in supply chain design is around the people–the users and also the people that stand behind the technology.
How Optilogic Culture Stands Out in the Supply Chain Design Industry
“Most supply chain software vendors are completely full of s#!%,” according to Don Hicks. Hear why he thinks this, why you should never be confused by what a potential vendor is selling you, and how you can expect something refreshingly different from the Optilogic supply chain design team.
Is Supply Chain Planning More Critical than Supply Chain Design?
We often hear the questions, how is supply chain design different than supply chain planning? Is supply chain design as critical as planning? Listen to Don Hicks explain how the two technologies are distinct but equally important to ensure the survival of your company.
Introduction to Cosmic Reach Consulting Partner Solution
Optilogic’s new subscription-based solution was created specifically for supply chain design consultants—from large firms to one-person shops. Join our webinar to learn how you can get started building revenue streams with Optilogic today in four simple steps.
Optilogic Cosmic Frog Named Winner of the Risk Management Innovation of the Year Award by SupplyTech Breakthrough Awards
The leading supply chain design software innovator Optilogic today announced Cosmic Frog has been selected as winner in the Risk Management Innovation of the Year category by SupplyTech Breakthrough Awards.
How to Prepare Your Supply Chain Now for 2024 Election Outcomes
Supply chain executives, are you prepared for post-election changes? This is a significant year for elections in the United States and across the globe. Given all these changes in leadership and agendas worldwide, there could be radical impacts to your supply chain.
Supply & Demand Chain Executive and Food Logistics Name Optilogic and Sumitomo Corporation of Americas Recipients of 2024 Top Supply Chain Projects Award
Supply & Demand Chain Executive and Food Logistics named Optilogic and customer Sumitomo Corporation of Americas (SCOA) as winners of this year’s Top Supply Chain Projects award.
Optilogic Works with Leading Global Lubricant Brand for Supply Chain Optimisation
The leading supply chain design software innovator Optilogic is working with Castrol, one of the world’s leading lubricant brands. Optilogic will provide its proprietary software, services, and in-depth expertise in supply chain design to support Castrol in optimizing its global supply chain network.
Optilogic’s Next Generation Transportation and Route Simulation Engines Enable Organizations To Address Complex Realities of Transportation Logistics
Significant updates in Cosmic Frog allow for more accurate multi-stop route design with realistic business constraints like time windows and hours of service.
Rethink Redesign: 8 Things Supply Chain Execs Need to Know in 2024
Discover the essential insights for supply chain executives in 2024 as we delve into the latest trends, innovations, and strategies reshaping the industry. Explore this insightful ebook, authored by Optilogic Founder Don Hicks and Maria Villablanca, founder of Villablanca Consulting and Future Insights Network and Co-founder of Transform Talks Podcast.
Optilogic Hosts OptiCon 2024: The Supply Chain Design Design Event of the Year
The leading supply chain design software innovator Optilogic announces its annual user conference, OptiCon 2024, featuring supply chain design solution training, focused breakout sessions and customer case studies from industry giants Coca-Cola, Gerdau, and Whirlpool.
How Supply Chain Design Addresses the Global Impacts of Port Congestion
Explore how supply chain design tackles the pressing issue of global port congestion, delving into strategies, technologies, and innovations that optimize logistical pathways, mitigate disruptions, and ensure smooth operations in the face of evolving challenges.
Optilogic and Sumitomo Corporation of Americas to Present on Supply Chain Design at Gartner Supply Chain Symposium/Xpo™ 2024
The leading supply chain design software innovator Optilogic today announced its Vice President of Professional Services Mark Outslay and Deputy Head of Corporate Logistics Department for Sumitomo Corporation of Americas Evrim Ertugrul will present on supply chain design at the Gartner Supply Chain Symposium/Xpo™.
How to Define Inventory Policies and Rules in 2024
Inventory policies and rules play a critical role in your organization’s supply chain design. Getting these factors right is essential to customer service levels and cost efficiency. Here’s how and why to define inventory policies and rules for your business.
Sensitivity at Scale: Run Thousands of Sensitivity Scenarios in Parallel with a Single Click
Learn how to use Cosmic Frog Sensitivity at Scale: Automatically create hundreds or thousands of sensitivity scenarios and rapidly analyze on Optilogic’s supply chain design platform to select the most resilient designs.
Supply & Demand Chain Executive Names John Ames Jr. of Optilogic as Recipient of 2024 Pros to Know Lifetime Achievement Award
John Ames Jr. has been a proactive advocate for supply chain design, working with Optilogic to emphasize the importance of evaluating cost, service, risk, and sustainability trade-offs of future supply chains.
Should You Move Your Supply Chain Out of China? How to Evaluate a Nearshoring Strategy
An increasing number of U.S. companies are evaluating how to move all or part of their supply chain out of China to increase resiliency. Here’s how to model your China supply chain exit strategy to reduce risk and improve service.
Improve M&A Success with Supply Chain Design
In a global M&A market that even experts describe as unpredictable, this is certain: Deal velocity will ramp up again, and when it does, preparedness is the difference between champagne toasts and failure.
For companies with a physical supply chain, network design is the secret weapon dealmakers use to rapidly evaluate the cost, service and risk trade-offs of mergers, acquisitions and divestitures — before investing a dime.
Don Hicks: Design vs. Planning, the 2024 Election, and Advice for SC Executives
Donald Hicks, Founder and CEO of Optilogic, joins to discuss the state of the supply chain industry and how now is the time to shift out of a ‘reactive’ mode and into a ‘proactive’ and forward-thinking system of operations.
2024 Predictions: A New Era of Strategic Supply Chain Design
The time for pandemic-era thinking is over. This will be the year of strategic supply chain design — but companies must be shrewd in their technology and vendor selection.
Following are six predictions for the new era of strategic supply chain design in 2024.
Continuous Supply Chain Design: Separating the Facts from the Smack
There’s been a lot of talk recently about “continuous supply chain design” from planning vendors. The problem is the technology they are touting is a parlor trick. Here’s how true continuous supply chain design works and how to take the first step.
Intelligent Greenfield Analysis: The Fastest Path to Network Design in 2024
When planning for new facilities or market expansion, reducing transportation expenses and emissions without sacrificing customer service is a tricky problem to solve. The obvious solution is through reducing the distance between you and your customers, but you can’t run an unlimited number of distribution centers.
Finding the balance between unlimited distribution centers and high transportation costs requires some serious math—how do you narrow down site options before you get into the optimization model? That’s where greenfield analysis comes in.
Mitigating China Supply Chain Issues in 2024
US companies are more hesitant than ever when it comes to manufacturing in China. Ongoing trade tensions push many US companies to re-evaluate supply chains and diversify sourcing options to remain resilient in the face of China supply chain issues. In this post, we expose China supply chain risks and explain how to build a resilient supply chain that can withstand disruptions.
Trends in the Automotive Industry in 2024
The automotive industry has experienced high volatility in recent years. The pandemic all but halted manufacturing across nearly every industry, including automotive. In 2024, the automotive industry is experiencing new trends shaping behaviors at every step along the supply chain.
This article explores trends in the automotive industry in 2024 and how companies can take advantage of these trends to see greater success.
Optilogic Announces the Acquisition of INSIGHT Software
Supply chain design software innovator Optilogic today announced it has acquired INSIGHT, a software provider with a formidable history of more than 40 years in the supply chain design space serving some of the most illustrious companies in the world.
Mexico’s Leading Poultry Provider, Bachoco, Partners with Optilogic to Optimize its Logistical Efficiencies
By using Cosmic Frog, the most powerful supply chain design solution on the market, the North American poultry leader will ensure ongoing excellence in delivering fresh, quality products to customers.
How Sumitomo Corporation of Americas Turns Inventory into “Ready Money”
For years now, inventory has been given a bad name. But inventory isn’t the problem—it’s the classical inventory optimization approaches that result in overstocks and service failures. Join Optilogic and Sumitomo Corporation of Americas as we shake things up with a fresh approach to inventory strategy that puts you in control.
Sumitomo Corporation of America Turns Inventory into “Ready Money”
Q&A on Sumitomo Corporation of America’s inventory strategy with Deputy Head of Corporate Logistics Evrim Ertugrul. Learn the secret to experimenting in a risk-free environment to pinpoint inventory targets with the right balance of trade-offs between costs and service to hit the bullseye.
Gerdau Selects Optilogic Cosmic Frog for Continuous Supply Chain Design
Gerdau Long Steel North America (Gerdau) has chosen Optilogic as its provider for supply chain design solutions. Gerdau will use Optilogic’s next-generation cloud-native technology, Cosmic Frog, to support its S&OP process, as well as to deploy intelligent continuous design to build a more flexible, resilient, yet performance-driven supply chain.
Best Supply Chain Design Software 2024
No matter how good your supply chain planning is, you can’t plan your way out of a bad supply chain design. With supply chain design software, you can step back and assess the full supply chain picture, ask “what if?” and test the limits, and shift your efficiency curve to a new level.
Optilogic Revolutionizes Supply Chain Design with Fast, Automated Transportation Route Optimization
Supply chain design software innovator Optilogic is once again leap-frogging the competition by introducing Cosmic Frog “Hopper”, automated transportation route optimization built into its Cosmic Frog supply chain design solution.
United Rentals Powers Facility Footprint Optimization with Optilogic
Optilogic interviews Carey Boggess, Director, Footprint Development at United Rentals. Carey shares insight into how the company uses Optilogic to optimize its footprint to make faster decisions on lease renewals and plan out the market strategy for their branches to provide exceptional service to customers.
Optilogic’s Groundbreaking Sensitivity at Scale Enables Large-Scale Sensitivity Analysis With a Single Click
Supply chain network design software innovator, Optilogic, is making true large-scale sensitivity analysis possible with Sensitivity at Scale, which runs hundreds or thousands of sensitivity scenarios in parallel with a single click.
Optilogic’s Rebecca Janowiak Named Recipient of 2023 Women in Supply Chain Award
Rebecca Janowiak was named as one of the winners of this year’s Women in Supply Chain Award, which honors female supply chain leaders and executives whose accomplishments, mentorship and examples set a foundation for women in all levels of a company’s supply chain network.
Optilogic Defies Market Dynamics to Secure New Funding and Investment Partners
Supply chain network design software innovator, Optilogic, has secured funding from new partners Augment Ventures and Beringea and existing investors MK Capital and Multiverse Investments. The funding supports Optilogic’s rapid growth and makes a new era of supply chain design a reality.
Optilogic Wins Silver Stevie® Award in 2023 International Business Awards®
Supply chain network design software innovator, Optilogic, announced today the company was named the winner of a Silver Stevie® Award in the Supply Chain Management Solution category in The 20th Annual International Business Awards®.
Why We Need to Stop Ignoring Simulation for Inventory Uncertainty
For years, simulation was dismissed because of performance and memory requirements. Nowadays, those barriers are gone, meaning simulations can be completed at the order and shipment level, allowing businesses to calculate true service rates for proposed supply chain states.
Inventory Planning and Management: How to Build Inventory Strategies for Your Organization
Inventory drives revenue (and success) for your organization, and for many companies, inventory is the primary revenue stream. As a result, inventory management and planning must be a priority. Explore the best practices for inventory management.
Optilogic Launches Frogger Pond Supply Chain Design Community
Supply chain network design software innovator, Optilogic, has launched the Frogger Pond supply chain design community, the premier online destination for supply chain design practitioners to share best practices, connect with peers, and provide product feedback. Frogger Pond is accessible via the award-winning cloud-native supply chain network design app Cosmic Frog.
How to Jump into the Optilogic Supply Chain Design Frogger Pond Community
Frogger Pond is the premier online destination for supply chain designers to share best practices, connect with peers, and contribute to thought leadership. We’re thrilled to announce that our platform is live and ready for you to explore.
Step-by-Step Guide to Sequential Optimization
Sequential optimization is a powerful optimization technique used in supply chain modeling. It involves breaking down a multi-objective optimization problem into a series of single-objective sub-problems. Here’s how to use sequential optimization in Cosmic Frog.
Manager’s Guide to Getting Started with Supply Chain Network Design
For companies with a physical supply chain, supply chain network design is central to your success. By understanding and optimizing supply chain network design, you positively impact every aspect of your business.
If you manage a supply chain function and are considering adopting network design, you’ve come to the right place. We’ve compiled the goals, benefits, and best practices of supply chain network design that will help your organization thrive.
What Is Nearshoring? A Guide for Resilient Manufacturers
Nearshoring isn’t just a buzzword. The pandemic highlighted a dire need for supply chain resilience across the board.
While supply shortages, bottlenecks, and crazy-long lead times hurt, they painted a clear picture of what your supply chain needs going forward. For many, that picture looked a lot like the map of North America.
Optilogic Shortlisted at The SaaS Awards 2023
Supply chain network design software innovator, Optilogic, has been shortlisted in the 2023 SaaS Awards program in the category “Best SaaS Newcomer”.
Now in its 8th year, The SaaS Awards continues to celebrate the ultimate SaaS innovations across the globe. Entries were received from North America, Canada, Europe, the Middle East, and Australasia.
What’s the Difference Between Supply Chain Design and Supply Chain Planning?
Your supply chain strategy is central to your success. Both supply chain design and supply chain planning fall within ‘supply chain management’. Both concepts, with differing focuses and objectives, are essential for the successful operation of a supply chain.
5 Reasons Network Design Is Essential To Supply Chain Resiliency
Do you have the ability to model the cost, service, and risk implications of potential supply chain decisions? Here’s how better supply chain network design benefits your business and customers—and how to get started today.
Supply Chain Modeling: Tips for Getting Started
An organization’s supply chain is foundational to day-to-day and long-term operations. Intentional and strategic supply chain design empowers businesses to understand how to operate most effectively, efficiently, and intentionally to hit target KPIs and meet various organizational goals.
Benefits of Network Design in Supply Chain
Your supply chain network design ensures your organization has defined, created, and optimized the ideal supply chain for your needs. Effective supply chains require intentional network design, and Optilogic’s platform empowers you to create and implement those smart supply chain designs.
Nexterus Partners with Optilogic to Leverage the Powerful Supply Chain Design Tool to Build Optimal Networks for Clients
Nexterus, a world-class supply chain management and third-party logistics (3PL) services provider, announces a partnership with supply chain design software innovator Optilogic. The Nexterus team will use Optilogic’s Cosmic Frog to design robust supply chains that improve an enterprise’s financial objectives, service levels, and risk.
Q&A: The Optilogic Atlas Extensible Platform
Optilogic Cosmic Frog is the fastest and best choice for supply chain network design within a simplified user interface. For skilled modelers and developers who want to create custom applications or tailored workflows to fit specific business problems, the Optilogic Atlas developer platform is the perfect solution.
Quick-Start Guide to GHG Modeling for Sustainable, Profitable Supply Chains
Thriving as a business in the 21st century requires a sustainable approach. The good news is that it doesn’t require a massive investment of time or money to introduce more sustainability into your supply chain design. With the right tools and some basic knowledge, you’ll be on your way to reducing greenhouse gas emissions (and thus, your carbon footprint).
How to Build a Supply Chain Design Center of Excellence
Your supply chain design center of excellence (COE) empowers your organization to hit its targets through balanced, sustainable, resilient supply chain design. Building your COE requires strategic intentionality to create a team that understands your organizational culture, goals, and potential. Here’s how to build a COE that drives success.
Capital Expenditure Planning for Mergers and Acquisitions
As your organization embarks upon capital expenditure (CapEx) planning, you want data-driven insights to guide your decision-making. This article from the Optilogic team explores capital expenditure planning for mergers and acquisitions and walks through various best practices to help you execute a CapEx plan that leads to long-term growth and success.
Optilogic Introduces Personalized Risk Profiling in Cosmic Frog Supply Chain Network Design Platform
Supply chain design software innovator Optilogic today announced personalized risk profiling, available as part of its Cosmic Frog supply chain network design solution. Cosmic Frog is the fastest network design solution and provides a risk score on every scenario to help companies proactively minimize risk and volatility.
Industry Guide to Supply Chain Network Design
If your business has a physical supply chain, supply chain network design is central to your success. By understanding and optimizing supply chain network design, you positively impact every aspect of your business. Read on to learn the goals, benefits, and best practices of supply chain network design that will help your organization thrive.
Optilogic to Host OptiCon 2023: The Supply Chain Design Event of the Year
OptiCon draws together supply chain design professionals from an array of industries for hands-on product training, customer case studies, personalized advice from experts, focused breakout sessions, and world-class food and entertainment.
Build a Custom Supply Chain Application in the Optilogic Platform in 3 Steps
It’s very rare that an organization or an individual has the exact same problem to solve as someone else. Often, we’ll find organizations using multiple software tools for specific business functions – and even then the solution isn’t perfect for them. Does this mean we should just settle for less-than-perfect solutions to our problems? Absolutely not. Imagine having the power to build a custom application within the same environment you’re modeling. That’s what we’re about at Optilogic.
Optilogic Cosmic Frog Network Optimization Runs 40% Faster than Competitor Solutions
Supply chain network design software innovator Optilogic today announced the superiority of its Cosmic Frog supply chain design platform in performance tests compared to competitive solutions. Network design models run in Cosmic Frog saved 40% in run time in aggregate. Intelligent Greenfield analysis also outperformed competitors by an average of 80%, and “Lightning Mode,” a new capability in the newest version of Cosmic Frog slashes model run time by an astonishing 95%.
What Is Supply Chain Network Design?
Your supply chain design affects every aspect of your organization’s success. You can’t rely on antiquated systems to design supply chains that work in a modern market. Understanding the importance of supply chain network design empowers you to establish smart, resilient supply chains that grow with you and adapt to constant market fluctuations. Here’s what you need to know to get started.
Six Challenges Facing the Logistics Industry
In 2024 logistics and 3PL companies are up against significant challenges that threaten their sustainability. Here are six top challenges facing the logistics industry and how your company can respond to these challenges and proactively position itself for success.
Sustainability in Supply Chain Management: How to Reduce Your Carbon Footprint
Your supply chain design plays a crucial role in your greenhouse gas emission––and reduction. Optimizing your network design empowers you to reduce your carbon footprint without sacrificing quality, productivity, or profits.
Read on to learn how to prioritize sustainability in supply chain management and how Optilogic’s platform can help you create, prioritize, and implement green practices starting now.
7 Key Benefits of Conducting Cost-to-Serve Analysis
Cost-to-serve is a critical practice in supply chain design that helps companies make more informed decisions about how to optimize their operations for maximum efficiency and profitability. A cost-to-serve analysis evaluates the total costs associated with serving a particular customer or segment.
Cost-to-Serve Analysis: A Blueprint for Reaching Higher Profit Margins
Your business might be in the black, but that doesn’t mean all your customers are profitable. Customer segments can vary widely in profitability, which is why cost-to-serve analysis is so important. Understanding the cost distribution for your customer base can help you optimize your supply chain to prioritize the most profitable customers and products.
4 Ways to Crush Service Failures and Improve Profitability with Inventory Strategy Design
Tackling post-COVID volatility requires planning techniques that consider all the variability that exists in demand, sourcing, transportation, and more when making inventory decisions. Unlock this guide to learn more.
Watch: 5 Simple Steps to Get Started with Supply Chain Design
Continual disruption has exposed the fragility of supply chains which were designed for low cost at high risk. Supply chain design enables businesses to evaluate trade-offs across financial performance, service, and systemic risk to select the best designs. But how does supply chain design work, and how do you get started?
5 Challenges the Manufacturing Industry Faces in 2023
While challenges are unavoidable, manufacturers can take proactive steps to embrace these challenges as opportunities for growth. This Optilogic blog explores the challenges the manufacturing industry faces in 2023 and how companies can overcome them to win their market.
If You’re Skipping this Important Step, You’re Not Doing Supply Chain Design Right
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic and global events like the war on Ukraine, it wasn’t long before the global supply chain as we knew it had nearly ground to a halt. Today, as we’ve emerged from the worst of it, we’ve learned some crucial lessons about how to design supply chains.
Optilogic’s Rebecca Janowiak Named a Winner of Supply & Demand Chain Executive “Pros to Know” for 2023
Supply chain design software innovator Optilogic is proud to announce that Optilogic Vice President of Product Management Rebecca Janowiak is one of the winners of the 2023 “Pros to Know” by Supply & Demand Chain Executive magazine. This award recognizes outstanding executives whose accomplishments offer a roadmap for other leaders looking to leverage supply chains for competitive advantage.
Start Considering Risk in Your Supply Chain Design with these 4 Steps
According to PwC, more than 60% of companies said that their performance indicators had dropped by 3% or more because of supply chain disruptions. Yet shockingly, 60% of companies pay only marginal attention to risk reduction processes.
Good news! By incorporating risk analysis into the supply chain design process, you can start making smarter supply chain decisions that address both financial and resiliency business objectives.
Use this Method to Measure and Quantify Supply Chain Risk
Recently, a series of crises including the COVID-19 pandemic and the obstruction of the Suez Canal had a major impact on the global supply chain, resulting in disruptions such as temporary shortages, delayed deliveries, increased uncertainty, and higher costs for goods and services.
The 5 Biggest Problems with Supply Chain Design Technology
Supply chain design technologies like modeling, optimization, and simulation are not new—so why have these once bleeding-edge tools fallen so far behind? Perhaps it’s because the way we’re optimizing supply chains is all wrong.
Let’s look at the top five ways traditional supply chain design technology went wrong and how to step into a new era of design for resiliency, delighted customers, and shareholder value with the 100% SaaS-based Optilogic Cosmic Frog supply chain design platform.
What’s the Difference Between Scenario Modeling and Simulation?
You understand the importance of looking at a myriad of scenarios as part of the supply chain decision-making process, but some of the terms technology vendors use nowadays can be confusing. Good examples are scenario modeling,
what if analysis, and simulation.
What’s the difference between each approach?
Announcement: Optilogic Launches Cosmic Frog, the Industry’s First 100-Percent SaaS-based Supply Chain Design Solution
Supply chain software company Optilogic announced the general release of its next-generation Cosmic Frog supply chain design software. Cosmic Frog positions Optilogic as a new leader in the supply chain design market by empowering organizations to design supply chain networks in a cloud-native environment.
Risk Management: The New Essential in Supply Chain Management
You’ve heard over and over again that supply chains must be agile and resilient. Every article, blog post, and podcast stresses the importance of mitigating risk and being able to quickly respond to the disruptions that today’s world continues to produce. It’s clear that Risk Management is a hot topic in supply chain management, but companies are often left scratching their heads on how to stay ahead of future risks instead of just reacting to disruptions that can be seen on the horizon.
How to Use Hyperscaling to Take Supply Chain Models to the Next Level
Many companies are shifting to hyperscale cloud computing for its speed, reduced downtime losses, easier management, and more. Hyperscaling enables users to ask more what-if questions so that they can get more accurate answers, faster. That means more time to actually pinpoint the best strategy that fits your needs, in regards to financials, service, and risk.
Announcement: Optilogic Joins the Supply Chain Risk Management Consortium
Supply chain design software company Optilogic announced today that it has officially joined the Supply Chain Risk Management Consortium (SCRM), a coalition of businesses and organizations dedicated to the furthering of identification, assessment, mitigation and management of global supply chain risks.
Why Retailers have Resorted to Letting Customers Keep their Returned Items: A Failure in Supply Chain Design
While Retailers spend a lot of time building their outbound distribution network, elements of the supply chain like returns, repair, and recycled items are usually not on the radar of the supply chain team. Have you ever been able to return packaging to retailers so they can use the material again? Metrics like contribution to landfill, water resource usage per sku, CO2 contribution per sku, and return cost per sku are usually not top of mind for executives. It’s usually about revenue, new store sales, and margin.
Why We Need to Redefine Supply Chain Design
For the last few years, the team at Optilogic has been busy rethinking the approach to Supply Chain Design. As most of the team has been working in this space for the past decade or two (or more for some of us), we’ve been seeing a need to shift how we model supply chains, what metrics are most important, and what technology to use to successfully deploy supply chain models, simulations and optimizations.
5 Things OptiCon Taught Us About the Future of Supply Chain Design
OptiCon 2022 was definitely one for the books. We discussed topics ranging from how technology innovation was born, sustained and how Supply Chain Design can be re-imagined by combining optimization, simulation, risk management, and cloud hyper-scaling. In case you missed it, here are a few key takeaways from our supply chain thought leadership conference.
The Impact of Fuel and Transportation on Supply Chain Design
A comprehensive Supply Chain Design process that combines optimization, simulation and risk assessment will help you understand the weak-links in your supply chain, and to quickly analyze alternatives when there are profound cost fluctuations or disruptions.
The Convergence of Optimization, Simulation and Risk to Formulate Holistic Supply Chain Strategies
An effective supply chain structure (or architecture) enhances a network’s inherent ability to resist the negative impacts of supply chain disruptions. Because supply chains are generally large and complex, they have posed a challenge to effective planning and decision making, especially when unexpected disruptions occur. This challenge ushered in an era that leaned heavily on computers and complex software to provide decision support capabilities.
Preparing for the Next Big Supply Chain Disruption
Before we can prepare for what’s next, we first need to understand the past. The importance of supply chains pre-dates us by as much as two and a half millennia! Ancient philosophers and tacticians (like Homer and Sun Tzu) wrote about “supplies” and “logistics” and how those impact military campaigns, political aspirations, and other outcomes.
Cosmic Frog: Supply Chain Design that Balances Cost, Service, and Risk
Post-COVID uncertainty demands a new level of supply chain design technology. Cosmic Frog is the only supply chain design solution that offers optimization, simulation, and risk analysis across an end-to-end supply chain in a single platform, equipping businesses to make more informed decisions beyond just cost.
Announcement: Optilogic Introduces Supply Chain Design Services
We’ve assembled a group of experts from the supply chain industry to build out the Professional Services team at Optilogic. Whether you’re a customer, a partner, or a prospective customer, our Professional Services team has the expertise to help you incorporate design thinking and leverage cloud-based solutions for even your most ambitious modeling, optimization, and simulation projects.
Supply Chain Issues: Chip Shortage Whiplash
By now, we’ve all either heard of or personally experienced the impact of the global chip shortage. But how did our automotive supply chain get to this distressed state? In the simplest of terms, what we’re seeing is the result of strong demand with essentially no supply. This concept is nothing new. In fact, supply chains can be specifically built to withstand shocks to the system. However, the pandemic was something that our supply chain simply wasn’t prepared for, and we’re still feeling its impact, two years later. Here’s what you need to know.
The Benefits of Using Advanced Solvers in Demand Analytics
The day-to-day at Optilogic is constantly changing (and fun), and the way that users implement our software has continued to surprise and inspire us. In a recent project, we built out an application that combined both demand analytics and optimization for short and long term supply chain development.
Bringing Simulation to the Forefront of Supply Chain Design
Recently the Optilogic team has been running into projects that require simulation or a combination of simulations and advanced solving techniques to properly address customer questions about their supply chains. Here are our thoughts on why simulation is becoming more common as a modeling tool than in years past, and how it can make a major impact on any business.
The Use of AI in Supply Chain Design and Analytics
I was listening to Jonathan Wright, Global Managing Partner for Supply Chain Consulting at IBM – discussing with Malcolm Gladwell on his podcast Managing supply chain volatility in the height of the shopping season the latest evolution of supply chain innovation spawned by the global pandemic. And it got me thinking…
Optilogic and Gurobi: A Partnership for the Future of Optimization
We’re thrilled to announce that we have upgraded our platform and have partnered with Gurobi, the world’s fastest mathematical optimization solver on the market. By joining forces with Gurobi, the Optilogic platform now offers a complete end-to-end solution for high-fidelity modeling, optimization, and deployment.
Introducing Professional Services – A Conversation with Mark Outslay
Since the launch of Optilogic, we’re beyond excited to see the influx of new users and what they’ve been able to accomplish in our cloud-based platform. As optimizations continue to get more advanced, we’ve decided to assemble a core team to provide the support users will need to make the most awesome applications. Introducing Mark Outslay, Head of Professional Services at Optilogic. Mark has a 20 year career in supply chain technology and consulting. He works out of Ann Arbor, Michigan.
Introducing The Cloud-Based Modeling Studio: Optilogic
Modelers and engineers from around the world have formulated and coded their optimization and simulation models to solve some of the world’s most complicated problems. Whether you’re modeling the full supply chain of the world’s biggest grocery stores or the performance of a pro athlete, our world is getting better at presenting answers. However, modeling is a lot more nuanced than just knowing what you need to answer. How do we know if we’re asking the right questions? Are we optimizing for the right problem? How confident are we in the results of our optimizations?