Optilogic Resources

Explore the top supply chain design blogs of the year, packed with actionable insights on taxes and duties, inventory policies, nearshoring, and more.

Among the supply chain design software leader’s 2024 wins were partnerships with global leaders including GM and BASF, and launching the Leapfrog AI assistant.

In this recent episode of ‘Voices in Transformation,’ hosted by Maria Villablanca, Maria and Don Hicks dive deep into the intricacies of supply chain design versus planning.

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.

Explore how to democratize supply chain design through user-friendly tools like Excel, empowering business users with domain knowledge to make informed decisions and effectively optimizing supply chain networks.

Discover the latest enhancements in Cosmic Frog, including Leapfrog AI, Ease of use features including Model Assistant and Help and Tips. Also an exciting feature update to Hopper Transportation Route Optimization.

Explore how taxes and duties influence supply chain design, affecting not only cost but also service levels and risk. Understand the intricate ways in which different tax regimes can shape logistical decisions and overall supply chain efficiency. Learn effective strategies for integrating tax considerations into your planning processes to optimize performance and enhance profitability.

Steel producer, Usiminas, will leverage Optilogic Cosmic Frog to enhance supply chain performance and resilience and empower business users to make data-driven decisions at the speed of business.

Optilogic’s latest breakthrough, Leapfrog AI, empowers every user—regardless of technical background—to intuitively interact with models and data using natural language. This new assistant is a game-changer for supply chain design, making complex modeling accessible and actionable for everyone.

Leapfrog AI is Optilogic’s custom-built large language model (LLM) designed to enhance your experience with the Cosmic Frog supply chain design solution. With Leapfrog, you can effortlessly interact with your models and data using natural language.

Leapfrog AI has changed the world of supply chain design forever! With Leapfrog, analysts can easily view model data, make changes, create scenarios, and a whole lot more–using natural language.

This blog post discusses strategic preparedness for geopolitical disruptions, highlighting supply chain design and empowering decision-makers. Discover actionable insights and innovative solutions to enhance resilience and agility in your organization’s supply chain amidst global uncertainty.

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. 

Discover the scariest supply chain design problems that manufacturers, retailers, and logistics companies are facing, and how you can vanquish them.

For too long, supply chain design has been limited to a few people in the organization responding to continuous questions and project requests. Learn how to streamline your supply chain in this webinar.

Modeling and designing supply chains is complex, is Gen AI the answer? This complexity limits the number of people who can do supply chain modeling, and how many questions they can answer. Learn more in this webinar replay.

Modeling and designing supply chains is complex, and that complexity limits the number of people who can do supply chain modeling, and how many questions they can answer. Is Gen AI the answer?

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.

During an election year, uncertainty always seems to ramp up until a winner is declared. This year’s election is different from most. Hear from supply chain expert Don Hicks in this CCJ podcast.

Success in supply chain design doesn’t require a big investment or huge internal infrastructure. Instead, the focus should be on supply chain design throughout the organization.

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.

The October 2024 product update introduces new features that enhance functionality, improve user experience, and drive productivity. Take a closer look at what’s new.

BASF’s Supply Chain and Logistics Excellence & Performance Organization will leverage Optilogic Cosmic Frog to test robustness of future supply chain designs and empower business users.

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.

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.

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.

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. 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Discover the latest enhancements in Cosmic Frog, including data validation features, custom tables UX, resource library improvements, enhanced security, and seamless integration to streamline your workflow and improve user experience.

Developing internal competency for supply chain design and network optimization capabilities is at the core of not only supply chain success but also the success of your entire company.

Jonny explains why supply chain design helps Nordstrom thrive, what he likes best about Cosmic Frog, and his experience working with the Optilogic team.

Listen to Oatly’s Director of Inventory Lee Rappaport explain what he likes best about Cosmic Frog and his experience working with the Optilogic team.

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.

Hear Chris Janke, global director of network optimization for the Coca-Cola Company, explain how supply chain design helps his company thrive, what he likes most about Cosmic Frog, and his experience working with the Optilogic team.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

“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.

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.

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.

How do you select a supply chain design provider? Explore key insights from Optilogic founder and CEO Don Hicks and Ryan Bischoff of C.H. Robinson.

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. 

By using Cosmic Frog General Motors can analyze its end-to-end supply chain network at part level and run live test scenarios.

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.

Unlock the secrets to winning in supply chain design in 2024. Join industry leaders Don Hicks, CEO of Optilogic, Ryan Bischoff, Manager of Supply Chain Engineering at C.H. Robinson.

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.

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. 

Discover how Gerdau utilizes Cosmic Frog to gain deeper, more valuable customer insights and deliver critical information seamlessly to their internal team.

2024 is a significant year for elections which could significantly impact trade policies. Here’s how to prepare your supply chain for 2024 elections and their impact on the global economy.

Significant updates in Cosmic Frog allow for more accurate multi-stop route design with realistic business constraints like time windows and hours of service.

From large consulting firms to one-person shops, Optilogic Cosmic Reach is the turnkey solution to grow supply chain design consulting practices.

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.

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.

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.

Spring is here and at Optilogic our entire team is energized and excited to introduce loads of useful new features in our supply chain design solution to help designers do more in less time—and dare we say have more fun? 

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™.

If you’re searching for the best supply chain design optimization tools, review our list below to learn how the right supply chain design tool can make your planning more efficient and help you achieve your KPIs.

Henkel´s Adhesive Technologies business unit will leverage Optilogic’s Cosmic Frog supply chain network optimization and simulation to test future supply chain designs and improve its overall competitive advantage.

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.

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.

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.

If you’re searching for alternatives to Coupa LLamasoft for supply chain design, review our list below to learn how the right supply chain design tool can optimize your network design and help you achieve your KPIs.

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.

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.

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.

The Optilogic team is excited to share great new Cosmic Frog features for the new year, including usability improvements, new Resource Library templates and reference data, and much more.

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.

Optilogic Cosmic Frog addresses your facility location questions and empowers you with the data and tools to make smart choices with greenfield analysis. Learn how Cosmic Frog helps you determine facility location in supply chain design.

Interceramic will leverage Optilogic Cosmic Frog’s robust supply chain network optimization and inventory simulation to improve customer satisfaction and its overall competitive advantage

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.

INSIGHT Software was just acquired by Optilogic. Here’s how INSIGHT pioneered some of the most critical capabilities in supply chain design today and left an indelible mark in the industry over its 40-year history.

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.

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.

Mexico’s largest lime producer Calidra will use Cosmic Frog to coordinate logistics between multiple production sites in Mexico and Latin America as well as operations in the United States.

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.

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.

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.

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.

What if Santa had Cosmic Frog transportation route optimization? See how Santa uses Cosmic Frog to optimize Christmas deliveries and learn how the model is built.

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.

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.

This award spotlights top software and technology startups in the supply chain and logistics space.   

The Optilogic team has been hard at work to deliver a load of great new Cosmic Frog features, including transportation route optimization, Lightning Editor improvements, simplified navigation, new model templates, and more.

Every supply chain technology vendor is clamoring to tell you about their digital twin capability, but what is a “digital twin”? Here’s the real story on one of the industry’s most over-hyped and overused buzzwords.

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.

Scary supply chains are haunting grown-up nightmares this time of year. Don’t be afraid…here are five of the scariest supply chain design problems and how you can solve them with the Cosmic Frog supply chain design solution to sleep peacefully again.

[ANN ARBOR, MI] – October 5, 2023 – Supply chain network design software innovator, Optilogic...

Optilogic’s CEO, Don Hicks appears on The Logistic Matters Podcast to discuss nearshoring in the global supply chain industry.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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®. 

Here are 5 of the most impactful supply chain design possibilities made possible by modern cloud technology.

Modeling technologies allow organizations to design a robust supply chain network within an increasingly volatile market as they evaluate CapEx opportunities like mergers, acquisitions and divestitures.

Planning with supply chain sustainability in mind delivers on the triple bottom line: people, profits, and the planet. Here are five elements to consider when designing a sustainable supply chain.

This article from Optilogic explores the intricacies of production capacity planning and why your organization should implement this strategy in your supply chain design.

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 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.

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.

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. 

The Optilogic Frogger Pond community is live! It’s the premier online destination for supply chain designers to share questions, ideas, job postings, give product feedback, and more.

Video: Why Is Supply Chain Design Important?

Experts from CH Robinson, Peco Pallet, and more explain why supply chain design is vital to their business.

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.

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.

Beginner's Guide to Supply Chain Simulation Supply chain simulation is the most granular modeling technique....

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.

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.   

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.  

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.  

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, 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.  

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.

Resiliency is critical to an effectively constructed and balanced supply chain. Scenario modeling empowers you to intentionally create supply chains that can withstand even the most disruptive events.

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).

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.

From personalized supply chain risk profiles and sequential optimization to automated cost-to-serve and easier model building from templates, read on to learn about the new capabilities available today for Optilogic users.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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%.

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.

In this guide, we explore some of the most common use cases for supply chain design and how you can get started answering your own “what if…” questions today.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Traditional optimization-only approaches to inventory planning fall short in the face of protracted uncertainty. Here’s why simulation is the best inventory management technology you never knew you needed.

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.

For consumer goods companies to adapt and thrive, leadership must adapt to industry trends. Here are trends the CPG industry faces in 2024 and how companies can evolve to meet new consumer demands.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Watch a 5-minute demo of Cosmic Frog! Learn how to set up a free Cosmic Frog account, build a new model from scratch or with a pre-built template, run scenarios, get a risk rating, and more.

PECO uses advanced modeling and cost analysis tools to optimize pallet depot operations, improve network efficiency leading to enhanced customer service and reduced supply chain risks.

Led by MK Capital, New Funding Will Accelerate Further Research and Development of Optilogic’s Cloud-Native SaaS Solution

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?

It’s that time again—an opportunity to look back on the past 12 months and ahead to what the new year will bring. You don’t need to be a supply chain expert to know that we still have challenges ahead.

In anticipation of Christmas, we thought we’d have a bit of fun and build a Cosmic Frog supply chain design model to help Santa distribute gifts in the U.S., considering service (on-time gift delivery) and risk (to ensure reliability).

Supply chain design software company Optilogic announced the availability of its converter for Coupa Supply Chain Modeler© which automatically converts Coupa Supply Chain Modeler models to cloud-based Optilogic Cosmic Frog™ models.

We’ve pulled together the top 11 Cosmic Frog FAQs that get into the nitty gritty of why Cosmic Frog is your new go-to supply chain design tool. Hop in and take a peek!

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

With Optilogic leading the way, AmerCareRoyal is overcoming growing pains and gaining a robust understanding of its complex, extended supply chain.

When PECO Pallet converted its supply chain model to Optilogic, the company saw a marked improvement in solve times and complex analytics.

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.

For supply chain leader iGPS, Optilogic has injected true optimization and effective scaling into the equation

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.

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.

Ready to build your first Cosmic Frog model? We’ve got your back. We’ll guide you through four simple steps and you’ll be on your way to answering your toughest supply chain what-if questions.

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.

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.

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.

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 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.

With supply chain disruptions on the rise, you’ve probably started to experience drastic shifts in demand, labor shortages and structural concerns. Can your supply chain withstand the next disruption?

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.

If you’re looking for a simple way to test your legacy supply chain models in Optilogic Cosmic Frog, we have good news: Our model converter can automate around 70% of the work for you. Converting your legacy models is easy (and free!)

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…

Figuring out which Mixed-Integer Programming (MIP) solver to use can be difficult. You may be thinking, do I really need to scale or can I get by with open-source solvers?

Science = art. Both are well crafted, full of meaning, and clean in design. And modeling is the perfect combination of art and science. It is both wildly creative and filled with patterns in nature. But what exactly is modeling?

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.

Optilogic is pleased to introduce Gurobi to it’s library of accessible solvers. As of today, Optilogic users will now be able to optimize their models using Gurobi’s best in class solver.

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.

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?