The increasing competitive pressure, the improved technical possibilities due to digitization but also the need to make work easier for the employees both in logistics and at the point of sale as well as the partly limited availability of staff are the reasons why automation and robotics have been getting more attention in consumer goods retailing in recent years.

In summer 2017, the EHI Retail Institute carried out a survey on leading retail companies in German speaking countries to further explain the opportunities and challenges of the usage of robotics in retail - both in intralogistics and at the point of sale. The results are demonstrated in the EHI whitepaper (available in German language). Miebach Consulting supports this project within the "Robotics for Retail (R4R)" initative as a cooperation partner.

Meet us personally to find out more about robotic usage in retail at our booth in hall 3, number 3B09 at LogiMAT fair, taking place from 13.-15 March 2018. Looking forward meeting you there. 

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With the technology dependency rapidly increasing in business activities and the customers demanding close to immediate responses; having a technical disruption even for a short period of time, has only negative connotations.

The interconnection among the different technologies must be understood, documented, and monitored so that the information flows and the processes perform as expected. Who is responsible for this? A Data Governance Committee that understands not only the technology, but also the processes and the users.

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In today's globalized world of business, the ever-increasing requirements of customers regarding products and services has led to a new trend - nearshoring, which allows the companies to respond to customer needs with shorter delivery times and greater flexibility. Miebach Consulting has conducted an international study on this topic to determine how supply chains are affected by current and future shoring strategies, to evaluate the factors for shoring decisions and to show what shoring trends companies expect in the future.

One of the main conclusions of the study is that an increasing amount of companies (51 % of the participants) are producing in closer proximity to their markets instead of moving the production abroad. The study also shows that this percentage is going to increase even more, since 26 % of the participating companies believe that nearshoring is a trend that is going to have a very high or high relevance in a near future, above the offshoring and the onshoring or local production (22 % and 17 %, respectively). See figure 1.

Asked more in detail about which localization strategy they would choose and where they would like to implement it in the future, respondents pointed out that in Europe the preferred strategy will be nearshoring (69%), in America Onshoring will strengthen (43%), while offshoring is still a major trend in Asian countries (67%). See figure 2.

"Modern production processes ensure a stronger focus on customers and can be a competitive advantage given the right location strategy. This is where Near- and Onshoring become more important for companies. Especially the population within the major economic regions can benefit from job creation due to production in proximity to markets." - Bernd Müller-Dauppert, Member of the Management Board, Miebach Consulting GmbH.

The study participants expect an increase in supply chain complexity due to Near- and Onshoring trends. The process of choosing an optimal shoring strategy and subsequently selecting the ideal location therefore requires an integrated consideration of both supply chain and production networks.

In all, 127 companies from various sectors took part in the study. Around 1/3 of participants are from North and South America and 2/3 are from Europe.

The complete study brochure can be obtained for free from Miebach Consulting, Ralf Hoffmann (hoffmann@miebach.com).

A blog article dealing with the nearshoring trend from the perspective of logistics service providers you will find here. 

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The term 4th Party Logistics Service Providers - or 4PL for short - repeatedly comes up in public discussion. Already during the 90's many postulated the success of the concept but this was far away from reality. Comparing the publications, talks and other PR related activities at that time to the number of projects actually implemented it seems that the 4PL euphoria has been more marketing hype than an actual trend.

Long forgotten, the concept is now being revived - 4PL is back in the public debate. But what is this all about, why is this issue being taken up, which players are important and for which kind of industrial and retail customers could this approach be interesting? The following pages give answers to these questions.

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The strength of a businesses internal Supply Chain capability is a result of the need to adapt to ever changing market expectations. To cope with today’s exponential rate of change an increasing number of businesses are relying on external expertise to innovate and exploit supply chain opportunities. Miebach Consulting believes that collaboration is becoming an indispensable component of leading edge supply chains and the factors that need to be addressed to ensure success.

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This whitepaper gives an insight into current limitations and possibilities of robots in logistics, as well as answers and additional suggestions on the current state of robot-based automation, the feasibility of applications and their opportunities.    

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The strategic development of a company is a challenge for many logistics services providers, and previous methods only lead to insufficient solutions. While during the 90s and 2000s the focus was to successfully establish new businesses, it has now changed to attracting new business opportunities. This change is challenging the whole industry.

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Miebach’s participation at the 2016 LLamasoft Summercon Conference included a session on Ideal Supply Chain Design presented by Nick Banich.  The response from the presentation was very positive, and in consequence we have collaborated with LLamasoft to create an E-Book on the topic to be made available to those who were not in attendance.

“The idea of the ’10 Pillars of Supply Chain Design’ was to share the very high-level strategy that we ourselves employ when beginning a project of this nature for a client,” explained Nick, Miebach partner in the US. “By sharing this information with other supply chain professionals, Miebach and LLamasoft can show the value of our respective roles within a design project for our clients.  Between our expertise and the comprehensive Supply Chain Guru software, network designs are able to achieve a greater positive impact for the client’s overall business plan.”

Miebach’s LLamasoft Center of Excellence supports both owners and non-owners of the software across the full spectrum of supply chain design and transformation. 

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The study brochure about the new Miebach pharma survey 2016 with 256 participants is now available. The results show: The pharmaceutical industry is giving its supply chain and logistics a much greater importance than in the past. The top subjects in the pharmaceutical logistics are end-to-end supply chain visibility and optimizing the distribution networks. The increasing volume of refrigerated and frozen products and serialization of product codes are further challenges supply chain managers are facing.

"Our European study clearly shows that most pharmaceutical companies see the European market as a whole region, while national borders are becoming less important, except for specific legislation or distribution channels" - says Martin Eckert, Global Pharma Expert & Director, Miebach Consulting. Optimization of the distribution network has grown very much in importance (from 76 % to 86 %). The initiatives are aiming to transform many national networks into one more efficient and transparent European network, alongside with other many issues.

Topics like improving supplier management (86 %), end-to-end supply chain visibility (93 %), improving forecasting accuracy (84 %) and track & trace (82 %) are some of the most significant issues for the management, very much in line with the previous Miebach pharma study from 2012. Optimization through automation (64 %), outsourcing (62 %) and constructing new warehouses compliant with GxP guidelines (54 %) are also important topics.

The full study report including derived recommendations for action (available in English, German and Spanish language) can be obtained by Ralf Hoffmann (please fill out the inquiry form next to this text).

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