o9 Solutions and Supply Chain Insights Invite Business Manufacturing Leaders to Test Outside-In Supply Chain Planning Processes
This Open Call to Business Leaders is Part of Project Zebra, an Open-Source Think Tank Driving Supply Chain Improvement
o9 Solutions, a leading enterprise AI software platform provider for transforming planning and decision-making, and research firm Supply Chain Insights today jointly announced an open call for business manufacturers to participate in pilots testing outside-in supply chain planning concepts.
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“I am proud to work with o9 to build a safe way for business leaders to test and learn the value of an outside-in approach. I am excited to support this work and celebrate the leadership of o9 to drive this industry open-source initiative.”
Through a reverse RFP process, a panel of business leaders, academics, and o9 leaders will select two companies to participate in the research.
This open call to businesses builds upon Project Zebra — an open-source think-tank initiative to drive supply chain improvement that began in January 2021 and was initially funded by o9. Project Zebra’s goal is to define, test, and validate the value proposition of an outside-in approach for planning and decision-making. A departure from traditional ways of thinking about supply chain management, outside-in planning requires a process redesign to minimize latency in aligning supply chain response with shifting market demand. Currently, approximately 60 business leaders are participating in Project Zebra’s outside-in planning training — a testament to both the need and potential of this new supply chain management approach.
The results from these two pilots will help redefine the cross-industry global standard for supply chain excellence, the Supply Chain Operations Reference (SCOR) model from the Association for Supply Chain Management (ASCM). SCOR is the world’s leading supply chain framework — linking business processes, performance metrics, practices and people skills into a unified structure.
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“For two decades, as an industry analyst, I have written about the need for outside-in processes but failed to define them to drive the required shift in the industry,” said Lora Cecere, Founder of Supply Chain Insights. “I am proud to work with o9 to build a safe way for business leaders to test and learn the value of an outside-in approach. I am excited to support this work and celebrate the leadership of o9 to drive this industry open-source initiative.”
“Today’s supply chains are not very good at sensing, so it is difficult for them to respond,” said Igor Rikalo, President & Chief Operating Officer, o9. “The majority of market, channel, and supplier data is available but is not used to help companies make decisions at the speed required by the business. New planning capabilities exist but cannot be leveraged to their full potential unless business leaders change their business models and planning processes. That’s why we are excited about the potential of Project Zebra and support this open call to companies to help redefine supply chain processes based on this outside-in approach and new forms of analytics.”
