Healthcare Supply Chain Technology and Strategy

LIFO retention and the comprehensive tax reform plan The answer is you, unless you don't pay US taxes which is much harder  then you might think .  While this is not strictly supply chain, it will likely affect most if not all distributors in the US. So it might be something you want to watch and be aware of.  Sorry, we don't really have a software fix for the US tax system yet, but the best way to deal with them is to be informed so read on .  There are two primary inventory accounting methods: LIFO and first-in, first-out (FIFO). Under the LIFO inventory accounting method it is assumed that the last item entered into the inventory is the first item sold. Accordingly, the taxpayer's ending inventory is valued at historical costs rather than the most recent costs. Currently, taxpayers that use LIFO are required to calculate and track their LIFO reserves, which is the difference between the accounting cost of inventory calculated using the FIFO method and the same inv...

Can Micro Management help make your warehouse more efficient? Merriam-Webster's Online Dictionary defines: Micro Management as management with excessive control or attention on details. While it is much maligned, in some instances micro management may offer a solution to help you make your warehouse operations more streamlined.  According to industry statics, order picking costs typically account for more than 50% of total warehouse / DC operating costs. With the trend toward smaller, more frequent orders, order fulfillment costs will continue to increase . Naturally companies are concerned and searching for better management methods to combat this growing problem. Many companies consider deploying a separate Labor Management Software (LMS) to help improve their bottom lines.  With the MDS-WMS system the Labor management suite is integrated so a separate LMS is not required. The simple result is often a labor productivity increase simply because employees know they are b...

Are we living through the single most revolutionary time in business? Or does it just feel that way? When I think about the combined forces of the Internet, cloud computing, social tools, mobile devices and a nearly infinite amount of big data, I wonder how any business can fail to be transformed. (The alternative being to simply fail.) Then I think of business at the dawn of the industrial era, and I'm convinced that we really are in the midst of revolution. Yet as a fan of history, I play devil's advocate with myself on all this.   Maybe what the business world is currently experiencing is not all that unique. I was recently reading about historical periods of business transformation and came across the fascinating history of the ice industry. Yes Sorry - not the Big Ice Age ... but the ice business really.  The 1860s were the height of competitive American ice harvesting, when thriving firms like the Knickerbocker Ice Co. distributed ice to homes and businesses throughout...

Social media marketing is no longer solely for B2C companies. B2B marketers are recognizing the benefit of engaging with audiences via social networks. By creating an online persona for your company, you’re humanizing it, just as those in the consumer space do, creating a relationship that makes people feel like they know your brand and company personally. 91 percent of B2B companies are present on LinkedIn and more than 80 percent have Twitter and Facebook accounts. But just because they are “on” social, doesn’t mean these networks are being used efficiently or effectively.  According to research by the Content Marketing Institute, only 44 percent of B2B marketers have a documented social content strategy, meaning too many companies aren’t capitalizing on social media the way they could be. The problem for many is content... Who is going to write all those interesting posts and let customers and prospects know about your latest offerings as well as which products you should be sel...