In Search of Cool

April 7, 2010
10:00 pm

It happened yesterday. It happens at least once a day.
When I travel, the most frequently asked question is “what do I see in the market that is cool?” Yes, it seems that everyone is looking for the inside track on cool technologies. So, here I share my take.
Let me start with a disclaimer. What is cool for me: may not be what is cool for you. And, my daughter will be quick to point out that unlike Snoopy (portrayed on the left of this blog) that I am a far cry from a Joe Cool type of person. <Trust me. Don’t bother to call her. I have gotten this feedback first hand for over twenty-five years. I have learned to accept it.) But, I do love cool technologies, early adopters of the technologies and the passion of the developers.

What is a cool technology?

For this blog, I have selected four supply chain technologies that I feel:

Solve a business problem in a new way.
Have passionate references. <The kind of folks that just LOVE to talk about the usage of the product when you call them. You cannot HELP but get excited with them on the other end of the phone.>
Are built by passionate developers. The kind of guys that just love serving their clients.

My Q1 2010 Picks

So, without further ado, my picks for cool technologies for the first quarter of 2010 are:
Applied Predictive Technologies (APT): APT has brought science to demand sensing. The technology allows retailers and suppliers to test market scenarios in near real-time. The APT methodologies help companies to design tests–scientific definition of control and test stores– and track market acceptance of changes with the shopper (E.g. store formats, trade promotion effectiveness, display positioning, category lay-outs, etc). I love the scientific approach of store testing and the ability to get REAL data on consumer acceptance in near-real time. One retailer that I track evaluates the market baskets of store clusters every 15 minutes. Talk about KNOWING your shopper!
ORTEC: The Ortec technology fills the missing link between warehouse management (WMS) and order management (OMS). The software output is a floor plan for a truck– which pallets to put where in the truck, which pallets to turn, and which pallets to stack– to better enable truck utilization on loads that mix heavy and light products. It reduces damage and improves truck utlization. One client that I follow used Ortec to improve truck utilization by 10%. (However, MUM is the word for them because they want to keep it SECRET. ) A great technology to help consumer products companies improve sustainability, reduce unsaleable/return products or drive cost reduction initiatives.
SAS Forecasting/APO Integration: SAS has been quietly building a new approach to forecasting termed Demand-driven Forecasting. The technology has five advantages for companies seeking technologies to improve forecast accuracy.

Consensus Forecasting. A disciplined approach to consensus forecasting to hold all partes accountable for bias and error.
Improved Scalability. Accenture pilots in their Barcelona center of excellence indicate that SAS forecasting is 30-40X faster than SAP APO 7.0.
SAP APO Integration. Tight integration into SAP APO for companies wanting to maximize their SAP APO investments.
Depth of Optimization. Depth of optimization for seasonal and causal forecasting (ARIMA and unobserved components)
Ease of Use. Data cleansing and master data workbench capabilities to help business users maintain the data.

Terra Technology: Slowly, but surely, Terra Technology is making Distribution Requirements Planning (DRP) obsolete. In 2005, it was the automation of demand sensing at the warehouse location level to improve inventory decision making. In 2008 it was the use of downstream data to build a pull-based signal from the retailer to the supplier in multi-enterprise demand sensing. In 2009, it was the introduction of transportation forecasting; and in 2010, it is logic to improve the distribution of open-code date products to reduce waste. Slowly, but surely, DRP is becoming less relavant for consumer products leaders like ConAgra, General Mills, Procter & Gamble, and Unilever.
So, what technologies have you seen that you think are cool? And, if you are a supply chain vendor that thinks that you have a cool technology, please send me an email at lora@altimetergroup.com. The Supply Chain Shaman is a tough cookie, but she is always looking for great ideas.
I am currently packing my bags for Milan, Italy. Look for my posts later this month from SAP’s European Insider Conference. I am writing a series on how to gain the greatest value from SAP APO investments. Please share your secrets freely with the community.
<In the spirit of full disclosure. Two of the companies listed have retainer relationships with Altimeter and two do not. This is not a pay for play blog.>

Warning: Sidestep the Narrative of the Misguided Goldiggers

August 10, 2026 4:58 pm

Ten years ago, I started writing a book titled Stories of the Misguided Gold Diggers. The book was a collection of stories from two decades of stories of technology leaders perpetuating the myth of integrated end-to-end supply chain planning.

I dusted off the manuscript on Saturday. I think that we have a new chapter. Companies focused on putting Artificial Intelligence (AI) on top of existing architectures are putting AI Stupid on steroids.

The Myth of End-to-End Planning

July 31, 2026 9:14 pm

Supply chain planning, supply management, supply chain execution, network design, and transportation/logistics management operate in silos. Not much has changed over four decades. The connections flow back through transactional systems: order-to-cash and procure-to-pay. There is a myth that companies can buy an end-to-end supply chain management solution. This is largely a myth. Here we explain.

Lead Time: A Broken Gossamer

July 16, 2026 6:38 pm

If you are struggling with supply chain planning, dancing in the light of shiny objects, and scratching your head, please read on. My goal is to help you.

Please do not AI Stupid. What do I mean? AI Stupid is putting agents and agentics on top of existing architectures believing that making them faster and hands free add value. To me, this is fools play.

I love AI. I am excited about new technologies. To this end, I want to shine a light on how new technologies can help address the black holes and inconsistencies in today’s supply chain, which largely stem from the limitations of the first generation of supply chain planning and execution technologies. In this blog, I give you three places to start.

Do You Need a Supply Chain Coach?

July 9, 2026 5:27 pm

Supply chain is where the rubber hits the road. For a public company, over 40% of market capitalization is tied to the trade-offs between growth, operating margin, inventory management, and Return on Capital Employed.

The road for supply chain improvement is fraught with issues. Here we share some and offer some advice.

Is your Supply Chain AI Ready?

June 11, 2026 2:39 pm

A simple quiz to assess an organization’s AI readiness.

The pace of change is fast and furious. Every day, technology advances faster than we can digest. A great challenge to have.

Determining whether a supply chain is “AI-ready” is less about technology and more about the gray matter between the ears of supply chain leaders. Leadership, alignment, and clarity of goals matter.

Too few companies are clear on the definition of supply chain excellence. Measuring and rewarding functional metrics reduces the firm’s value. Putting agentics on top of today’s processes can make bad practices run faster, reducing value.

The toughest job for the supply chain leader is challenging existing supply chain paradigms that were defined by the limitations of decades of supply chain technologies. As the curtain lifts on the potential of new forms of technology, process redefinition is our opportunity, but only if we are clear on what drives value. (Here, I link to the Supply Chains to Admire reports to help you define value. The next report will be published on June 23rd, along with my Dynamic Benchmarking Product, to help you define value in the face of your AI readiness. More information about the launch is at the bottom of this blog.)

Case Study: A Scrappy Demand Management Approach

June 9, 2026 5:37 pm

This study of Franklin Sports shines a light on the work that needs to be done at the sales account level to challenge a retail forecast, and also highlights the importance of a new technique for a forecast engine — reinforcement learning.

Artificial intelligence comes in many forms — large language models, generative AI, machine learning, unstructured text mining, deep learning, neural networks, reinforcement learning, agents, and agentics. While the industry is wigging out about agentics, I think reinforcement learning is a great step forward in the journey of Artificial Intelligence.