john deere supply chain case study

Agile Education Program
The Agile Navigator

Adaptive and Resilient Supply Chain Management: How John Deere Uses Scrum To Create Supply Chain Solutions In The Midst Of Disruption

by the Scrum Inc. Team | January 27, 2022 | Blog

Key Results:

John Deere used Scrum and Scrum@Scale to accomplish what other major manufacturers could not - successfully navigate the challenges caused by a global pandemic and major supply chain disruptions. Additional results for the Supply Chain Solutions teams include:

A 79 percent improvement in Cycle Time
Time to Market was decreased by 66 percent
Functions/Features Delivered per Sprint delivered by Supply Chain Solutions improved by 448 percent
The number of Deploys increased by 567 percent
Teams reduced Overall Costs by 20 percent
Team eNPS Score improved to 60 (anything over 50 is considered excellent)

More than 10,000 parts are needed to assemble just one of John Deere’s award-winning X9 combines -- twice the number of components needed to build a new car.

Modern combines, just like modern farming, also require far more technology than you likely think.

Sensors, antennas, and motherboards are now just as critical as tires, treads, and tines.

Of course, John Deere makes far more than combines. Its iconic logo appears on everything from tillers and tractors to marine engines, motor graders, and the John Deere Gator utility vehicle. In all, the company manufactures more than 100 distinct lines of equipment.

Each product relies on efficient and effective supply chain management -- from procurement and sourcing to cost control, shipping, customs, and final delivery.

Overall, John Deere depends on a complex network of thousands of suppliers from around the globe to build industry-leading John Deere products.

Coordinating and collaborating with that network through digital solutions largely falls to the company’s Supply Chain Solutions teams and Karen Powers, the Digital Product Manager for Supply Chain Management and Worldwide Logistics at John Deere.

“We have responsibility for every shipment around the world,” she explains, “ from any supplier to any factory, to any component operation in between, and for the end shipment of the completed good to the dealer.” To accomplish all of this, Powers’ team also works with aspects of the company’s global trade including imports, exports, customs, documentation, and duties.

It’s a mammoth undertaking even in the best of times. And 2020 and 2021 were hardly the best of times.

But John Deere’s Supply Chain Solutions teams were more than up to the task. They successfully used Scrum as a team framework to increase throughput and Scrum@Scale as an organizational framework to optimize alignment and value delivery. Together they helped Supply Chain Solutions navigate the challenges caused by a global pandemic and major supply chain disruptions.

John Deere didn’t just survive these complex times, the company thrived. At the end of November 2021, the company announced record profits.

Jay Strief, the Group Engineering Manager of Supply Chain Solutions, connects this success in part to managing through supply chain issues and puts it in personal terms. “The awesome story here is the change in the culture; innovation, risk-taking, and many clear examples of teams stepping out of their comfort zone to deliver new value.” All of this, he adds, “was made possible through our digital transformation.“

Why Supply Chain Solutions Went Agile

Powers has been a leader in the information technology space at John Deere for most of her two-decade career.

She helmed the company’s Business Process Integration organization and an ERP implementation for the company’s Construction & Forestry Division. Powers has also led John Deere’s global analytics organization and a variety of technical teams within finance and manufacturing. She is a master of the “classic” ways of working.

When asked if there’s anything Powers misses about those pre-Agile days she quickly answers “no,” before adding, “looking back at the challenges we had to overcome in the last 18 months, I can’t fathom trying to do that without being this agile.”

Traditional supply chain management tactics had long served John Deere well. After all, it’s impossible to grow into a Fortune 100 company with a large global footprint without efficiently coordinating your network of suppliers and deliveries.

But, as a company, John Deere understands that good enough today may not work tomorrow. Powers and her teams believed the traditional approach wouldn’t be fast enough or flexible enough to keep up with the rate of innovation and business demands for digital solutions from the global supply chain organization.

Powers says procurement of digital solutions could take months to materialize - or longer. The needs of the business line making the request often changed during that time. What was delivered was what they originally asked for but not always what they now knew they needed. It was clear that John Deere needed to adapt to continue to support customers with growing technology needs and increasing expectations for efficiency.

Supply Chain Solutions needed to move faster and more efficiently to help John Deere continue to be an industry leader. So, they started to wonder, “How do we eliminate as many handoffs as possible? How do we streamline this process? How do we better interact with the customer or internal partners?” And Powers asked herself, “How do we ensure we have the right skills and the right talent to be able to respond faster?”

Innovation is one of John Deere’s core values and the company prides itself on creative problem solving. This is part of the DNA of the company and its culture. When Powers and her team learned about the Agile Operating Model (AOM) — a transformation strategy that had been introduced to modernize the John Deere Global IT group — and the collaboration with Scrum Inc. they pushed to be included in the second wave of the transformation.

In early 2020, while still in the immersion phase of their training, Supply Chain Solutions was called on to support the Global Supply Management organization dealing with the volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity (V.U.C.A.) that has now become the norm for supply chains worldwide.

Overcoming V.U.C.A.: COVID-19 and Supply Chain Disruptions

The challenge of keeping all of John Deere’s assembly lines running would be immense. But as Powers notes, “John Deere always rises to the challenge.”

At this point, John Deere’s Supply Chain Solution teams had effectively implemented both Scrum and Scrum@Scale . Powers says both frameworks helped Supply Chain Solutions live up to its name.

No longer slowed by the overly burdensome and bureaucratic approach, the teams quickly pivoted from a primarily strategic focus to one that balanced both the tactical and strategic needs required during the pandemic.

Working in two-week Sprints allowed the teams to replan and reprioritize faster. They pivoted to overcome new pain points or the constantly changing conditions on the ground. John Deere’s Supply Chain Solutions teams have always had strong and reliable analytics and could see potential bottlenecks in their network. When paired with Scrum and Scrum@Scale, these teams now had the flexibility to act to counter the bottlenecks before they choked off critical parts.

Perhaps the most important change, however, came from the stronger alignment and team empowerment that both Scrum and Scrum@Scale helped build.

In the old ways of working, Supply Chain Solutions teams would often be told to undertake a predetermined solution by buyers and supply base managers, limiting the opportunity for Supply Chain Solution team members to share their expertise.

The Agile mindset Scrum and Scrum@Scale bring means those who do the work, and know it best, are free to figure out the most effective way to get it done. “To me, that was the big game-changer,” explains Powers, “because you have that collective brainpower, the folks who know the data and know the ins and outs that can provide things the business didn’t even dream of.”

Take the example of the shortage of materials brought on by the pandemic. Within their ferrous components commodity group, the supply chain analytics and sourcing teams took a new approach to manage cost and risk. John Deere leveraged its bill of materials to generate greater visibility into everything it purchased throughout its supply chain. John Deere used a tier taxonomy to indicate the difference between a completed component (Tier 1) and the pieces needed to make it (Tier 2). Heightened visibility into these different tiers allowed the company to creatively overcome bottlenecks before problems arose. Thus, better managing cost and risk.

“While the initial scope started as a single commodity, additional opportunities quickly came into view as the analytics group developed comprehensive views of our total spend by category,” says Powers. “The evolution of the tiered spend project was a great illustration of Agile in action. The iterative development and ongoing connection between category managers and analytics team members ensured that the end result was useful for a broad group of internal teams.”

The team’s solution to 2021’s worldwide microchip shortage was even more creative.

As Powers explains, Supply Chain Solutions knew the shortage could detrimentally affect their businesses because “if the suppliers can’t get the chips, they can’t make the boards and we can’t put them into machines.”

So, Supply Chain Solutions asked their network how they could help suppliers secure the microchips directly. They assigned a few team members to create automation scripts that scoured the internet for microchips that would meet their specific needs and when they would be available. This new system helped supplement their suppliers.

All this, Powers explains, came with just one caveat for their suppliers, “all the chips John Deere helped secure would be sold back to us on a completed board.”

Again, John Deere’s lines kept running. That’s something other major manufacturers could not say. “Obviously we’re facing the same challenges other companies are,” explains Powers, “the difference is our ability to step out and do things we normally don’t do to help our suppliers. This, in turn, helps us secure what we need.”

Same team, new operating model and a new mindset, and the “ability to successfully operate in any situation.” That is what the Agile Operating Model, Scrum, and Scrum@Scale delivered for John Deere’s Global IT organization.

Strief puts it this way: “The digitalization of our supply chain business is not just about new technology, it is transformational in terms of new business value we are delivering. Along the way, we have delivered higher job satisfaction for our software engineers and continue to invest in developing cutting-edge skills in our people.”

Structured to Deliver Strategic and Tactical Goals

As we know, 2020 and 2021 were some of the most challenging years supply chain professionals had faced in the modern era. Just delivering tactical goals could be a major accomplishment given the level of V.U.C.A. the function faced.

The ingenuity and dedication of John Deere’s Supply Chain Solutions team members, and their use of Scrum and Scrum@Scale, meant they could deliver both the tactical and strategic.

Along with their Scrum training, Supply Chain Solutions Agile journey began with two significant structural changes which helped the teams deliver beneficial outcomes.

As Powers explains, the first such change evolved how the unit was led. “We took what use to be a single management position and broke it out into two roles with different, more focused accountabilities.”

One role, the business digital product lead, focuses on the business problems the unit was helping to solve as well as examine ways technology can help drive those desired outcomes. This is Powers’ role.

The second role, held by Strief, focuses on ensuring teams have the right capabilities with digital skills, technical acumen, and depth of experience to successfully and rapidly innovate and deliver.

This new leadership structure ensures both Powers and Strief are laser-focused on their specific areas of expertise. They have clear accountabilities, know what each is responsible for, and allow for cleaner lines of communication and minimal bureaucratic hurdles. Powers believes that this split structure, “is what really makes this model work.”

The second significant structural change involved the teams themselves.

“In the past, teams were structured around an application or specific technology,” says Powers, “so a shift from a strategic project to a tactical need could slow that strategic project down significantly.”

Powers says, “We started really looking at our applications and processes,” in new ways. They identified what was obsolete as well as what could be streamlined or grouped together. Supply Chain Solutions then completely revamped their product taxonomy around these newly identified value streams and restructured their teams accordingly.

Besides being more efficient, Powers notes this new product structure also created, “a stronger sense of empowerment and ownership,” throughout the team -- from the product owner to the team members. “That's their baby and their pride and joy. So, they get to really take that to the next level and know they had a real hand in making a positive impact,” versus just checking off a list of requirements and requests.

The teams also changed how they worked.

In Scrum, teams break large work into smaller increments. This, says Powers, along with a well-prioritized backlog meant “the teams were able to move from the tactical to the strategic without losing momentum.”

The net result of these changes in structure and process, combined with John Deere’s strong analytics, is clear; John Deere’s lines kept running — through the pandemic, supply bottlenecks, and shortages.

At the same time, the Supply Chain Solutions teams were able to deliver multiple award-winning strategic initiatives that helped the company control or recoup costs and boost efficiency. These included:

Modernizing the ‘Cost Central’ internal application that is a hub for material cost management throughout the company. The upgrades included increased its ease of use, visibility of data like expected cost, and an overall improvement in user experience and engagement.
A strategic initiative that leveraged analytics and the increased visibility spurred by John Deere’s Agile transformation for digital products that allowed the company to recoup some $20 million in duty drawbacks .
A strategic initiative that combined machine learning and analytics to increase leverage buying power and cost control by creating visibility into parts with similar dimensions, components, performance, and material characteristics but different part numbers.

Additional Results and Metrics

Throw in the unprecedented level of complexity and V.U.C.A. that have been the hallmark of supply chains throughout 2020 and 2021 and you might expect that John Deere’s Supply Chain Solutions teams would, at best, come close to achieving them.

Instead, just six months after the end of the immersion phase of their training, Supply Chain Solutions has smashed through those ambitious goals and has achieved far more than anticipated. The data collected by John Deere on five specific areas tell the story best:

Cycle Time: Before John Deere’s Agile transformation, the time it took for Supply Chain Solutions to go from idea to delivery was 54 days. Now it takes just 11 days. This represents a 79 percent improvement, far more than the 40 percent targeted by leadership .
Time to Market: Leadership wanted to decrease this by 40 percent. Supply Chain Solutions has decreased it by 66 percent , from a baseline of 89 days to 30.
Functions/Features Delivered per Sprint: Supply Chain Solutions was delivering nine functions per sprint before their Agile transformation. Leadership wanted that number to increase by 125 percent. Six months after their immersion phase ended, Supply Chain Solutions is now delivering 49 functions per sprint, an improvement of 448 percent .
Deploys: Here leadership targeted a 125 percent increase over the baseline of 10. Instead, Supply Chain Solutions has increased that to 67, a 567 percent improvement .
Cost Efficiency: Hiring the right people, with the right skills for the right roles allowed Supply Chain Solutions to eliminate ‘middlemen’ and costly handoffs. This allowed the teams to deliver the above results while reducing overall costs by 20 percent .
Team eNPS: Employee Net Promoter Score, or eNPS, is an effective way to measure team happiness and engagement. A score above 50 is considered excellent so leadership set a target score of 50+ for this metric. Supply Chain Solutions’ current eNPS score is 60 .

To Powers, that last data point personifies their Agile transformation. “Having fun at work and getting things done are not mutually exclusive,” she says, “we went through this journey and people started having fun, and we’re seeing the difference in the results.”

Conclusion

At the start of their Agile journey, many questioned if it would work in the structured and intertwined environment. “Lots of people doubted that Agile would work here. That you could do an Agile transformation in Supply Chain Solutions.”

Powers freely admits that she was one of those doubters.

Then, she had her “a-ha” moment.

“Suddenly I saw how it absolutely applies to everything you do,” no matter how complex or intertwined. She admits that “It may take a little blind faith to start your Agile journey,” before adding,” the pieces will make sense. The teams will deliver more, you’ll accomplish more, and everybody will love what they’re doing.”

That, she says, is the game-changer. For Supply Chain Solutions, Agile allows them to adapt while the game itself keeps changing.

6 Agile Ways To Increase Employee Engagement

Organizations who utilize Agile ways of working experience a 20-30% improvement in employee engagement. Engage, Equip & Empower your employees.

Insights From the Field:

Leaders Leveraging the OODA Loop for Value Stream Management
The Effort Estimation Matrix – A Tool for Estimating Agile Story Points
Scrum@Scale for Organizational Success: Insights from a Scrum of Scrums Master
Leaders Leveraging the OODA Loop in a Scrum@Scale Environment
Scrum Inc. Webinar with JJ Sutherland and Jeff Sutherland

The secret to supply chain innovation at John Deere

As Vice President of Global Supply Management & Logistics at John Deere, Wallas Wiggins has seen firsthand the immense value of the supplier relationship. During the pandemic, the strength of those relationships helped the organization—which builds connected machines and equipment for agriculture, construction, forestry, and other industries—through a challenging time. Those relationships are also key to unlocking innovation. “Often suppliers approach us to share what they’re working on, and that can be a very powerful tool to generate innovation, growth, and get first mover advantage.”

We sat down with Wiggins to discuss that path to innovation, always putting people first, and the transformative power of fundamental technologies like GPS.

Accenture: What’s your approach to innovation?

Wallas Wiggins: When it comes to innovation, I always ask what is the value and how does it help us differentiate? I want innovations that are meaningful and of high value to our customers. Our engineers and production system folks work on innovation. But I personally believe there’s a lot of innovation in the supplier community. I want to focus on ensuring we harvest that innovation from suppliers and translate it into benefits for customers, in order to further differentiate ourselves.

Innovation is not always about products, either. Being in the indirect space, I’ve seen powerful innovation in the processes, technology and people that support the manufacturing business. So, innovation is not singular. It can come in a variety of forms and you must be open-minded to understand it, harvest it, and translate it into value for the customer.

Accenture: Can you highlight examples of how Deere technology is differentiating?

WW: GPS location is fundamental. John Deere is one of the few private companies in the world that has its own satellite correction network. It ensures when our customers are in the field, our instrument is accurate to 2.5 centimeters. Many of our innovations are very specialized, like See & Spray . However, we are also working on fundamental technology solutions to help our customers manage the challenges and variability in their operations.

Machine learning and AI are vital, for example. With Engaged Acres , data is captured when a farmer runs a pass in the field for tillage. When it’s time to plant, they can use that data to ensure they’re planting in the right rows. When it’s time to spray, they use that same GPS data to ensure they’re spraying in the same place. It creates a stack of data relating to a farmer’s field, from the time they till the soil, all the way to harvest. That data is analyzed to get yield insights. For example, identifying locations where they should plant more because the yield is higher. Almost every machine Deere makes is connected, so data can be sent from machines to the customer's operation center. We provide tools that customers can use to manage their data and gain insights to reduce costs and increase yield.

Accenture: What lessons have you learned in the past year that you are leveraging to drive resiliency in your supply chain?

WW: This has been an extremely stressful time for all employees, but specifically those in supply management. It’s important to give encouragement and support, and have people take a timeout when they need it, to refresh their minds before getting back to this “battle for products and parts.” Taking care of people is number one.

I’ve learned lessons around resilience when it comes to suppliers. I don’t think you can have too much resilience. This is something I’ve learned from Microsoft’s CEO, from a recent interview he gave. He basically said, "leaders look into the future and try to make sure that what you’re doing today is preparing you for that." The problem is there have been so many “black swan” events we never anticipated. Having an open mind and preparing for that future through diversification and risk mitigation has become essential at Deere, but also for me as a supply management leader.

But we're learning that sometimes we have to be able to adapt. Our Smart Industrial Operating Model has enabled thinking outside the box and reminded us that understanding the required result is extremely important. With a clear result in mind we may find a way to get there faster or more efficiently. Some things can't take weeks—they must be done in days. I’m also learning a lot more about my suppliers. Deere is very relationship-oriented, and that’s proven powerful. Our approach to supplier relationships has paid dividends in this tough time when products are in short supply.

Accenture: What will John Deere look like two to five years from now?

WW: I’d like to think we will continue to ideate and introduce technological changes to the marketplace, both in agriculture and construction. Other areas of our business will benefit from the innovations and technologies we are building. For example, we’re one of the world’s largest providers of forestry equipment. We will continue to be very customer-centric, but one of the big elements of our strategy is the aftermarket. We’re already working on ways to take that John Deere experience you get when you buy a brand-new piece of equipment and extending it. For example, by retrofitting old tractors with new technology, to extend their lifespan and enhance the customer experience. So overall, the John Deere of the future really is a lifecycle of John Deere embracing customer experience enhancements along the way.

The Industrialist

The Industrialist is your essential guide to the industrial industry, where you can discover the latest innovations, ideas, and insights.

Tetra Pak: Adapting to protect our future

Ferrovial: Building the future with IT & innovation

Enics’ mission to orchestrate the ecosystem

Related capabilities.

Discover how we’re helping industrial companies shift gears for growth.

A Supply Chain Overhaul That Delivers It All to Deere & Co.

Supply chain overhauls tend to focus on one of two highly desirable but often conflicting objectives: better service or lower cost. But the Commercial & Consumer Equipment (C&CE) Division of Deere & Co. wasn't about to make a choice. It wanted both.

With sales of around $4bn a year, Deere's C&CE Division makes riding lawnmowers, golf-course maintenance equipment, and utility vehicles. Although the units are heavy and expensive, they must be kept close to consumers, who will buy them elsewhere if a dealer is out of stock. Other products are highly configurable and sold on a make-to-order basis.

Further complicating matters is the seasonal nature of the C&CE supply chain. Fully 65 percent of retail activity occurs between March and July, with the biggest sales squeezed into April and May. By late fall, business has dropped off sharply.

Deere had been holding product at warehouses located near each of its manufacturing plants. Replenishment orders by the company's 2,500 North American dealers were filled on a weekly basis, either through direct shipment or cross-dock terminals. That system, however, was proving to be costly and inefficient. Delivery lead times were unacceptable, stretching to five days or more for 39 percent of dealers. Some deliveries required up to eight days to complete.

In 2004, C&CE executives dictated a change. The company wanted to boost the responsiveness of its distribution network. At the same time, it was demanding a 10-percent reduction in transportation costs over the next four years. To tackle those seemingly contradictory goals, Deere came up with a new logistics initiative that would account for the market's seasonality.

The idea was to "build a business that was as good as its products," says Reid M. Stines, manager of logistics for the C&CE Division. For help, it turned to SmartOps Corp., a vendor of inventory optimization software. The company had already helped Deere take $1bn of inventory out of its supply chain. Now it was being called on to provide a system that would allow for network optimization on both the strategic and tactical levels.

The task was a huge one, and Deere approached it in stages. The company designed a series of five projects, each focusing on a six-month period. Each would build on the lessons and successes of the preceding one, with Deere progressively widening the scope of the effort. Actual savings would be assessed on a quarterly basis.

Deere's first innovation was to set up a multi-stage distribution network. To cut down on order lead times, the company divided the staging of inventory into three locations: at the factory warehouses, at intermediate sites called merge centers, and at the dealers. The merge centers would hold high-volume, non-configurable products, and be close enough to dealers to ensure delivery within one or two days. The setup would allow for daily replenishment, as well as less inventory at the dealer level.

The merge centers would lead to further efficiencies because they would contain product from multiple factories, eliminating the need for a dealer to take delivery of different shipments from each factory. Fewer deliveries mean fewer trucks interrupting operations at the dealerships, especially during the busy peak season.

The next innovation focused on consolidating shipments into cost-saving, multi-stop truckloads. Dealers' assigned shipping days could be compressed because less volume was flowing from the factory warehouses. (The merge centers were handling most of the high-volume activity.) The change opened the door to more consolidation and linehauls through regional breakbulk terminals (BBTs).

To determine the best location for merge centers and cross-dock facilities, Deere deployed SmartOps' optimization software. It helped the company to identify the best transshipment points, transport modes, replenishment frequencies and shipment days for each factory-dealer pairing. The technology also allowed Deere to assign the best BBTs to each dealer, and decrease the number of such terminals in use during the off-peak season.

Traditionally, network design has been strategic in nature. Assuming that accurate cost data can even be obtained, the effort often calls for expensive new distribution centers or a change of logistics partners. By bringing the exercise down to the tactical level, Deere can better examine the true cost of transportation, warehousing and inventory, with all system constraints accounted for. And with the help of third-party logistics providers, changes in routing or inventory allocation can take place within a matter of weeks.

Through the five projects, four of which have been completed, Deere has been able to move from a high-level view of its distribution network to more detailed, ground-level observations. Each project has yielded substantial savings, ranging from $587,000 in the peak season of 2005 to nearly $2.7m in peak 2007. Savings in the latter period were derived from such factors as greater use of truckloads, warehouse consolidation, better selection of BBTs, and reduced inventory expense, says Stines. By the end of the collaboration with SmartOps, Deere expects to save more than $8m.

Service has improved, too. In peak 2005, with just two merge centers opened, 22 percent of high-volume demand was being replenished on a daily basis. By peak 2007, with five merge centers in operation (in addition to some daily service from the three factory warehouses), that amount had climbed to 88 percent. Meanwhile, delivery lead times of three days or less rose from 65 percent of shipments in 2004, to 89 percent in 2007.

Deere views its success as proof of the growing importance of transportation as a means of cutting cost and boosting customer service. And new optimization technology has made it possible. Says the company: "The resulting tactical and operational improvements at Deere have resulted in millions of dollars of incremental savings."

Transplace Helps Del Monte Streamline Network

Subscribe to our daily newsletter.

Timely, incisive articles delivered directly to your inbox.

Outpacing Disruption by Regionalizing Supply Chains

Red Sea Crisis Could Bring Early Start to Peak Shipping Season

A TRANSPORT VESSEL CAN BE SEEN SAILING ON THE OCEAN WHILE CARRYING SEVERAL VEHICLES.

U.S. Supply Chain Activity Slows in April Amid Mix of Factors

U.S. Manufacturers Praise New Tariffs on Medical Supply Imports from China

The B2B Integration Playbook for Microsoft Dynamics

Digital edition.

2024 Supply Chain ESG Guide

Case studies, recycled tagging fasteners: small changes make a big impact.

A GRAPHIC SHOWING MULTIPLE FORMS OF SHIPPING, WITH A HUMAN STANDING AT THE CENTER, TOUCHING A SYMBOLIC MAP OF THE WORLD

Enhancing High-Value Electronics Shipment Security with Tive's Real-Time Tracking

A GRAPHIC OF INTERLACING HONEYCOMBED ELEMENTS REPRESENTING GLOBAL BUSINESS TRANSACTIONS

Moving Robots Site-to-Site

Jll finds perfect warehouse location, leading to $15m grant for startup, robots speed fulfillment to help apparel company scale for growth.

Skip to primary navigation
Skip to main content
Skip to primary sidebar

Reusable Packaging News

Pallet and reusable packaging news, resources and suppliers

John Deere: Tracking Reusable Packaging in a Global Assembly Manufacturing Supply Chain

August 19, 2020 By Rick LeBlanc

Still a very useful case study involving the tracking of 1.5 million reusable assets, this story was posted in 2012. Written by Jerry Welcome, former Reusable Packaging Association President, with input from Lyle Schmitt, Manager, Global Packaging and Quality, John Deere; and member, Reusable Packaging Association.

Whether you’re a farmer or an occasional weekend gardener, almost everyone recognizes the green and yellow colors associated with John Deere. The company is the world’s leading manufacturer of farm equipment, and produces and markets North America’s broadest line of lawn and garden tractors, mowers, golf course equipment, and other outdoor power products. In addition, John Deere provides irrigation equipment and nursery supplies to landscape-service professionals across the United States, and is a major manufacturer of construction and forestry equipment in North America.

Many John Deere products are large and heavy. Consequently moving service parts, components for manufacturing, and finished goods throughout the world is a daunting logistical challenge. Deere has manufacturing operations in Russia, China, India, Brazil and other countries, as well as over a dozen locations in the US. Reusable packaging is used primarily for manufacturing components, but also for service parts and small finished goods such as lawn and garden tractors.

Deere is one of the top 30 manufacturing companies in tonnage of global imports/exports. Because logistics is so critical to the enterprise and because global ambitions included expanding manufacturing to different parts of the world, the Department of Worldwide Logistics was organized in 1999 as a core competency of the company. Centralized management of reusable containers was part of the initial strategy. Today, Deere owns about 1,500,000 reusable containers that are used to ship everything from nuts and bolts to hoods and engines.

Definition of returnable packaging

We define “returnable” as a customized special-use container that must be returned to its point of origin, so obviously reverse logistics is critical. We define “reusable” as a generic container that, once emptied, has no defined return-to location. The challenge is to quickly and efficiently relocate the empty reusable to a nearby point of need. The goal is to minimize the distance to the next point of use without enduring too much dwell time waiting for a need to develop.

To effectively manage our reverse logistics, we have developed a sophisticated and integrated tracking system throughout our global supply chain. Our 1,500,000 containers each have some sort of tracking tag affixed to them and are tracked through an internet-based tracking system. An ability to track container assets is essential to effectively managing a global network where containers are constantly moving somewhere 24 hours a day. Without a tracking system, the probability of shrinkage increases as geography expands, to the point that it undermines the financial viability of investing in reusable containers. An integrated tracking/management system provides the strongest and best value proposition by harvesting numerous benefits from the same infrastructure.

Our returnable/reusable containers come in many forms. At the high-cost end, we have $500 custom racks to transport high appearance parts such as tractor hoods that cannot have any contact with other parts or with packaging material, except for specific points of attachment. Next, we have standard generic bulk containers that contain permanently affixed customized dunnage, so these units must also be returned to their point of origin. Our greatest quantity of containers is generic, and might never travel the same route twice. The value of the container and the nature of its route determine the type of tracking tag used.

High-cost containers in multi-stop, long-distance loops warrant active RFID, featuring automated verification of arrival and periodic monitoring of dwell in each location. It is common to query active tags in each location every 5 minutes. Passive RFID is deployed on containers that naturally flow through a central location. One example is containers sent to dealers from centralized part distribution centers. Another example is Enviro-crates; reusable, stackable, steel, fold-down, containers used to ship lawn and garden tractors to dealers and to mass marketers such as Lowes and Home Depot. Passive RFID readers automatically verify that each container has returned to the DC from its latest deployment. Manual scanning of bar codes is still the most common input into our tracking system, especially for small inexpensive totes used for fasteners and fittings, but manual scanning is more labor intensive and less reliable than RFID. All bar-coded tags purchased in recent years also contain RFID chips, so over time the percentage of manual scans will diminish as our RFID infrastructure is expanded.

We do not yet put a $10 active RFID tag on many containers. We deploy active tags when it is important to continuously know where a container is; within the supplier’s facility or at any other location in the supply chain, such as an intervening stop for painting, plating, or subassembly. We put passive RFID tags on all other reusable bulk containers. We do not believe manually scanning bar-codes will ever provide the level of accuracy we need to support continuous improvement. Note that both passive and active tags also feature barcodes and human-readable printing, so all tags can use lesser technology when appropriate.

Regardless of the source of tracking input, all information flows into an integrated system wherein this information is used for planning, performance metrics, and monitoring custody of reusable containers. One such performance metric is accuracy in delivering the right product to the right customer. Delivery errors were essentially eliminated by installing stop-and-go lights on the dock doors of a DC for Turf Care products. Product serial numbers are associated with that of the specific delivery crate used to package units at the end of the assembly line. The serial number of the delivery crate is read as it enters each truck and triggers a green light only after being verified as correct.

An integrated tracking/management system provides the strongest and best value proposition by harvesting numerous benefits from the same infrastructure.

I earlier mentioned that “reusable” containers, as we define the term, have no identified next destination once they are emptied. Our goal is to relocate empty containers to a point of need that is much closer than the point of origin of that cycle. “Returnable” containers, by definition, must travel a mile empty for every mile full. The ratio of empty miles to full miles is a measure of how effectively reusable containers are managed. Almost all empty containers flow from factories to processing centers which are strategically located close to major factories. Four of the processing centers are in USA; others are in Germany, Spain, and Mexico.

Financial justification of reusable assets

Benefits derived from deploying reusable containers can be loosely categorized into non-quantifiable and quantifiable savings. Non-quantifiable savings are very real and important, but difficult to capture.

• Safety is always a first consideration. While plastic and even steel containers can fail, it is less likely than with cardboard. Their strength remains consistent, even in moist environments. We do de-rate the manufacturer’s stated capacity by 25% for most of our applications. Wood tends to splinter creating its own hazard.

• Quality is improved. Material in containers is less likely to be damaged during transit and handling because reusable containers are typically more resistant to puncture and structural failure.

• Housekeeping also is an important consideration. Reusable containers fall into a limited number of footprints, so they lend themselves well to the time honored adage; a place for everything and everything in its place.

• Being environmentally responsible is a foundational value of John Deere. An increasingly appreciated benefit of reusable packaging is its lessened environmental impact. An environmental study published by the Reusable Packaging Association concluded that landfill requirements decreased by 90 percent when using reusables. And despite requiring return transportation, life cycle energy consumption and carbon emissions were lower than those of expendable packaging. All of our end-of-life scrap is sent to one of our primary suppliers to regrind into new containers.

Most of our quantifiable savings, about 85 percent, are attributed to lower expense for expendable packaging. For example, instead of packaging lighting brackets in two heavy-duty 24” x 24” x 36” cardboard boxes ($21 each) on an $8 wood pallet, the material can be packed in a 45” x 48” x 34” reusable container that costs less than $20 to cycle.

Other significant savings result from reduced cost of disposal, and improved transportation density. While we attribute only 7 percent of our total savings to greater payload of material trucked into our factories, its potential is much higher. Even though we manufacture heavy equipment, we have enough lightweight material to often cube-out trucks before they reach allowable weight. Stackable containers often enable additional material to fit on a truck, thus getting a free ride.

The future of reusable asset tracking technology

The future of tracking technology is as unpredictable as anything else, but the trend of lower cost for high level devices such as passive and active RFID tags suggests that automation will soon eliminate manual scanning. More powerful container management software will better predict the forthcoming needs of each supplier, for each type of reusable container, and will optimize cost by building better loads and optimizing return routes.

Another level up is Wi-Fi technology. Not long ago, the cost of a Wi-Fi tag was $50. They’re now about $30, substantially less if purchased in high volumes, so that might be a tracking possibility.

Whether it is Wi-Fi or other emerging new technology, we are continually looking for new ways to reduce costs and continually improve the efficiency of our supply chain. Regardless of the technology, I believe that reusables will remain a constant in our operations.

Rick LeBlanc is the founder and editor of Reusable Packaging News ( subscribe to the free newsletter ), and the co-author of Pallets a North American Perspective . He is the editor of Western Pallet Magazine ( free subscription ) and news editor of Forklift News .

Privacy Overview
Strictly Necessary Cookies

This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful.

Strictly Necessary Cookie should be enabled at all times so that we can save your preferences for cookie settings.

If you disable this cookie, we will not be able to save your preferences. This means that every time you visit this website you will need to enable or disable cookies again.

Photo: Pixabay/geralt

7 mini case studies: successful supply chain cost-reduction and management

Rob O'Byrne

Group Managing Director - Logistics Bureau

South African Truck Drivers Might Be Great News For The European Logistics Sector

If you were to tell me that your company had never looked at its supply chain costs and sought to deliver reductions, I would be mightily surprised. On the other hand, if you told me your company hasn’t been able to sustain any progress in supply chain cost reduction, I wouldn’t be surprised at all.

Most companies begin with the best intentions to achieve successful and sustainable supply chain cost management, but somehow seem to lose momentum, only to see costs increase again in short order.

The following seven mini case studies explore a few high-profile companies that have managed to sustain their supply chain cost-reduction efforts and keep expenses under control. The challenges faced by these organisations and the steps they took, may provide some inspiration for successful long-term cost management within your organisation.

1. Deere & Company

Deere & Company (brand name John Deere) is famed for the manufacture and supply of machinery used in agriculture, construction, and forestry, as well as diesel engines and lawn care equipment. In 2014, Deere & Company was listed 80th in the Fortune 500 America’s ranking and was 307th in the 2013 Fortune Global 500 ranking.

Supply Chain Cost Reduction Challenges: Deere and Company has a diverse product range, which includes a mix of heavy machinery for the consumer market, and industrial equipment, which is made to order. Retail activity is extremely seasonal, with the majority of sales occurring between March and July.

The company was replenishing dealers’ inventory weekly, using direct shipment and cross-docking operations from source warehouses located near Deere & Company’s manufacturing facilities. This operation was proving too costly and too slow, so the company launched an initiative to achieve a 10% supply chain cost reduction within four years.

The Path to Cost Reduction: The company undertook a supply chain network-redesign program, resulting in the commissioning of intermediate “merge centers” and optimization of cross-dock terminal locations.

Deere & Company also began consolidating shipments and using break-bulk terminals during the seasonal peak. The company also increased its use of third-party logistics providers and effectively created a network that could be optimized tactically at any given point in time.

Supply Chain Cost Management Results: Deere & Company’s supply chain cost-management achievements included an inventory decrease of $1 billion, a significant reduction in customer delivery lead times (from ten days to five or less) and annual transportation cost savings of around 5%.

One of the world’s largest manufacturers of computer chips, Intel needs little introduction. However, the company needed to reduce supply chain expenditure significantly after bringing its low-cost “Atom” chip to market. Supply chain costs of around $5.50 per chip were bearable for units selling for $100, but the price of the new chip was a fraction of that, at about $20.

The Supply Chain Cost Reduction Challenge: Somehow, Intel had to reduce the supply chain costs for the Atom chip, but had only one area of leverage—inventory.

The chip had to work, so Intel could make no service trade-offs. With each Atom product being a single component, there was also no way to reduce duty payments. Intel had already whittled packaging down to a minimum, and with a high value-to-weight ratio, the chips’ distribution costs could not be pared down any further.

The only option was to try to reduce levels of inventory, which, up to that point, had been kept very high to support a nine-week order cycle. The only way Intel could find to make supply chain cost reductions was to bring this cycle time down and therefore reduce inventory.

The Path to Cost Reduction: Intel decided to try what was considered an unlikely supply chain strategy for the semiconductor industry: make to order . The company began with a pilot operation using a manufacturer in Malaysia. Through a process of iteration, they gradually sought out and eliminated supply chain inefficiencies to reduce order cycle time incrementally. Further improvement initiatives included:

Cutting the chip assembly test window from a five-day schedule, to a bi-weekly, 2-day-long process
Introducing a formal S&OP planning process
Moving to a vendor-managed inventory model wherever it was possible to do so

Supply Chain Cost Management Results: Through its incremental approach to cycle time improvement, Intel eventually drove the order cycle time for the Atom chip down from nine weeks to just two. As a result, the company achieved a supply chain cost reduction of more than $4 per unit for the $20 Atom chip—a far more palatable rate than the original figure of $5.50.

3. Starbucks

Like Intel, Starbucks is pretty much a household name, but like many of the most successful worldwide brands, the coffee-shop giant has been through its periods of supply chain pain. In fact, during 2007 and 2008, Starbucks leadership began to have severe doubts about the company’s ability to supply its 16,700 outlets. As in most commercial sectors at that time, sales were falling. At the same time, though, supply chain costs rose by more than $75 million.

Supply Chain Cost Reduction Challenges: When the supply chain executive team began investigating the rising costs and supply chain performance issues, they found that service was indeed falling short of expectations. Findings included the following problems

Fewer than 50% of outlet deliveries were arriving on time
Several poor outsourcing decisions had led to excessive 3PL expenses
The supply chain had, (like those of many global organisations) evolved, rather than grown by design, and had hence become unnecessarily complex

The Path to Cost Reduction: Starbucks’ leadership had three main objectives in mind to achieve improved performance and supply chain cost reduction. These were to:

Reorganize the supply chain
Reduce cost to serve
Lay the groundwork for future capability in the supply chain

To meet these objectives, Starbucks divided all its supply chain functions into three main groups, known as “plan” “make” and “deliver”. It also opened a new production facility, bringing the total number of U.S. plants to four.

Next, the company set about terminating partnerships with all but its most effective 3PLs . It then began managing the remaining partners via a weekly scorecard system, aligned with renewed service level agreements.

Supply Chain Cost Management Results: By the time Starbucks had completed its transformation program, it had saved more than $500 million over the course of 2009 and 2010, of which a large proportion came out of the supply chain, according to Peter Gibbons, then Executive Vice President of Global Supply Chain Operations.

Like Deere & Company, AGCO is a leading global force in the manufacture and supply of agricultural machinery. The company grew substantially over the course of two decades, achieving a considerable portion of that growth by way of acquisitions.

As commonly happens when enterprises grow in this way, AGCO experienced increasing degrees of supply chain complexity, along with associated increases in cost, but for many years, did little to address the issue directly, primarily due to the decentralized and fragmented nature of its global network.

In 2012, AGCO’s leaders recognised that this state of affairs could not continue and decided to establish a long-term program of strategic optimisation.

Supply Chain Cost Reduction Challenges: With five separate brands under its umbrella, AGCO’s product portfolio is vast. At the point when optimisation planning began, sourcing and inbound logistics were managed by teams in various countries, each with different levels of SCM maturity, and using different tools and systems.

As a result of the decentralised environment, in which inbound logistics and transport management were separate operational fields, there was insufficient transparency in the supply chain. The enterprise as a whole was not taking advantage of synergies and economies of scale (and the benefits of the same). These issues existed against a backdrop of a volatile, seasonal market.

The Path to Cost Reduction: Following a SCOR supply chain benchmarking exercise, AGCO decided to approach its cost reduction and efficiency goals by blending new technology—in the form of a globally integrated transport management system (TMS)—with a commitment to form a partnership with a suitably capable 3PL provider.

As North and South American divisions of the company were already working with a recently implemented TMS, leaders decided to introduce the blended approach in Europe, with commitments to replicate the model, if successful, in its other operating regions.

With the technology and partnership in place, a logistics control tower was developed, which integrates and coordinates all daily inbound supply activities within Europe, from the negotiation of carrier freight rates, through inbound shipment scheduling and transport plan optimisation to self-billing for carrier payment.

Supply Chain Cost Management Results: Within a year and a half of their European logistics solution’s go-live, AGCO achieved freight cost reductions of some 18%, and has continued to save between three and five percent on freight expenditure, year-on-year, ever since. Having since rolled the new operating model out in China and North America, the company has reduced inbound logistics costs by 28%, increased network performance by 25% and cut inventory levels by a quarter.

Headquartered in Westport Connecticut, Terex Corporation may not be such a well-known name, but if your company has ever rented an aerial working platform (a scissor-lift or similar), there is a good chance it was manufactured by Terex and dispatched to the rental company from its transfer center in North Bend, Washington.

The North Bend facility is always full of lifting equipment. The company makes most pieces to order and customizes them to meet customers’ unique preferences. Terex maintained a manual system for yard management at the transfer centre, which generated excessive costs for what should have been a relatively simple process of locating customers’ units to prepare them for delivery.

The Supply Chain Cost Reduction Challenge: A wallboard and sticker system was a low-tech solution for identifying equipment items in the yard at Terex. While inexpensive in itself, the solution cost around six minutes every time an employee had to locate a unit in the yard. It also required a considerable number of hours to be spent each month taking physical inventories and updating the company’s ERP platform.

The Path to Cost Reduction: Terex decided to replace the outdated manual yard management process with a new, digital solution using RFID tracking. Terex decided to replace the outdated manual yard management process with a new, digital solution using RFID tracking. Decision-makers chose a yard management software (YMS) product, and then had the transfer centre surveyed before initiating a pilot project covering a small portion of the yard.

After a successful pilot, the company approved the solution for full-scale implementation, replacing stickers, yard maps, and wallboard with electronic tracking and digital inventory management. As of December 2017, Terex was planning to integrate the yard management solution with its ERP platform to enable even greater functionality.

Supply Chain Cost Management Results: While the YMS cannot reconcile inventory automatically with the Terex ERP application, it does at least provide a daily inventory count via its business intelligence module. That alone has saved the labour costs previously incurred in carrying out manual counts.

More importantly, though, the RFID-based unit identification and location processes have saved the company around 70 weeks per year in labour costs, by cutting the process-time down from six minutes, to a mere 30 seconds per unit.

Avaya is a global force in business collaboration and communications technology, and not so many years ago, was operating what, by its own executives’ admission, was a worst-in-class supply chain. That situation arose as the result of multiple corporate acquisitions over a short space of time. The company was suffering from a range of supply chain maladies, including a long cash-to-cash cycle, an imbalance in supplier terms and conditions, excess inventory, and supply chain processes that were inefficient and wholly manual.

The Supply Chain Cost Reduction Challenge: After Avaya purchased Nortel Enterprise Solutions in 2009, the freshly merged company found itself but loosely in control of an unstable and ineffective supply chain operation. Aside from having too many disparate and redundant processes, the company had multiple IT solutions, none of which provided a holistic view of the supply chain or supported focused analysis.

The Path to Cost Reduction: Avaya’s senior management team realized that its technology solutions, which varied from being inadequate to inappropriate, were causing many of its problems. The various acquisitions and mergers had transformed Avaya into a different kind of enterprise, and what it needed, rather than a replacement for all the discrete systems, was one solution to tie them all together.

To that end, the company put its trust in cloud technology, which was relatively immature at the time, and migrated all processes onto one platform, which was designed to automate non-value-added activities and integrate those critical to proactive supply chain management, namely:

Point of sale analysis
Procurement analysis
Supplier communication
Supply and demand planning
Inventory planning
Inbound and outbound logistics planning

Of course, the technology was merely an enabler, and to transform its supply chain operation, Avaya embarked on a long-term, phased program to standardize processes, initiate a culture change, invest in top talent, and implement a system of rigorous benchmarking and KPI tracking .

Supply Chain Cost Management Results: Avaya’s program of transformation took place over a period of three to four years, between 2010 and 2014. The path to cost reduction was a long one, but ultimately successful.

By making a conscious effort to lead the enterprise into a new way of thinking, change business culture, and unify technology under a single platform, Avaya has improved inventory turns by more than 200%, reduced cash tied-up in stock by 94%, and cut its overall supply chain expenditure in half.

This dramatic turnaround also required the company to switch from a preoccupation with improving what it was doing, to a process of questioning what it was doing and why.

7. Sunsweet Growers

This final mini-case study in our collection, highlights how sometimes, excess supply chain costs are not about warehousing and transportation, but can be attributable to inefficiencies in manufacturing or production and—often at the root of it all—forecasting and planning.

Sunsweet Growers is the world’s biggest producer of dried fruits and a little over a decade ago, found that while it was managing distribution operations well, high production costs were inflating end-to-end supply chain expenditure.

The Supply Chain Cost Reduction Challenge: When the leadership at Sunsweet looked into the company’s production cost issues, recognition soon dawned that the distribution network was at least partly behind the problems. As a result, the company looked at how it could redesign the network to take out some of the production costs.

Later, it became apparent that although a redesign would yield some benefits, one of the most significant issues was in the approach to demand forecasting. Sunsweet was using a manual forecasting approach, with spreadsheets being the only technology involved.

The inefficiencies of this approach proved not only to hamper effective forecasting and production planning, but the knock-effect was an excess of warehouses in the network—so forecasting proved to be both a driver of production cost, and a key to improving the distribution network.

The Path to Cost Reduction: As in a number of the studies we’ve explored here, technology played a large part in solving Sunsweet’s problems. After evaluating some 30 different software solutions, the company finally settled on a supply chain planning suite, and planned its improvement program to make use of each of the solution’s modules in sequence, allowing ROI to be realized in phases as each module was implemented and leveraged.

At the same time, Sunsweet implemented a sales and operations planning program (S&OP) that once established, enabled plant resource requirements to be anticipated months—rather than weeks—in advance. As the overall improvement plan passed through its five phases, positive results accumulated and as hoped, software ROI reached 100% even before the company completed its full implementation.

Supply Chain Cost Management Results: Of course, the objective of Sunsweet’s improvement program was not merely to achieve a 100% return on investment in its supply chain planning platform. The aim was to reduce production costs, and although the company hasn’t published hard figures to quantify the total financial gain, it has claimed the following wins:

A 15 to 20% increase in forecasting accuracy
A reduction in overtime from 25% to 8% in production facilities
A 30% reduction in finished-goods spoilage
Number of warehouses in the United States cut from 28 to just eight
A transportation cost-per-unit that remained static for two years despite increased utilization of costly refrigerated transport and rising fuel costs

From the achievements documented above, and highlighted in several industry publications and articles, you don’t need to be too much of a mathematician to deduce that cost savings would have been considerable.

Making Supply Chain Cost Reductions Stick

Of course, the above case studies are merely summaries of the changes these high-profile brands made to their supply chains. What can be seen from these brief accounts, though, is that for an enterprise to make significant and sustainable cost improvements, substantial change must take place.

Deere & Company had to overhaul its network completely.
Intel had to shift an entire supply chain to a new and previously unheard of strategy in its sector.
Starbucks had to shake up its third-party relationships and increase production capacity.
AGCO had to invest in technology and collaborative partnerships with external service providers.
Terex had to implement costly (but effective) RFID tracking capabilities.
Sunsweet Growers needed a best-of-breed software solution, and an S&OP program to improve forecasting and planning.
Avaya needed to change company culture, implement cloud technology, rethink processes completely, and invest in the best supply chain talent it could find.

At the same time, none of the changes took place overnight. Each of the companies tackled issues in phases, effectively learning more as they went along.

You Won’t Find Savings in the Comfort Zone

When it comes to making supply chain cost reductions that stick, you should explore every avenue. However, at the root of high costs, there will usually be one major factor requiring innovation, whether it’s the network, inventory strategy, the working relationships with supply chain partners, or some other element of your operation.

Seldom do companies make decent savings by whittling away piecemeal at what seem, on the face of it, to be the most pressing issues of the day (such as direct transportation costs or supplier pricing).

If you want to see sustainable cost reductions, your company will need to view the big picture from a new angle or two, and be prepared to step outside of the comfort zone to which it will have become accustomed.

Rob O’Byrne is a supply chain consultant, coach and author with 40+ years experience in Supply Chain management. He is the expert making the blog called Logistics Bureau .

# case studies
# management
# Supply Chain Management
# T&L

Agile supply chain management: How to adapt to dynamic market demands

SecondBite and FareShare merge to expand impact

Australia’s ports pioneer new recycling effort for international ships

ARENA unveils ambitious budget programs to drive net zero emissions goals

Navigating the Complexities: Strategies for Global Supply Chain Networks

Retail Fulfilment in the Digital Age: Embracing Automation and AI

Unlocking Retail Efficiency: How AI Reduces Cost of Shelving

Microlise: Revolutionising Supply Chains Across Australia

Consumer-centric delivery

Why Dematra Picked Movu atlas to achieve space optimisation and density

Featured Leaders 2023: Navigating challenges and exchanging insights within Australia’s supply chain sector

Featured Leader: Total Tools’ e-Commerce Manager, Brandon Soo shares his passion on elevating customer experience and retention

Featured Leader: Rob Fischer Digital Marketing Manager at Stratco Australia shares his passion for Digital Marketing

Pieter Nagel’s tips for addressing ASCI’s Supply Chain challenges

Latest events.

2nd Annual Supply Chain Week 2024

May 29, 2024.

10th Annual Retail Fulfilment Summit 2025

February 26, 2025.

Oil and gas conquer future major resource projects propels the economy

Breaking down barriers – why supply chain is a changing industry by Nicole Katsoulis

B2B payments: What businesses can expect in 2024 and beyond

New CEO Steven Chaur to lead Procurement Australia

Kanyini satellite completes critical testing milestone

Fortescue attains milestone with ammonia-diesel marine fuel trial

Australian gov’t announces major boost to renewable energy in VIC and TAS

NSW gov’t launches $160M medical research program

Italian pasta maker Farinacci marks 40th year of manufacturing in MEL

Coles introduces recyclable paper bag packaging for Mandarins

D’Orsogna celebrates 75-year milestone

Victoria leads food and fibre exports

Harnessing warehouse management analytics for smarter operations

U. A. launches Australia’s first centre for sustainable and resilient supply chains

Perth firm secures landmark $160M contract for Collie battery project

Countrywide Hydrogen poised to be Tasmania’s first major GH2 producer

Super duplex stainless steel potential in advanced manufacturing

AU boosts manufacturing with new skills initiatives in Budget 2024-25

Amazon’s new Perth site nears completion

Demystifying third-party logistics (3PL): Unlocking the power of outsourced supply chain management

For people curious about the process behind Amazon’s same-day deliveries, Amazon Australia has opened its doors to the public for the first time and is offering free in-person tours of its robotics fulfilment centre in Western Sydney

Amazon Australia opens doors to public, allows tours in robotics fulfilment centre

Request a Media Kit

The following mini case studies explore a few high-profile companies that have managed to sustain their supply chain cost-reduction efforts and keep expenses under control. The challenges faced by these organisations and the steps they took, may provide some inspiration for successful long-term cost management within your organisation.

Deere & Company

Successful Supply Chain Cost Management Case Study - Deere and Company

Successful Supply Chain Cost Management Case Study - Intel

The Supply Chain Cost Reduction Challenge: Somehow, Intel had to reduce the supply chain costs for the Atom chip, but had only one area of leverage—inventory.

Cutting the chip assembly test window from a five-day schedule, to a bi-weekly, 2-day-long process
Introducing a formal S&OP planning process
Moving to a vendor-managed inventory model wherever it was possible to do so

3 Ways to Effectively Combat Emerging Supply Chain Vulnerabilities

Successful Supply Chain Cost Management Case Study - Starbucks

Fewer than 50% of outlet deliveries were arriving on time
Several poor outsourcing decisions had led to excessive 3PL expenses
The supply chain had, (like those of many global organisations) evolved, rather than grown by design, and had hence become unnecessarily complex

The Path to Cost Reduction: Starbucks’ leadership had three main objectives in mind to achieve improved performance and supply chain cost reduction. These were to:

Reorganize the supply chain
Reduce cost to serve
Lay the groundwork for future capability in the supply chain

In 2012, AGCO’s leaders recognised that this state of affairs could not continue and decided to establish a long-term program of strategic optimisation.

Making Supply Chain Cost Reductions Stick

Deere & Company had to overhaul its network completely.
Intel had to shift an entire supply chain to a new and previously unheard of strategy in its sector.
Starbucks had to shake up its third-party relationships and increase production capacity.
AGCO had to invest in technology and collaborative partnerships with external service providers.
Terex had to implement costly (but effective) RFID tracking capabilities.

At the same time, none of the changes took place overnight. Each of the companies tackled issues in phases, effectively learning more as they went along.

You Won’t Find Savings in the Comfort Zone

Supply Chain
Supply Chain Management

Don’t miss out. Join our events!

Today’s Pick

Request Brochure

Case Study – John Deere: Tracking Reusables in a Global Assembly Manufacturing Supply Chain

Deployment and Tracking of Reusable Containers We define “returnable” as a customized special-use container that must be returned to its point of origin, so obviously reverse logistics is critical. We define “reusable” as a generic container that, once emptied, has no defined return-to location. The challenge is to quickly and efficiently relocate the empty reusable to a nearby point of need. The goal is to minimize the distance to the next point of use without enduring too much dwell time waiting for a need to develop.

An integrated tracking/management system provides the strongest and best value proposition by harvesting numerous benefits from the same infrastructure.

Financial justification Benefits derived from deploying reusable containers can be loosely categorized into non-quantifiable and quantifiable savings. Non-quantifiable savings are very real and important, but difficult to capture.

• Quality is improved. Material in containers is less likely to be damaged during transit and handling because reusable containers are typically more resistant to puncture and structural failure.

The Future The future of tracking technology is as unpredictable as anything else, but the trend of lower cost for high level devices such as passive and active RFID tags suggests that automation will soon eliminate manual scanning. More powerful container management software will better predict the forthcoming needs of each supplier, for each type of reusable container, and will optimize cost by building better loads and optimizing return routes.

Another level up is Wi-Fi technology. Not long ago, the cost of a Wi-Fi tag was $50. They’re now about $30, substantially less if purchased in high volumes, so that might be a tracking possibility.

Reusables Marketplace
Why Reusable Packaging
Reusables Library
About the RPA
Inner Loop™ Blog
Privacy Policy
Terms of Use
Reuse Leader Membership Application
Learning Center 2023
Reuse Leader Membership Application – Professional
Student Verification
Fiber reused in fresh produce boxes
Retail Working Group White Paper
Reusable Transport Packaging State of the Industry Report 2023
Learning Center 2024

Board of Directors
Membership Benefits
What Is Reusable Packaging?
Environmental Impact
Cost Savings
Sales Growth
For Perishables
Educational Materials
Technology Hub
Reuse on Replay Podcast
State of the Industry Report
Food Safety
PACK EXPO International 2024
Members Login

How John Deere Iberica is developing a lean supply chain

INTERVIEW – For the past year, agricultural equipment manufacturer John Deere Ibérica has worked to develop a lean supply chain. We met with them in Madrid to understand how they’re going about it.

Interviewee: Ángel Sanz Fernández, Gears and Shafts OFP Buyer, John Deere Iberica

Planet Lean: Tell us about John Deere’s activities here in Spain.

Ángel Sanz Fernández: Here in Spain John Deere has a factory dedicated to the design, production and validation of components, in particular transmissions, tractor hitches and final drives. Everything we produce is exported to other John Deere plants around the world, from the United States to Germany and Brazil. We also have a sales branch looking after final customers. In total we employ around 1,000 people here in Spain.

PL: When did you start implementing lean thinking and practices?

ASF: When I joined the business five years ago, they were already applying lean in the workshop. Our continuous improvement team has been at it for a while, and over time the depth of our lean work has increased remarkably: at first the focus was on stabilizing the process, which then allowed to start digging deeper and gradually develop a continuous improvement mindset in our organization.

Everything in the factory is run using a lean system, from production to logistics. However, we all know that no transformation is complete without tackling the supply chain, which been our focus in the last years. To John Deere developing a leaner supply chain means two things: on the one hand, developing suppliers together with the Quality Department using lean tools and principles (to convince them to work using the same system we use); on the other hand, applying lean to our own purchasing processes.

PL: How did you approach supplier development?

ASF: Our aim is to help our suppliers to bring consistency to the quality of their products and to establish their own quality assurance system. Our starting point was assessing where our suppliers are, using an audit system we developed, which for each supplier generates a scoring and a plan for improvement.

Each supplier is different: some are big companies with a system in place that is capable of absorbing lean ideas, while others are small businesses that have been working in the same way for decades. Convincing them is the hardest part.

We know that lean can’t be imposed, and that suppliers need to see its value for themselves. This doesn’t mean, however, that we don’t try to incentivize them: to obtain a certain score, for example, you need to show that you are using certain lean tools, like 5S. While we know that tools alone are unlikely to transform our suppliers, we found that including them in the audit requirements is a good way to get them started on the path towards lean thinking: as they see the first results come in, they convince themselves of the benefits that the methodology can bring. The customized improvement plan, which is absolutely critical to us, does the rest.

PL: What about Purchasing?

ASF: In Purchasing we are in the process of understanding the work. Before we started out lean experiments, every buyer had its own strategy and approach to purchasing, whereas now everybody responds to offers in the same way. We have started to actively look for root causes and solutions every day, using lean thinking as a way to flag up the problems that we thought would never be solved and start tackling them.

PL: What benefits have you noticed since starting your work with lean?

ASF: As far as supplier development goes, an obvious benefit is the fact that, because the John Deere assessment is the same worldwide, our colleagues in other countries can rest assured that what they will get from a supplier is of the right quality – no matter where that supplier may be located.

We are also observing a ripple effect: as results start to appear, more and more people in our supplying companies want to know what lean is all about, which over time creates a virtuous cycle of improvement. Our projects are helping our suppliers see very fast that lean works. In concrete terms, our lean work on the supply chain has already resulted in a large reduction in the amount of scrap our suppliers produce.

In terms of Purchasing, the most critical benefit we are getting is that our people can now see that we have the ability to improve. In the past, we knew where problems were but we didn’t analyze them to find their root cause.

PL: How did you get people on board?

ASF: At the end of the day, you won’t go anywhere until you generate interest in lean. That’s how it all began for me as well: I simply got curious about it and started investigating. You can’t just walk to the shop floor or a supplierand say, “From now on we are going to use these tools.” You need to make people want to use lean, which is why we focus on showing quick results that will get our employees enthused. Once the interest is there, we can start educating them: in the factory there is information everywhere and the state of the work is immediately visible. In Purchasing, where we introduced lean at a later stage, we are still working to get there. As far as suppliers are concerned, sometimes we find they already have quite a lot of lean expertise, while other times we need to help them to get involved.

It was a priority for top management to create a strong foundation on which we can continue to build our improvements. People are doubtful at first, which is completely understandable, but the value of lean is indisputable once the first results appear and everybody realizes there is a better way to work.

PL: What is the hardest part of trying to encourage suppliers to take on lean?

ASF: Once we manage to “infect” suppliers with the lean virus, they start to improve. As their processes become more stable and their resource utilization more efficient, as buyers we expect to see more quality, more flexibility and, of course, lower costs. This means that we often have to engage in difficult negotiations with them.

PL: What is the biggest change you have witnessed in the business?

ASF: Inefficiency has a strong impact on the work. Before lean became our common language, we used to spend a lot of time fighting fires: there was always an urgent delivery to arrange or a payment to chase. This meant that I – like many other in the organization – had to sacrifice my actual and most important job: looking for opportunities to improve, to make the business more competitive and to develop our suppliers. Today we still have fires at times, but their number is significantly lower than before.

THE INTERVIEWEE

INTERVIEW – The Consorci Sanitari del Garraf, a Catalan hospital PL has come to know well over the past few years, just won an Honorable Mention award at the World Hospital Congress.

As lean expands, new tools help to build stronger networks

COLUMN - As the lean community grows, experimenting with tools for self-organization like Open Space in order to build stronger lean networks.

Lean and the global Covid-19 vaccine race

CASE STUDY – Pall Corporation used lean product and process development principles to create the process to produce billions of doses of the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine for Covid-19 in record time.

Managing a chain of 100 cafes in Barcelona with lean

THE LEAN BAKERY - For the past decade, lean has fuelled the growth of a chain of cafes/bakeries in Barcelona. With 100 now open, the Retail Manager explains how lean helps them manage a booming business.

Subscribe for our newsletter and get early access to all exclusive Planet Lean articles.

Supply Chain Management

A collection of resources and commentary providing an introduction to supply chain management and related systems for students, practitioners, and anyone else interested in learning more about how to design, manufacture, transport, store, deliver, and manage products.

Sunday, September 15, 2013

John deere: a case study for lean manufacutring.

No comments:

Deere's supply chain issues hit revenue, shares plunge

Medium Text

Equipment for sale is seen at a John Deere dealer in Denver

Reporting by Aishwarya Nair in Bengaluru; Editing by Krishna Chandra Eluri, Alexander Smith and Nick Zieminski

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles. New Tab , opens new tab

Thomson Reuters

Bianca Flowers is an award-winning multimedia journalist based in Chicago where she focuses on enterprise stories in areas of race, inequality, identity and social justice. She joined Reuters in 2022 as a manufacturing correspondent, covering the bedrock of the U.S. economy. She reported on labor unions strikes, corporate finance for global agriculture and construction companies and the impact of automation and artificial intelligence in the industrial sector. Prior to joining Reuters, she was a Senior Video Journalist at Dow Jones, covering short and long-form features on personal finance, income inequality, and diversity in the tech industry.

A parking lot of predominantly new Tesla Model 3 electric vehicles is seen in Richmond, California

Business Chevron

An illustrated bird flies over a map of the United States with data showing the migration path of the mallard duck.

How annual bird migration could spread avian flu

Scientists are still trying to understand exactly how a virulent bird flu is spreading through farms in the United States, but one pattern is clear: poultry and cows risk exposure to sick wild birds migrating across the Americas.

Illustration shows representations of cryptocurrency Bitcoin

Asia-Pacific investment firm PAG said on Monday it had raised $550 million for its first renewable energy fund, which focuses on investments in physical assets in Asia and includes solar power in Japan as its primary target.

Artificial Intelligence
Generative AI
Cloud Computing
CPUs and Processors
Data Center
Edge Computing
Enterprise Storage
Virtualization
Internet of Things
Network Management Software
Network Security
Enterprise Buyer’s Guides
United States
Newsletters
Foundry Careers
Terms of Service
Privacy Policy
Cookie Policy
Copyright Notice
Member Preferences
About AdChoices
E-commerce Links
Your California Privacy Rights

Our Network

Computerworld

John Deere leads the way with IoT-driven precision farming

Precision farming makes the most of limited natural resources to feed more people.

Did you know that one in seven people in the U.S. depends on food banks to survive?

Or that one out of six children—roughly 100 million—in developing countries is underweight?

Hunger is a global problem.

Natural resources are limited. How do you grow more food on the same amount of land? Lower the cost of food production?

Lane Arthur tackles this challenge every day for John Deere ‘s Intelligent Solutions Group (ISG). Arthur is ISG’s director of digital solutions, and his team develops IoT and data driven solutions for farmers. Arthur is amazing! He has a Ph.D. in genetics and development from Columbia University in addition to a B.S. in biochemistry from the University of Georgia. He recently explained how IoT-based precision agriculture increases crop yields by optimizing land, seed and fertilizer usage.

What is precision agriculture?

Precision agriculture is about getting more from each decision, each job that goes into growing the food we eat. The foundation of that is highly automated farming machines guided by software, GPS technology and satellites. With sub-inch accuracy, farmers control the precise placement of seeds and chemicals. They spray precisely the right amount of fertilizer and harvest precisely. Sensors and IoT make those things possible.

Does precision farming require drivers?

The tractors do have drivers, but the highly automated machines run themselves by GPS technology and modems in the cabs. You keep a driver there because you need to get to the field, to turn the tractor around, and in some cases adjust it a bit.

Precision agriculture depends on knowing your precise location on a field. GPS coordinates aren’t 100 percent accurate; they are often plus or minus 20 or 30 feet. A real reference point on the ground is used for triangulation to improve accuracy. John Deere uses Real Time Kinematics (RTK) and correction signals to provide farmers’ equipment with sub-inch accuracy.

How precision agriculture increases food production

Farmers don’t farm alone. They rely on others for seed and fertilizer recommendations. Farming productivity improves as partners are connected. Sensors provide the information needed by the partners in the farming ecosystem to increase yields through better coordination.

Here’s an example: A farmer has finished harvesting his corn. He doesn’t own the equipment to break up the corn stalks so that they don’t wither and decay. Sensors detect when a field has been harvested and alert the partner that has the equipment to break up the corn stalks. This level of coordination across hundreds of partners ensures that more food can be grown more efficiently.

The kind of data that is tracked

Agriculture involves five steps:

Preparing the soil
Spraying applications, fertilizer or chemicals
Managing: Determining what you did well and what you’ll do next year by collecting data for all of these steps

For example, consider planting seeds in a 100-acre field with about 33,000 seeds per acre. Just the right number of seeds has to be planted at the right location and depth to maximize yields. Traditional planting systems use a seed tube. Precision farming improves spacing accuracy by compensating for turns that the planter makes while maintaining in-row spacing. This reduces wasted seeds and stunted plants when they’ve been planted too close together.

How the sensor data from a planter is managed

Data from the sensors on the planter is fed to a wireless data server under the seat of the tractor. It pushes the data to the cloud every five seconds. John Deere has its own data centers, but the company also works with public cloud providers such as Amazon Web Services (AWS). Communication with the planter is bidirectional.

A seed rep might divide a field into zones based on elevation and soil type. He prepares a “seed prescription” for the field—similar to a medical prescription. This defines what seeds should be planted and at what spacing on the field. The planting instructions are sent directly to the John Deere planter, which changes the seed planting accordingly. It’s highly automated.

Who owns the sensor data? Farmers or John Deere?

Data is extremely valuable. John Deere believes farmers should control the data generated by their operations. This involves deciding who it should be shared with. For example, a farmer could decide to share data from one field or only share data from one planting season with a partner.

How IoT increases farm yields

Seed providers work closely with farmers to recommend what seeds to use in order to maximize crop yields. Sensor data on soil conditions, moisture and crop yields for that field drives such recommendations, which benefit both the farmer and the seed provider.

Example recommendation:

“We’ve looked at your results, and this hybrid is better suited for your fields and your soil than the ones you used this past year. I have a better product recommendation for you and a rate. If you had put that in at 30,000 seeds per acre, you would have been better in this part of the field; in another part of the field don’t plant so much.”

Seed providers also use the sensor data to design new seed varieties. They can improve seed characteristics by evaluating the yields that their customers achieve in different soil types and weather conditions.

How willing are farmers to innovate?

Farmers are very innovative and willing to try things to see if it helps them do their job better, Arthur said. They’re incredibly industrious and entrepreneurial. They rig their own machines; they do all kinds of stuff. Even people toward the end of their careers have a history of doing the next best thing.

“I recently met with two family farmers, a father and son. The dad said precision farming was interesting, but he wasn’t sure about it. The son commented that because of sensor data, they changed their fertilizer strategy and used less fertilizer,” Arthur said. “It’s a generational thing where the younger person adopts it faster. In other cases, the older guys are pushing the younger guys.”

Global hunger unfortunately isn’t disappearing any time soon. Precision farming let’s growers make the most of limited natural resources to feed more people.

Most popular authors

Show me more

Bgp: what is border gateway protocol, and how does it work.

Red Hat seeks to be the platform for enterprise AI

FCC proposes BGP security measures

Has the hype around ‘Internet of Things’ paid off? | Ep. 145

Episode 1: Understanding Cisco’s Converged SDN Transport

Episode 2: Pluggable Optics and the Internet for the Future

Has the hype around ‘Internet of Things’ paid off?

Are unused IPv4 addresses a secret gold mine?

Preparing for a 6G wireless world: Exciting changes coming to the wireless industry

COMMENTS

Adaptive And Resilient Supply Chain Management: How John Deere Uses
This blog is an excerpt of an upcoming case study that examines John Deere's Agile culture, approach, and success. Key Results: ... John Deere's Supply Chain Solutions teams have always had strong and reliable analytics and could see potential bottlenecks in their network. When paired with Scrum and Scrum@Scale, these teams now had the ...
PDF Case Study
Case Study - John Deere: Tracking Reusables in a Global Assembly Manufacturing Supply Chain Case Study - John Deere: Tracking Reusables in a Global Assembly ... within the supplier's facility or at any other location in the supply chain, such as an intervening stop for painting, plating, or subassembly. We put passive RFID tags on all ...
Secret to Supply Chain Innovation at John Deere
The secret to supply chain innovation at John Deere. January 20, 2022. VIEW FULL INTERVIEW. As Vice President of Global Supply Management & Logistics at John Deere, Wallas Wiggins has seen firsthand the immense value of the supplier relationship. During the pandemic, the strength of those relationships helped the organization—which builds ...
A Supply Chain Overhaul That Delivers It All to Deere & Co
December 18, 2007. Global Logistics & Supply Chain Strategies. Supply chain overhauls tend to focus on one of two highly desirable but often conflicting objectives: better service or lower cost. But the Commercial & Consumer Equipment (C&CE) Division of Deere & Co. wasn't about to make a choice. It wanted both.
John Deere Optimizes Operations With Supply Management Efforts
Abstract. Recognizing that 70 percent of the costs of its manufactured products occur externally, John Deere has embarked on a series of supply chain best practices that is already producing ...
John Deere optimizes operations with supply management efforts
Beyond logistics, Deere has formalized new strategies for selecting suppliers, creating lean supplies, managing supply chain costs, integrating supplies into the product development process, and utilizing e-procurement.
John Deere Case Study: Tracking Reusables in a Global Assembly
Deere is one of the top 30 manufacturing companies in tonnage of global imports/exports. Because logistics is so critical to the enterprise and because global ambitions included expanding manufacturing to different parts of the world, the Department of Worldwide Logistics was organized in 1999 as a core competency of the company. Centralized management of reusable
Reusable Asset Tracking: John Deere Case Study On Reusable Packaging
John Deere: Tracking Reusable Packaging in a Global Assembly Manufacturing Supply Chain. Still a very useful case study involving the tracking of 1.5 million reusable assets, this story was posted in 2012. Written by Jerry Welcome, former Reusable Packaging Association President, with input from Lyle Schmitt, Manager, Global ...
John Deere optimizes operations with supply management efforts
Recognizing that 70 percent of the costs of its manufactured products occur externally, John Deere has embarked on a series of supply chain best practices that is already producing millions of dollars of cost savings. Improved logistics at the company has reduced transportation costs, standardized shipping containers (reducing 43 types to three), and developed one order process companywide ...
Best Practices in Cyber Supply Chain Risk Management
The company has operations in more than 35 countries with annual revenues in 2014 of more than $36 billion. John Deere offers construction, agriculture, and forestry equipment, as well as parts, financing services, and other support on six continents. It distributes its products and services to customers through independently owned dealerships.
7 mini case studies: successful supply chain cost-reduction and
Supply Chain Cost Management Results: Deere & Company's supply chain cost-management achievements included an inventory decrease of $1 billion, a significant reduction in customer delivery lead times (from ten days to five or less) and annual transportation cost savings of around 5%. 2.
Mini Case Studies: Supply Chain Cost Reduction and Management
Mini Case Studies: Supply Chain Cost Reduction and Management. Rob O'Byrne Feb 20, 2020. ... Deere & Company (brand name John Deere) is famed for the manufacture and supply of machinery used in agriculture, construction, and forestry, as well as diesel engines and lawn care equipment. In 2014, Deere & Company was listed 80th in the Fortune 500 ...
Case Study
Case Study - John Deere: Tracking Reusables in a Global Assembly Manufacturing Supply Chain. By bayshore December 27, 2011 December 30th, 2020 Asset Management, Case Studies, Fundamentals of Reusable Packaging, Management Practices and Strategies, Member News, Reusable Insights.
Success with Supply Chain Cost Reduction: 7 Mini Case Studies
Supply Chain Cost Management Results: Deere & Company's supply chain cost-management achievements included an inventory decrease of $1 billion, a significant reduction in customer delivery lead times (from ten days to five or less) and annual transportation cost savings of around 5%. 2. Intel.
How John Deere Iberica is developing a lean supply chain
To John Deere developing a leaner supply chain means two things: on the one hand, developing suppliers together with the Quality Department using lean tools and principles (to convince them to work using the same system we use); on the other hand, applying lean to our own purchasing processes. ‍.
John Deere keeps inventory low, forecasts more cost ...
Dive Brief: John Deere posted the lowest tractor and combine inventory to sales ratio in five years in the fourth quarter of its fiscal year 2019, CFO Ryan Campbell reported on an earnings call Wednesday.; Low inventory levels across agricultural product segments is part of a cost-cutting strategy the company hopes will protect it from continued uncertainty in the agriculture industry.
Adaptive and Resilient Supply Chain Management: How John Deere Uses
A global leader with more than 25 brands, John Deere relies on a complex supply chain and efficient logistics to ensure production and delivery go as planned. More than 10,000 parts are needed to ...
John Deere: A Case Study for Lean Manufacutring
John Deere: A Case Study for Lean Manufacutring. John Deere or Deere & Company, is a 176 year old company and arguably an American legacy in the realm of farming equipment and tractors. However, Deere & Co. has far expanded outside of the U.S., creating a global footprint as their factories and sales offices are present in over thirty countries.
Deere's supply chain issues hit revenue, shares plunge
Equipment for sale is seen at a John Deere dealer in Denver, Colorado, U.S. May 14, 2015. ... "They've navigated the pandemic and post-pandemic supply chain pretty well up until this point," said ...
John Deere leads the way with IoT-driven precision farming
John Deere uses Real Time Kinematics (RTK) and correction signals to provide farmers' equipment with sub-inch accuracy. How precision agriculture increases food production. Farmers don't farm ...
Deere takes 'multipronged approach' to secure ...
Dive Brief: John Deere is inking long-term agreements with suppliers and taking other steps to shore up supply of critical components after parts constraints created production backlogs, executives said on a Q3 earnings call Friday.; The heavy equipment manufacturer is taking a "multipronged approach" to secure supply, according to Director of Investor Relations Brent Norwood.

Adaptive and Resilient Supply Chain Management: How John Deere Uses Scrum To Create Supply Chain Solutions In The Midst Of Disruption

Why Supply Chain Solutions Went Agile

Overcoming V.U.C.A.: COVID-19 and Supply Chain Disruptions

Structured to Deliver Strategic and Tactical Goals

Additional Results and Metrics

Conclusion

Related Posts via Categories

6 Agile Ways To Increase Employee Engagement

Categories:

Insights From the Field:

The secret to supply chain innovation at John Deere

The Industrialist

MORE ON THIS TOPIC

Tetra Pak: Adapting to protect our future

Ferrovial: Building the future with IT & innovation

Enics’ mission to orchestrate the ecosystem

A Supply Chain Overhaul That Delivers It All to Deere & Co.

Transplace Helps Del Monte Streamline Network

Popular Stories

Outpacing Disruption by Regionalizing Supply Chains

Red Sea Crisis Could Bring Early Start to Peak Shipping Season

U.S. Supply Chain Activity Slows in April Amid Mix of Factors

U.S. Manufacturers Praise New Tariffs on Medical Supply Imports from China

The B2B Integration Playbook for Microsoft Dynamics

2024 Supply Chain ESG Guide

Enhancing High-Value Electronics Shipment Security with Tive's Real-Time Tracking

Moving Robots Site-to-Site

John Deere: Tracking Reusable Packaging in a Global Assembly Manufacturing Supply Chain

Definition of returnable packaging

Finan­cial jus­ti­fi­ca­tion of reusable assets

The future of reusable asset tracking technology

7 mini case studies: successful supply chain cost-reduction and management

South African Truck Drivers Might Be Great News For The European Logistics Sector

1. Deere & Company

3. Starbucks

7. Sunsweet Growers

Making Supply Chain Cost Reductions Stick

You Won’t Find Savings in the Comfort Zone

Agile supply chain management: How to adapt to dynamic market demands

SecondBite and FareShare merge to expand impact

Australia’s ports pioneer new recycling effort for international ships

ARENA unveils ambitious budget programs to drive net zero emissions goals

Navigating the Complexities: Strategies for Global Supply Chain Networks

Retail Fulfilment in the Digital Age: Embracing Automation and AI

Unlocking Retail Efficiency: How AI Reduces Cost of Shelving

Microlise: Revolutionising Supply Chains Across Australia

Consumer-centric delivery

Why Dematra Picked Movu atlas to achieve space optimisation and density

Featured Leaders 2023: Navigating challenges and exchanging insights within Australia’s supply chain sector

Featured Leader: Total Tools’ e-Commerce Manager, Brandon Soo shares his passion on elevating customer experience and retention

Featured Leader: Rob Fischer Digital Marketing Manager at Stratco Australia shares his passion for Digital Marketing

Pieter Nagel’s tips for addressing ASCI’s Supply Chain challenges

2nd Annual Supply Chain Week 2024

10th Annual Retail Fulfilment Summit 2025

Oil and gas conquer future major resource projects propels the economy

Breaking down barriers – why supply chain is a changing industry by Nicole Katsoulis

B2B payments: What businesses can expect in 2024 and beyond

New CEO Steven Chaur to lead Procurement Australia

Kanyini satellite completes critical testing milestone

Fortescue attains milestone with ammonia-diesel marine fuel trial

Australian gov’t announces major boost to renewable energy in VIC and TAS

NSW gov’t launches $160M medical research program

Italian pasta maker Farinacci marks 40th year of manufacturing in MEL

Coles introduces recyclable paper bag packaging for Mandarins

D’Orsogna celebrates 75-year milestone

Victoria leads food and fibre exports

Harnessing warehouse management analytics for smarter operations

U. A. launches Australia’s first centre for sustainable and resilient supply chains

Perth firm secures landmark $160M contract for Collie battery project

Countrywide Hydrogen poised to be Tasmania’s first major GH2 producer

Super duplex stainless steel potential in advanced manufacturing

AU boosts manufacturing with new skills initiatives in Budget 2024-25

Amazon’s new Perth site nears completion

Demystifying third-party logistics (3PL): Unlocking the power of outsourced supply chain management

Amazon Australia opens doors to public, allows tours in robotics fulfilment centre

Deere & Company

Making Supply Chain Cost Reductions Stick

You Won’t Find Savings in the Comfort Zone

You Might also Like

Don’t miss out. Join our events!

Financial justification of reusable assets