<!––>Why have a supply chain when you can have a supply brain? At DELMIA Quintiq, we believe there’s always an intelligent solution that will help you exceed your business goals and save your company significant sums of money.

Over the past months, our bloggers have included a former chief software architect at NASA Ames Research Center; a director of workforce optimization with a PhD in the mathematics of casino games; the computer scientist who discovered AI solutions to Connect Four, Qubic, and Gomoku; and numerous DELMIA Quintiq experts with a passion for planning, scheduling, and optimization.

Here’s a round-up of seven IQ-raising posts from 2012. Enjoy.

(1)      Try Santa’s secret (supply chain) sauce

Tired of post-mortem KPIs that tell you how your company performed when it’s too late to make a difference? Check out Santa’s secret supply chain sauce and gain immediate insight into the impact of planning decisions – even before you take them. Video evidence included.

(2)      Give poker-playing planners something better to do

Suspect that your employee scheduling could be better? Poker expert Dr Marcel Dreef knows something about your planners that may surprise you. Find out what it is in Are your planners scheduling employees – or playing poker? and make 2013 the year your schedules support your business goals.

(3)      Teach your planners and schedulers how to tango

Could the ‘ouch’ of missed delivery dates be due to heavy-footed planning incursions into the scheduling horizon? Check out Mastering the planning and scheduling dance and learn why Richard van Meersbergen believes that decisions in the scheduling horizon should be left to schedulers.

(4)      Hire a detective

Disappointing results from a new planning system? Arjen Heeres exposes the No 1 culprit and reveals how to get back on track in Who’s sabotaging your optimization results?

(5)      Learn to spot fake KPIs

Fake KPIs stand in place of the real KPIs your business needs to achieve. In most cases they are chosen because there’s simply no way to steer by the real indicators of operational excellence. Learn to spot these signs of hidden optimization potential in Uncovering hidden optimization potential, and take your game to the next level in 2013.

(6)      Track down cake-loving record breakers

Given that the difference between great optimization and good optimization can run to millions in additional savings, you naturally want the very best. David Rijsman reveals what it takes to break a world record for trip optimization (while having truckloads of fun) in How to create new optimization world records.

(7)      Turn accepted wisdom on its head

Are integrated all-in-one planning systems better than best-of-breed ones? Discover why Remi Lequette believes tightly integrated ERP and supply chain planning systems can be a complete nightmare in Is tight systems integration always a good idea?

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Happy New Year!