What is Search Engine Optimization

Search Engine Optimization, SEO, is when a web site owner creates the content on his or her web pages to be more search engine friendly. By doing this the web site receive higher search engine rankings when people search for terms related to the site’s content. So what’s so important about search engine optimization.

Keywords:
vbulletin, seo, search engine, optimization

Search Engine Optimization, SEO, is when a web site owner creates the content on his or her web pages to be more search engine friendly. By doing this the web site receive higher search engine rankings when people search for terms related to the site’s content. So what’s so important about search engine optimization. Well, if you’ve worked hard to create a Web site you’ll want lots of people to visit it.

If you optimize your web pages for the search engines, a robot will search and index your site more effectively giving it a higher ranking in various search engines. The better you are at search optimization the higher placement you’ll get. The goal is to get on the first page of results and ultimately the number one spot! The higher the ranking the more traffic you’ll get to your site through this method. More traffic means more revenue for you.

When creating your Web site, you’ll want to use the right search engine optimization techniques. This will have a major impact on the success of your Web site. You can hire a company with SEO expertise to do it for you or you can study SEO and apply several techniques yourself. You can find out what works best for your site.

While you’ll receive more general traffic by using SEO, you’ll also get more traffic from your targeted audience. If your site covers a specific topic, you’ll want to reach the appropriate audience for that topic. As an example, if you’re selling model cars, you’ll want to attract visitors interested in that hobby, not just those that are interested in cars in general. Having search engine optimization that attracts those interested in model cars will increase your sales. Attracting your key audience to visit your site can actually be more important that drawing large amounts of general traffic. Those targeted visitors are more likely to be repeat visitors and to pass along your web site address to others with the same interest.

There are two kinds of SEO methods. These are “white hat” and “black hat.” The first, white hat, is the appropriate methods that fall in line with the search engine’s guidelines. This the honest approach to SEO. The content on the page is unique and visitor oriented, not just created for the search engines. On the other hand, black hat SEO are unethical methods including cloaking, which is having a web page optimized that leads visitors to another page with different content. This is somewhat a “bait and switch” technique. Using black hat methods are risky because if a search engine finds you’ve been using these methods, your site’s rank could be lowered or the site could be taken out of the database completely. It may not be worth the risk to you to use black hat methods for your web site.

Search Engine Optimization is an important part of creating your Web site. This is a free way to generate a high number of visitors for your site. And you have the option to pay someone to help you optimize your site if you choose. To get a high number of targeted visitors to your site, SEO is the must.

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Top Secret Business Marketing Strategies. Explained

Marketing, Marketing, and Marketing.

How well do your market your products and services? How Much do you make a sell out of your marketing efforts? What is your answer? To me, if I do not market products well, I always check my guidelines listed below. I hope those marketing tips work well for your marketing.

Encourage your customers or visitors to e-mail you questions about your product or web site. Just include your sig file with your reply. For example, here is a si…

Keywords:
Business marketing, Internet Marketing, Sales, Promotion

Marketing, Marketing, and Marketing.

How well do your market your products and services? How Much do you make a sell out of your marketing efforts? What is your answer? To me, if I do not market products well, I always check my guidelines listed below. I hope those marketing tips work well for your marketing.

Encourage your customers or visitors to e-mail you questions about your product or web site. Just include your sig file with your reply. For example, here is a sig file: Jon Blank, Author And Publisher, http://www.—-.com

Give out free web space on your server. Many of your visitors may want to publish their own web site. Just require that they publish your banner ad. For example, if you gave away 100 free web pages and got only 1 hit a week off each one, that would be an extra 5200 visitors a year!

Design web sites for other businesses for free. Just require them to publish your banner or text ad somewhere on their home page. For example, you could create web page templates and graphics for them. Other people will see your work and want to visit your main web site for more information.

Make your potential customers forget about the competition. Just tell them to forget with a factual and believable reason why they should. For example, you could say, “You should just forget about doing business with our competition, they don’t offer free shipping like we do.”

Set up a joint venture with your competition if you can’t beat them. You could agree to work together to beat the other competition then share the profits. For example, you could create a product together that you both could promote or you both could share advertising costs to promote your businesses together.

Visit chat rooms where your potential customers would gather. You can lurk and do market research or mention your product to people. For example, you may read many of the same posts about wanting to learn more about e-book marketing. So, right there would be a good product idea.

Make your web site “sticky” by building a large directory of web sites your visitors would enjoy. It saves them precious time searching for them. For example, if your target audience is interested in online greeting cards, create a web site directory full of links to similar sites.

Start a free-to-join business association from your web site. Just ask all members to place your association logo and link on their web site. For example, if you had 1000 members, that would be 1000 people indirectly promoting your web site without paying them affiliate commissions.

Make extra revenue by selling advertising space on your web site, in your e-zine, in your free e-books, on your classified ad site, etc. For example, you could have a list of all the spaces your visitors could advertise and the price of each space.

Switch your marketing plan when your market dies for your product. Be flexible and redesign your product for a different market. For example, if your e-book is about starting an accounting business, you could rewrite it for a gardening business.

Thanks for reading my marketing tips and strategies. I will list more marketing tips on the next issue. Hope those marketing techniques improve your sales and business growth.

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What Market Research Can Do For Your Online Business

Market research is a crucial starting point for any business, but it’s especially important for online businesses that seek to target a particular niche market. The equation is pretty simple: if the interest in your product is low, you won’t make enough sales to keep afloat. The key to online success is to plan ahead – seek out a ready and willing market that will buy your product, before launching a marketing campaign.

The Internet offers the start-up business a lot of to…

Keywords:
market research,marketing,marketing assessments,market research firms,internet marketing firm

Market research is a crucial starting point for any business, but it’s especially important for online businesses that seek to target a particular niche market. The equation is pretty simple: if the interest in your product is low, you won’t make enough sales to keep afloat. The key to online success is to plan ahead – seek out a ready and willing market that will buy your product, before launching a marketing campaign.

The Internet offers the start-up business a lot of tools for market research, so there’s no excuse for not taking advantage of the available information. It gives you access to a wider range of consumers than you would normally be able to reach. Your target market doesn’t have to be defined by geographical location – instead, you will likely be targeting a group of people who share a similar interest.

Most online market research is conducted through three avenues: the Web, email and newsgroups. The first is perfect for checking out the competition (or lack thereof). It pays to be informed about your potential market niche ahead of time, so you can figure out if creating a new business in that area will be a profitable venture, worth your time and initial investment.

Researching your competition is a good idea for two main reasons. First of all, it’s important to find out if the market you intend to target is over saturated. If too many other businesses already offer the same product you want to sell, it will be more difficult to successfully break in and rake in a tidy profit. In addition, researching competitors can help you focus your business on one specific aspect of a saturated market that has yet to be adequately exploited. On the other hand, if you discover that no one has come up with the same brilliant idea as you, it’s a greater possibility that your business will flourish.

Secondly, as the old adage says, know your enemy. Find out how other businesses price their products, take note of the image they convey and look at how their website is constructed. In order to be competitive you need to have an edge that sets you apart from the competition and makes you attractive to your target market. But, first you must know what will give you that edge.

After researching the competition, the next step is to create a survey full of questions related to the companies already selling in your potential market. The survey, of course, should also include questions that relate to your own business.

So where do you find participants for your survey? There are many places online where you can ask for opinions. If you already have a website, post the survey on your site. Or, try posting small notices in newsgroups and on discussion boards related to your market area to elicit some responses. Newsgroups are also a great place to get the inside scoop on your potential customers. What are they talking about? What products are they looking for and can’t seem to find? What do they look for in a product? You can also ask questions, as long as it doesn’t sound as if you’re trying to sell them something.

Ads posted on free online classified pages can also yield a good amount of survey participants, as long as you offer an incentive, such as a freebie, coupons, etc. Finally, you can also send out the survey through email to prospects, associates, and others who might be able to lend a hand.

Investigating Google search counts and popular keywords is another method of online market research that specifically looks for trends in what people want to buy through online stores. The more you know about the customer, the better.

Whether you choose to carry out online market research on your own or hire a company to do it for you, it is an essential step that will lay the proper foundation for the future success of your online business.

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Why A Little Bit Of Marketing Does You Good, Especially At Christmas

My grandpa, who’s a Quaker, used to disapprove of the fact that I ventured into marketing, but he’s coming round to my way of thinking, even at the grand age of 92. He is suspicious of marketing (in his mind – a term synonymous with extracting money from a gullible party, for the benefit of corporate greed) and doesn’t believe in profit, even though profit itself is not a bad thing.

I bring this issue up because in case you hadn’t noticed, it’s going to be Christmas soon a…

Keywords:
Christmas gifts, Christmas shopping, online shopping, personal finance, Christmas finance, toys

My grandpa, who’s a Quaker, used to disapprove of the fact that I ventured into marketing, but he’s coming round to my way of thinking, even at the grand age of 92. He is suspicious of marketing (in his mind – a term synonymous with extracting money from a gullible party, for the benefit of corporate greed) and doesn’t believe in profit, even though profit itself is not a bad thing.

I bring this issue up because in case you hadn’t noticed, it’s going to be Christmas soon and as usual any company which can exploit Christmas as a commercial theme is doing so. But before we exchange our Christmas wreath for cynicism on our front door, sometimes marketing can be beneficial and the creativity in marketing campaigns can be enjoyed by the consumer.

Take for instance (but not for instant) Starbucks Coffee Company, no longer is it just a coffee company! If you’re still refusing to do your Christmas shopping online, marketing executives at Starbucks have come up with a few ideas so that you can break the shopping up with interludes of Gingerbread Latte, Eggnog Latte or Toffee Nut Latte ( http://starbucks.co.uk/en-GB/_Favorite+Beverages/Christmas+Beverages.htm ). You could even come back after the shopping and have a Chocolate Mint Bliss or Mint Chocolate Chip Frappuccino. If Marketing brings Gingerbread Lattes, then it’s got to be a good thing.

It’s not just the high street shops which are getting festive. Online stores are getting into the Christmas spirit too, even finance companies; the traditional residences of Scrooge type characters. Moneynet, a personal finance information research specialist, has brought out a Christmas finance guide ( http://www.moneynet.co.uk/christmas-savings-guide/index.shtml ), with a range of money-saving tips to help the innocent consumer navigate their way past loan sharks who feed on the financial difficulties of certain families, particularly at Christmas.

But lets not dwell on the doom and gloom, lets think about the children, what’s marketing doing for them? Well… the Early Learning Centre has developed a special Christmas section ( http://www.elc.co.uk/category-720 ) on its website to inspire parents, grandparents and relatives with ideas of suitable gifts for the children. If your daughter is more into Stevie Wonder than Golden Wonder, then she might be impressed with the Pink Keyboard And Stool; though remember, musical toys last for years not just for Christmas, it’s your sanity at stake.

But Christmas isn’t just for the kids, it’s for the “big kids” too. Justtoys is a site which sells toys for parents, buying toys for their children. If my parents are reading this, or even my colleagues, I quite fancy the Radio Control Dalek http://www.justtoys.com/toy.asp/Toy/33/buy/radio-control-dalek.htm which offers seven phrases triggered by buttons on the remote control, 360 degree on the spot rotational movement and the Dome and Eyestalk move from side to side as it moves. Beats slippers and writing paper any day.

Marketing and commercial competition has also made a fantastic choice available on the internet and it gives us ideas, when we’ve run out of inspiration ourselves. So whilst we need to remain sceptical about advertising, there are some advantages to profit investment …

… and Starbucks Chocolate Mint Bliss is one of them.

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Direct Marketing Support Services and Lettershop Services: A Key Role in Your Marketing Campaign

Most marketing firms do a lot of direct marketing. One might even suggest it’s traditionally the bread and butter of a marketing firm’s income. However, in order to properly manage a direct marketing campaign your firm will need to have adequate direct marketing support services, including lettershop services.

Keywords:
direct marketing support services, distribution logistics, database management, mailing list database management, marketing,

Most marketing firms do a lot of direct marketing. One might even suggest it’s traditionally the bread and butter of a marketing firm’s income. However, in order to properly manage a direct marketing campaign your firm will need to have adequate direct marketing support services, including lettershop services. These support elements will do the grunt work in your direct marketing campaign.

Direct marketing support services many involve such things as printing, mailings database management, and campaign management. While lettershop services handle issues tied to the distribution of your direct marketing campaign. This includes many mundane tasks such as labeling, presorting, folding, tracking and so on. However, as mundane as these tasks may be they are critical to the completion of a successful direct marketing campaign.
In most direct marketing campaigns, direct marketing support services, and lettershop services are handled by an outside vendor. As with the selection of any outside vendor, we suggest you do your research. But there’s a problem with this. Obviously, competitive marketing firms may be loathing giving you any information about the companies they use for direct marketing support services, and lettershop services. But we have found a way around that one, and it may sound silly but it actually works.

Call your congressman.
Stop laughing. We are serious.
Why, you may ask, we are not trying to get a bill passed? We are just looking for some good vendors for direct marketing support services and lettershop services, how could our congressmen help with that? Well, it is quite simple, political candidate do a lot of direct mailings, and they usually use local companies. Also, you are a small business in your congressman’s district; he will have a reason to help you.

Okay, so now you have found a good company to handing your direct marketing support services and lettershop services. Are there any other pitfalls? Of course there are. As with many other outside vendors, those dealing with direct marketing support services and lettershop services make money on volume. Meaning that quality control, though a priority, may not be their top priority. So you need to be especially carefully that all printed material, databases and instructions are given both verbally and in writing.

In our experience, if you have never worked with the vendor, we suggest you do this in person. Although thanks to digital printing a lot may be done via phone, FTP and email, we still feel that these initial contacts should be done in person. And do not give this job to a new hire or an intern. That is just asking for trouble. This needs to be done by someone who has been at your firm for at least a year. Someone who can think on his or her feet.

Another important thing about vendors who offer direct marketing supports services and lettershop services is that they see direct marketing campaigns every day. They have a sense of what works and what does not. If they question some aspect of your campaign, listen to them. They probably know what they are talking about. And, as you and vendor build trust; you may find them giving you pointers that they only share with valued customers. We might add that the referral from you congressman, might also help grease the early client vendor relations. And you thought that was a crazy suggestion, right?

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Flyer that says “Get Me”

Whether you are promoting an event, advertising a product or service, at one point you are might probably be tempted to advertise with the use of flyers.

Keywords:
flyer printing

Whether you are promoting an event, advertising a product or service, at one point you are might probably be tempted to advertise with the use of flyers.

Flyers are handy. You can mail it, leave it or hand it out. In addition it is the easiest to make and produce. It is also the most affordable marketing tool. Nonetheless, these features did not make it a lesser marketing tool.

How do you secure its effectiveness? Well, there are two points to consider – the artistic and the technical side.

First things first, let us tackle about the artistic side of it. The first step is to formulate a creative concept – a concept that will both catch the eye and the heart. You can use photographs to tell a story and sell your ads. Make sure that your concept is eye-catching that the moment an individual stare at it, he will surely grab it. Establish a center-attention. Choose the most important image or phrase to put emphasis to. You can play with the size, density, brightness and position in order to give it the right prominence. Bear in mind that you only have limited space. Moreover, use images that can say what the words can’t at the given circumstance.

Do not create false claims. Your selling point is to say the truth. That way, your company can yield trust and loyalty from the readers. Be enthusiastic, tickle their fancy in a positive light but do not overdo it by uttering statements of make-believe.

Organize your page. You can use boxes and borders. However, maintain the flyers simplicity. It need not be complicated to be catchy, right? Illustration need not amount to ornamentation. Simplicity is still preferred by many so stick with it.

Spend time on wordings. Proof-read it for several times. Also ask other people to read and proof-read your contents. It will be a waste of money to print an erroneous flyer. Thus, before printing the same, be sure that there are no flaws and errors.

Let us come to the technical side of flyers – the flyer printing. Be sure to get a reputable and skilled printer to secure quality printing results. Also, choose the right printing technique to complement your design.

Now, you are ready to create a flyer that shrieks “Get Me”. No need to offer it. For sure, your flyer can manage even without your initiative.

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Video Sharing Sites

Are you interested in uploading any videos that you may have made to the YouTube website? YouTube is a website that is often referred to as a video sharing website. It allows internet users, like you, to upload and share any videos that they have made. With a large number of members and site visitors, having your video or videos displayed on YouTube is likely to get your videos thousands of views!

Keywords:
video sharing sites

Are you interested in uploading any videos that you may have made to the YouTube website? YouTube is a website that is often referred to as a video sharing website. It allows internet users, like you, to upload and share any videos that they have made. With a large number of members and site visitors, having your video or videos displayed on YouTube is likely to get your videos thousands of views!If this is your first time uploading a video to the YouTube website, you may be wondering exactly how you can go about doing so. The good news is that uploading videos to YouTube is a relatively easy process. YouTube not only gives you step-by-step instructions on how to upload your videos, but they also provide you with video uploading tips; tips that will not only make it possible for your videos to be uploaded, but tips that will also help to improve their quality.If you have used YouTube before, even just to watch videos, you likely already know that you need to have a YouTube account before you can start uploading and sharing your videos. Registering for you a YouTube account is not only free, but it is also easy. You only need to answer a few personal questions. For instance, you are asked your name, your zip code, the country you live in, your email address, your birth date, and your gender. Once you submit the registration form, you will be sent a verification email. Once you have followed the instructions in that email, you should be able to start uploading videos to YouTube right away.Before uploading your video to the YouTube website, you will need to get it on your computer. Once you have done so, you will want to review it. This can be done with a movie editing software program. Should you wish to edit your video before submitting it to YouTube, now is the time to do so. When editing your YouTube video or saving it, YouTube encourages to you save it as a .Divx or .Xvid file. They also suggest making sure that your audio is in the .mp3 format. Once you have officially saved your video on your computer, you can begin to upload it to the YouTube website.The first step is to make sure that you are signed into your YouTube account. Once you are, you will need to click on the Upload Videos, link, which can be found at the top of the YouTube website. You will then be brought to a page where you will be asked to describe your video. YouTube requests that you are descriptive as possible. Once you have entered in as much information about your video as you can, you will then need to click on the Go Upload a File, link. This will allow you to select a file from your computer; the file that contains your recently saved video. Once you have selected the right video, your video will automatically start uploading, after have confirmed your actions.Speaking of the uploading process, you will find that the amount of time it takes for your video to upload to the YouTube website will vary. The larger your video file size is, the longer it will take for your video to upload to the YouTube website. In all honesty, YouTube states that it could only take a few minutes, but that it could also take as long as an hour. In addition to the size of your video file, the type of internet connection you have will also have an impact on your upload times. For instance, if you have a dialup internet connection, it will take longer for your videos to upload than it would if you had DSL or cable internet.YouTube states that within twenty-four hours of your video being uploaded, your video should appear listed under the correct category, as well as appear in YouTube video searches. This is when your videos will start seeing the most views, as many internet users search for videos that meet their interests.

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What A Geek-Thing Taught Me Can Send Your Sales Response Through The Roof

Who is best qualified to prove your product works? Who has the credibility and the believability to talk about the benefits of using your product? Who will tell your customers and clients it’s a good decision to buy?

It’s you, right? Perhaps you’d better keep reading…

Keywords:
marketing,advertising,testimonials,sales letter

Who is best qualified to prove your product works? Who has the credibility and the believability to talk about the benefits of using your product? Who will tell your customers and clients it’s a good decision to buy?

It’s you, right? Perhaps you’d better keep reading…

The answer is – your own customers.

Your customers have the experience of using your product. They’ve used the features, and experienced the benefits. Speaking from this familiarity your customers will relate with your prospects in a way you will not.

Your words are seen as claims when you talk about your product. But when your customer talks, their words are seen as truth.

When you’re selling a product or service, all internet marketers know there’s nothing like the power of testimonials. Testimonials are the social proof – the “Show me I’m not alone” evidence – from customers that have already bought from you and enjoyed your product.

I’ve seen salesletters written by top marketers that are composed of nothing but testimonials. We’ve all seen salesletters filled with so many testimonials that if printed out, it would drain your printer of it’s ink.

The testimonials in such letters contain nearly all of the elements a good salesletter must have: the features and the benefits (especially the benefits!) of the product; the stories supporting the use of the product; and novel ideas on how your product has been put to use. (Wow, it’s like an ‘open source’ method for sales-letter development!) Just add an attention-grabbing headline (and a link to the order page) and you’re done.

So how do you get authentic, sales-pulling, kick-butt testimonials that practically write your sales letter for you? Well, how about asking for them? The way that you ask, though, is the difference between asking and getting little, and asking and getting a tremendous response.

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ERP & DRP, Lean Manufacturing are not compatible.

How many companies are finding their IT investments are a major blocker to releasing the benefits of Lean Manufacturing and why a new planning approach is needed.

Keywords:
Supply Chain Optimisation, Supply Chain Optimization,Supply Chain Optimisation Software,Supply Chain Optimization Software,Supply Chain Management,Sup

Introduction
Over the past 10 years a great number of businesses ranging from SME’s to Blue Chips have been rolling out or updating their Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), Distribution Requirements Planning (DRP) and Advanced Supply Chain Planning solutions (APS). There are a variety of reasons for this intense activity, ranging from the need to consolidate IT following an acquisition, through to the desire to improve the IT capability in order to implement a particular supply chain strategy.
When the dust settles after the implementation many businesses, having spent a lot of time and money, are left with a very inflexible IT solution whose core planning principles are routed in the thinking of the late 60’s, and not compatible with the agile, flexible, supply chain processes required to be competitive today.
It seems that our understanding of what is required to build a competitive supply chain has evolved considerably over the past 40 years, however the range of IT solutions available to support our ambitions has not.

This white paper examines the key elements required to build a successful and low cost supply chain, how the majority of IT offerings fail to support these key principles and how a new approach to planning can enable the benefits of Lean Manufacturing without throwing away your IT investment.

The problem with Forecasts

Fundamentally, most ERP/DRP systems provide a very robust operational platform, on which the majority of a business processes are supported, from Finance to HR. Where they are weak however, is in the provision of planning tools. Most come equipped with a basic MRP (Material Requirements Planning) engine, and the more advanced ones may supplement this with predictive safety stock planning or re-order point logic, usually under the guise of an Advanced Planning Systems (APS) module. Or to put it another way, your multi-million dollar IT super-car has a tractor engine lurking under the bonnet. The fundamental flaw with all of these MRP variants is that the starting point for all calculations is a Forecast.

Most planners know that the best Forecasts are 70% accurate at best. APS systems may buy a few percentage points of improvement in exchange for a hugely disproportionate monetary investment, but have categorically failed to deliver the advertised benefits. The real problem is that MRP then compounds the situation by using this imperfect forecast to precisely raise planned orders and set predictive levels of safety stock. What this does is push wildly unplanned and unpredictable levels of inventory, effort and cost into our supply chain.

Where ‘Push’ meets ‘Pull’

At the same time as businesses are trying to tame their ERP/DRP systems, many have recognised that their customers are demanding higher levels of flexibility, responsiveness and reliability, and that these factors are becoming the differentiators in an ever more ‘me too’ marketplace. In order to compete and meet the challenge, many companies are leading a campaign to implement Lean Manufacturing principles.
“The interface between MRP ‘Push’ and Lean ‘Pull’ generates a lot of ‘Heat & Light’ in the planning and purchasing department”
Lean manufacturing is based around the principle of ‘pulling’ only the levels of inventory through the supply chain that are required to satisfy an agreed customer service level. Lean Manufacturing recognises that not all SKU’s are the same, and that different inventory replenishment rules are needed, based upon the volume and variability of demand. There is an obvious incompatibility here with the ERP/DRP IT systems, which take a ‘one size fits all’ approach to planning.
This is where the ‘push’ replenishment signals generated by ERP/DRP systems clash with the ‘pull’ signals required for Lean. This interface typically generates a lot of ‘heat and light’, normally in the planning and purchasing departments. The interface between these two methodologies drives a lot more resource into translating and managing the incompatibility. This increased overhead can minimise or even eliminated any of the cost benefits desired from Lean Manufacturing.

A ‘Back to Basics’ approach

Many of the latest IT planning offerings contain ever more complex statistical and mathematical solutions, all striving to improve our ability to forecast, and therefore make the rest of the MRP logic work. From the software vendor’s perspective this approach is understandable, given the amount of MRP based software currently in the market. Sooner or later we must face the truth that MRP planning logic is totally inappropriate for 95% of businesses involved in batch manufacture. In fact not just inappropriate but damaging to their profitability and growth potential.
“Sooner or later we must face the truth that MRP planning logic is totally inappropriate for 95% of businesses involved in batch manufacture”
We need to stop chasing the perfect forecast and take a step back. We need to consider the key elements required in a Best Practice supply chain design. Only once we understand these can we then select and tailor our IT tools to automate and support the new process.

Lean Planning is required to compliment Lean Manufacture

Whilst the past 20 years has seen a lot of Thought Leadership and energy around the implementation of Demand Driven Lean Manufacturing, there has been a distinct lack of activity around the development of planning tools to enable the benefits of ‘Lean’ to be realised. To the extent that MRP is still considered amongst the vast majority of companies to be leading edge.
What is required is ‘Lean Planning’. Lean Planning fills the gap between the legacy Forecast Driven MRP based ERP/DRP systems incumbent in most companies, and Demand Driven Lean Manufacturing. Without needing to discard the current IT investment, there is now a set of processes and software tools that provide the missing link. Lean Planning will fundamentally support the 10 key elements of Best Practice Supply Chain.
The concept of Lean Planning encompasses the two key areas of planning, i.e. Conditioning and Execution. The principle being that Planners should set a plan (or condition) and then execute against it. Workload and Inventory increase when planners try to do both Conditioning and Execution at the same time, by the way, a characteristic of MRP logic.

Conditioning – Build and Agree the Plan

Conditioning is the range of planning activities designed to support the Sales & Operations Planning process. Conditioning is about building and agreeing a capacity and inventory plan. Lean planning requires a toolkit that will segment large numbers of SKUs along the lines of Forecast Volumes and Historical Demand Variability. Depending upon this combination of volume and variability a Lean Planning tool should enable the correct replenishment rule to be applied and a target maximum level of inventory to be calculated.

Execution – Generate and manage Demand Driven Orders in line with the agreed Plan

“A Lean Planning Tool must be designed from the perspective of the planner and not the programmer”
Once the Conditioning is complete, the rest of the month should be spent raising and executing orders in line with the agreed plan. The conditioning process may have led to the need for a multitude of replenishment rules and techniques, from Make to Order through to Cyclic Replenishment. Once again Lean Planning should provide a software toolkit that interfaces into an existing ERP/APS system and enables the generation of Orders in line with whichever replenishment technique is appropriate for the SKU concerned. Lean Planning should provide for the configuration of current MRP systems so that they can mimic the action of a true Demand Driven planning tool where appropriate.

Orchestr8 Lean Planning

Lean Planning is the answer to all those companies struggling to implement a Demand Driven supply chain in an ERP/APS dominated environment. Lean Planning web-based software tools are now available through Orchestr8 Limited.
Orchestr8 is a UK based supplier of software and consulting services to support the implementation and operation of Lean Planning techniques.
Orchestr8 offer a 5 module solution;

“Orchestr8 is the world’s first and only supplier of Lean Planning tools”
Orchestr8 – supporting Lean Planning – Conditioning and the processes required to generate an inventory and capacity plan, achieve SKU segmentation and inventory target calculation. It also contains a suite of tools and reports necessary to run a successful Sales & Operations planning process. It also contains some of the best tools available for Lifecycle management and Seasonality.

Oper8 – supporting Lean Planning – Execution and the tools needed to generate and manage orders in line with appropriate replenishment rule identified through conditioning. Oper8 is an order management environment designed by planners. Orders are controlled by exception allowing one planner to handle three times the number of SKUs normally possible with traditional ERP/DRP systems.

Simul8 – a software workbench that enables complete business cost simulation models to be built in order to analyse the impact of any number of planning strategies, rolled up to any level within the organisation. Simul8 can extract data from one or many planning locations.

Collabor8 – a web portal containing comprehensive reporting, metrics and issue logging tools, designed to provide a multi-faceted view of supply chain information for all supply chain partners involved. Collabor8 links multiple instances of the other lean Planning modules to achieve a complete cross company view, spanning multiple sites or even continents.

Configur8 – a dynamic configuration tool allowing any configuration of the other four Lean Planning modules to be achieved. This allows for the support of any client supply chain, no matter how complex. In addition Configur8 interfaces seamlessly with all of the Communic8 web services designed to import and export data with all of the major ERP/DRP products.

For more information contact sales@orchestr8.com or visit our website at www.orchestr8.com.

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Figure Them Out

Brochures have been around for quite sometime and they have been efficient in promoting a product. They help improve your business visibility in the community.

Keywords:
brochures, printing, services

They are crazy about video games, rebellious towards their parents and apathetic about politics – so far, typical. But these cell-phoning, karaoke-singing post-Generation X-ers are setting the trends at increasingly younger age. They even comprise most of the buying public these days. From funky cell phones to the latest in fashion, they just want to spend most of their money on these products.

The teen market is very confusing and diverse. Teens live in their own world with their own set of values, likes, dislikes and attitudes. That is why it is often difficult to reach this elusive market. Hence, business owners seeking to increase their teen market need to carefully consider and plan their marketing strategy to be able to effectively entice these kids to buy.

Brochures have been around for quite sometime and they have been efficient in promoting a product. They help improve your business visibility in the community. You can send them out to potential and existing clients or display them in your store reception area. These way kids can browse through them and see if they spot something that interests them. So if you are selling more mainstream products from clothing to home furnishings, you may find that high school and college kids are worth sending your brochures.

Teens who make brochure purchases are often first time buyers developing long term brand loyalty. So if you are able to get hold of them on their early shopping spree, you can have their loyalty for longer periods of time compared to the one-time older buyer. Perhaps the best place to look for teen customers is to look through magazine listings because many teenagers subscribe to magazines. But teenagers often change address frequently so catching up on them to send your brochure can be quite difficult. Nevertheless, keeping an update of their address once in a while can greatly help in keeping contact with them.

However, to keep your teen prospects really interested you have to create a brochure that appeals to their style. Teen fashion is highly diverse but you need not measure up to this diversity. Just remember the old marketing tactic: simplicity. It is still better if you are able to create a brochure that is simple and informative. Offering extra percentage off can also make your brochure more effective. Keep in mind that teens love receiving offers through the mail, so by getting right in their faces, you can create brand awareness.

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