Home 〉Supply Chain Consulting 〉Supply Chain Design 〉Cost-to-Serve and True Profitability Analysis
Home 〉Supply Chain Consulting 〉Supply Chain Design 〉Cost-to-Serve and True Profitability Analysis
Cost-to-Serve creates a solid fact base on where and how costs are incurred through the Supply Chain network and thus on where to identify supply chain opportunities. However, the biggest value is generated by assessing the Costs-to-Serve and True Profitability figures between Supply Chain, Sales, Marketing, and Finance.
Cost-to-Serve and True Profitability views for each product-customer are the first outcomes of a Cost-to-Serve study, but typically only a starting point to answering frequently asked questions surrounding the following domains:
We believe Cost-to-Serve should be assessed in a holistic approach, including costs surrounding warehousing, freight, customer service, sales, working capital, quality and product development. In fact, any relevant cost triggered by customer behavior should be evaluated.
Cost-to-Serve analytics enable fact-based decisions relating to the product, customer portfolio, and the service offering by highlighting opportunities in both customer segmentation and supply chain design. While our team is typically looking for immediate opportunities, we can also help embed Cost-to-Serve in a sustainable way (often as part of executive S&OP) in order to structure tactical decisions between supply chain, finance, sales and marketing.
Chris concurrently serves as Chief Scientist for Chainalytics and the Executive Director of MIT’s Center for Transportation and Logistics. At Chainalytics, Chris pioneered the Freight Market Intelligence Consortium which he presently co-leads.
In his role as Executive Director of the Center for Transportation & Logistics (CTL) at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, he is responsible for the planning and management of the research, education, and corporate outreach programs for the center to include the Supply Chain Exchange and the Master of Engineering in Logistics (MLOG) graduate program. He is also the founder of the MIT FreightLab – a research initiative that focuses on improving the way freight transportation is designed, procured, and managed. Prior to joining MIT, Chris held senior management positions in supply chain consulting, product development, and professional services at several companies, including Logistics.com, SABRE, and PTCG.
Chris holds a Ph.D. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Transportation and Logistics Systems, a Master of Science in Civil Engineering from the University of Texas at Austin, and a Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering from the Virginia Military Institute (VMI).
Inam leads the global Freight Market Intelligence Consortium (FMIC) at Chainalytics. In this role, he develops intelligence solutions for the transportation market using machine learning and data visualization techniques. FMIC offers unparalleled visibility to transportation rates and market data across the globe, making it the most powerful and trusted source of freight market intelligence.
Prior to joining Chainalytics, Inam led the engineering team at Transplace, a third party logistics provider, where he developed and innovated such service offerings as network optimization, site selection, procurement, and transportation optimization. These services helped many shippers balance the cost and service trade-offs across their large, complex networks.
Inam holds a Ph.D. from the University of Arkansas in Applied Operations Research, a Master of Science in Industrial Engineering and a Bachelor of Science in Industrial Engineering from Oklahoma State University.