With an aim to help companies broaden their perspective on supply chain planning approaches, OMP launched the Spark Initiative. The goal of the initiative is to cultivate an OMP Community to share, learn, and test outside-in capabilities using state-of-the-art technology.

Joining forces with the research firm Supply Chain Insights, OMP is inviting customers to submit their real-world business cases to build, test, and validate the potential of an outside-in planning approach. More companies will be selected to participate in the research, and once the pilot tests are complete, the findings will be publicly shared.

Accessing massive amounts of untapped external data

This new planning approach will empower supply chain leaders to leverage the wealth of external market, channel, and supplier data that is available to businesses but is often unused. Data includes climate and weather patterns, consumption trends, variable holidays, economic and political factors, and data from smart devices.

Companies that adopt the approach and set up bi-directional data flows will be able to create optimal planning scenarios and order to make better decisions.

Support from industry leaders and experts

The Spark Initiative is supported by its advisory board of OMP experts, business leaders, industry professionals, and academics, which include Pascal Van Hentenryck, director of the NSF AI Institute for Advances in Optimization (AI4OPT).

“I am truly delighted to partner with OMP on the Spark Initiative. This is not only timely but also highly relevant at a time when supply chains face mounting challenges in scale, resilience, and sustainability,” said Hentenryck, who is also the A. Russell Chandler III Chair and Professor, and the associate chair of innovation and entrepreneurship in the H. Milton Steward School of Industrial and Systems Engineering (ISyE) at Georgia Tech.

The Spark Initiative advisory board will guide the thinking on the design and implementation of outside-in planning processes and will facilitate industry sharing, structured learning, and testing of outside-in capabilities based on new forms of analytics.

“The Spark Initiative is an outstanding vehicle to drive innovation and create a vibrant ecosystem,” said Hentenryck.

The initiative launched November 2022.

If you’re interested in joining the Spark Initiative or learning more about the progress, click here.