Tag Archives: Sustainability

Reinforcement Learning

machine learning
I recently went to a talk on Reinforcement Learning (RL) in my local .Net development group.   I found the topic fascinating.  For those not familiar with Reinforcement learning; it is a type of unsupervised machine learning where the algorithm uses real-world feedback over time to learn what to do.   Instead of providing a set of …
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Can Spreadsheets Coexist with Centralized Tools?

According to a recent Wall Street Journal article, CFOs are cutting back on Excel Spreadsheets, because they have not kept up with the demands of contemporary corporate financial units. “The mood that prevails is that people are spending too much of their time importing and exporting and manipulating data. They want their employees to focus …
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Tardigrades can survive anything…. Can your Supply Chain?

survive
Tardigrades, which are often called water bears, are nearly microscopic. Although they are usually water dwelling creatures, they can be found in Antarctic ice, ocean depths of 14,000 feet and in the Himalayas at a height of 20,000 ft. They can survive just about anywhere, including outer space. Fossils of tardigrades have been found in …
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Do you feel as if you are running faster and faster just to keep up?

I just finished a book on the swirling times we are in, called Thank you for Being Late by Thomas L. Friedman.  In it Mr. Friedman pauses to reflect on the forces currently reshaping our world. With the tumultuous, confusing, threatening, forces of advances in technology, (due to Moore’s Law), Globalization of the Market, and Climate …
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Challenges in Multi-National Resource Management: the Mekong

One of our main activities at Profit Point is to help companies and organizations to plan better, to make informed decisions that lead to improvements such as more efficient use of resources, lower cost, higher profit and reduced risk. Frequently we use computer models to compare the projected results for multiple alternative futures, so that …
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A New Tool for Evaluating Water Risk in Supply Chain Planning

In developing a supply chain network design there are many criteria to consider – including such factors as the impact of the facility choices on • Cost of running the system, • current and future customer service, • ability to respond to changes in the market, and • risk of costly intangible events in the …
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The Northern Sea Route – A New Link in the Global Supply Chain

Many of our activities at Profit Point are focused on helping clients in identifying and implementing changes that improve the efficiency of existing supply chain networks, ranging from planning to operations and scheduling.  In the short term we are usually trying to find ways to use existing capabilities more effectively, but as you look out …
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Will 3D printing radically transform the global supply chain, as we know it?

Additive manufacturing or 3D printing is a process of making three-dimensional solid objects from a digital model.  It is achieved by laying down successive layers of material, as opposed to the traditional machining techniques of removing material by drilling and cutting.  3D printing is usually performed by a materials printer using digital technology. Taking a …
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Managing Your Supply Chain Bill (of Materials, That Is)

When we help our clients improve their supply chains the first step in the process is usually to identify what problem they need to solve, or what questions they are trying to answer. Examples of such questions might be What will be the impact of several possible capital investments in our distribution system? A major …
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No Longer an Alternative: Green Is The New Norm For Small Businesses and Entrepreneurs

Nearly 50 years ago, a 22 year-old musician from Minnesota released his third folk music album in as many years. The title track “The Times They Are a-Changin” warned the listener “you better start swimming or you’ll sink like a stone, for the times they are a-changin.” Critics were confounded because not only was a …
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Goals and Subconscious Priming

Watch your thoughts, for they become words. Watch your words, for they become actions. Watch your actions, for they become habits. Watch your habits, for they become your character. And watch your character, for it becomes your destiny. What we think, we become. “My father always said that”. Margaret Thatcher The year 2012 is behind …
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