Supply Chain & Logistic Experts | DCRA Inc.
In the complex, ever-evolving world of supply chains, Jon Kirkegaard stands as a true pioneer—a leader who saw the potential to transform the industry decades before its current technological inflection points. As the President and CEO of DCRA Inc., a company he founded in 2002, Kirkegaard has been at the forefront of developing innovative solutions for integrating demand and supply in manufacturing. With nearly 40 years of experience, his career is a testament to the power of simplified solutions in a field often characterized by complexity.
A Manufacturing / Industrial engineer by training, with a master’s degree in finance, Kirkegaard’s journey into the world of supply chain management was driven by a deep understanding of the fundamental mechanics of material flow. “I began my career in the oil and gas industry with Conoco, where I worked on pipelines and refining operations. In many ways, the application of the required flow in pipelines to discrete materials has always been an inspiration for constant improvement,” Kirkegaard explains. “That early experience shaped my approach to supply chains—not just as logistics operations, but as integrated systems that need to be synchronized to drive efficiency and financial success.”
For Kirkegaard, this synchronization is not just theoretical. It is deeply embedded in the real-world applications he has overseen throughout his career, from advising major corporations to building patented solutions that marry supply with demand. His legacy, perhaps most notably, includes the development of the decentralized/distributed Sales and Operations Planning (S&OP) software solution that facilitated the real-time alignment of demand and supply. In fact, DCRA’s “Order Commitment” software, patented in 2010, was a precursor to what today’s top tech companies are now calling “S&OE (Sales and Operations Execution).”
A Life Shaped by Problem-Solving and Innovation
Kirkegaard’s influence in the industry can be seen through numerous success stories in industry, strategy management consulting, early employee of i2 Technologies, venture startups and DCRA inc. founded my Kirkegaard in 2002. An early client of DCRA is was turnaround work with a division of Siemens in the early 2000s. DCRA and Kirkegaard reduced excess working capital from over $800 million to under $50 million while simultaneously doubling sales and profits. “This was accomplished not by fancy financial maneuvers or radical restructuring, but through the disciplined application of S&OP demand and supply principles,” he recalls. “The real breakthrough was integrating simple supply chain concepts that allowed us to synchronize supply and demand at the operational level on a weekly basis. That was revolutionary at the time.” They also pioneered S&OP based time based pricing at Siemens a concept DCRA Inc. uses with all its clients.
Such achievements highlight Kirkegaard’s belief that supply chains should not merely be seen as logistics functions or cost centers. “Supply chains are critical to top down competitive advantage and bottom up job satisfaction. If we align supply with demand efficiently, we generate free cash flow, reduce waste, and ultimately, create value for shareholders. For me, it’s always been about understanding the bigger picture—how to align operations, finance, and technology to work towards one unified goal.”
This approach has earned Kirkegaard recognition for his ability to translate complex problems into simple, executable strategies. A six time winner of Demand and Supply Chain Executive’s Pro’s to Know Mr Kirkegaard’s work spans nearly all industries from hi-tech, telecom’s, process indsutries, and inparticual the discrete automotive industry in which under the DCRA umbrella manages two manufacturing operations. In one notable project, he helped redesign the supply chain strategy for a top snack food company, which became the second-best grocery food launch in history. “It’s all about matching the lead time of demand with the lead time of supply,” he explains. “By simplifying the way people understand and work within these systems, we removed the friction between supply and demand that often leads to stockouts or overproduction.”
The Industry’s Evolution: A Critical Moment
Despite these successes, Kirkegaard remains critical of the supply chain industry’s direction in recent years. “I see a lot of noise from big tech companies in the supply chain space. Over the past two decades, the focus has shifted away from value creation towards functionalizing supply chain processes in a failed belief standards create value ? This commoditization of the supply chain has failed and now many of these functional non connected supply chain technologies are the problem as they make demand and supply balancing more difficult if not impossible across proprietary platform and systems” he laments.
For Kirkegaard, the most significant trend in recent years has been the industry’s slow response to the fundamental need for on-demand, time-based synchronization of supply and demand. “I’ve been advocating for this for decades,” he says. “Back in 2002, we were already working on on demand synchronization of demand and supply. Yet, here we are, and the industry still largely focuses on monthly S&OP cycles. The future of supply chain management is about enabling on demand decentralied workflows across manufacturing ecosystems. In fact in 2023 Mr. Kirkegaard was awarded USPTO patents for decentralized S&OP collaboration technologies that allow for any system from spreadsheets to the most proprietary APS or ERP to collaborate. A ground breaking application to effortlessly orchestrate and synchronize S&OP across independent operations and companies.
This critique is not just philosophical; it stems from Kirkegaard’s deep-seated concern for the future of American manufacturing and its role in national security. “Supply chains are more than just an economic issue. They’re a matter of national defense, quality of life, and job creation,” he says. “We can outsource successfully to trusted trading partners where we have complimentary skills. However we cannot let wholesale manfuacturing leave to China and other predatory nation states that are not outsourcing but fundamentally manipulating global economics of entire industries under the “guise” of outsourcing. We cannot out centrally manipulate nation state command and control economies with just centralized cloud computing platforms Rather we can use innovation such as DCRA’s patented M8kit.net to unleash what the American Enterprise Institute calls decentralized., spontaneous free market collaboration to drive productivity gains impossible to achieve with authoritarian top down planned government economies such as the CCP and China.
"The future lies in technologies that enable decentralized workflows that bring the AI and algorithms to the job that work across independent organizations and geographies."
Innovative Technologies and a Vision for the Future
As the leader of DCRA Inc., Kirkegaard has remained on the cutting edge of supply chain innovation. In addition to his pioneering work with S&OP software, he’s recently unveiled Tubecrete, a modular construction system that levers M8kit designed to revolutionize building processes by applying the best of pre manufacturing modular components with the flexibility of traditional construction jobs site nees. By applying first-principles thinking from S&OP, Tubecrete uses just two raw materials to build structures faster, more affordably, and with greater sustainability than traditional methods. “This is a prime example of how supply chain principles can be applied to improve all current industry models with more of a build to order adaptable, agile supply chain vs. long lead time build to stock models from China..
Looking forward, Kirkegaard is excited about the potential for decentralized technologies to transform supply chains. “The future lies in technologies that enable decentralized workflows that bring the AI and algorithms to the job that work across independent organizations and geographies,” he explains. “By synchronizing data and workflows, we can create efficient, build-to-order manufacturing ecosystems that drive both value and innovation.”
The Legacy of S&OP and Decentralization
For aspiring supply chain professionals, Kirkegaard offers clear advice: “Learn the basics of first principles of engineering. Understand the fundamentals of the math, statistics, natural and economic systems of demand and supply balancing. Don’t use case study historical examples of “best practices” as a very small percentage of value has thus been created.” Keep the process simple grounded in the belief that innovation should simplify complexity, not create more of it.
As the industry continues to evolve, Jon Kirkegaard remains one of its most influential figures—leading by example, solving complex problems with elegant solutions. Mr Kirkegaard believes modern financial measurement system should rapidly migrate to forward looking grounded in the immutable truths of cashflow and working capital reduction value created by cycle time reduction to synchronized flows of material and manufacturing rather then the current emphasis on isolated ERP systems emphasis on financial manipulation.
