We know intuitively that we must be agile in order to meet the changing and volatile customer demand. Why do we continue to insist that precision and the resulting chaotic emergencies are the best way to achieve agility?
“We’re taking data we know is wrong and using it to predict a precise outcome that we somehow expect to be right.
The irony is two-fold. First, for all our talk about processes and process improvement, we really spend an obscene amount of time manually adjusting and firefighting to achieve the desired outcome.
Because precision is, um, well, precise, you now have a different starting point for your journey’s second leg. Which means all the future plans you made will need changing.
Today’s buzzword is Visibility. Every business leader says that we need better visibility. Therefore, the rest of us run off searching for better visibility.
In traditional MRP, we start with a prediction of demand called a forecast, which is typically a range. We are forced to choose one single number to represent that range which we then input into a complex calculator.
I asked a group of supply chain purchasing and planning professionals a simple question. I asked them how they decide just when to place an order and just how much.
It’s time for a change. Recruiting means you are actively “selling” your company to the prospective candidate.
Reduce Inventory, they said. And they’re still saying it. We’ve been working on the same things for decades. How is it possible that we are chasing the right things, but not achieving the goal?
