Supply Chain through the Refrigerator
Sometimes Supply Chain feels harder than Mission Impossible. Is five seconds really enough warning prior to something self-destructing?
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Sometimes Supply Chain feels harder than Mission Impossible. Is five seconds really enough warning prior to something self-destructing?
What will be the company measures in the future? That remains to be seen. But here’s a couple ideas, that I think (hope) will become mainstream in the future.
Today, we find Julie, Matt and two other members of their team attending a Demand Driven Planner workshop. There is a certification possible, but right now Julie and Matt just want to evaluate if this methodology is as promising as it seems. We catch up with them during a break in the class.
Aligning for Agility. Where is the Disconnect?
What is the purpose of starting a Sales and Operations Planning process? For many, S&OP is a process to get information to flow between various parts of the business, the most obvious being Sales and Operations (hence the name). The premise, I believe, is that if Operations knows what is happening in Sales, then they will be able to respond. Great starting point. At some point, perhaps it worked well.
I was mapping what I thought my own Work-Life balance should include, based on one current methodology. Physical, Emotional, … and then I went off the rails. Because I started thinking about the viewpoint of the company and how aligning the company’s Work-Life balance offering with the individual’s Work-Life balance requirements will make a huge difference in achieving that balance.
What do we use in our lives that hasn’t appreciably changed in 20 to 50 years? And how much duct tape or band-aids have we applied so we can keep using the same old items or methods?
Few, if any, follow recommendations of their traditional MRP system unquestioned. That gives a clue.
So, as we slowly spin into chaos, we have to finally admit that trying to use a tool based on precision and exactness creates a challenge as our world becomes more and more imprecise.
I get these crazy thoughts that perhaps sometimes we are going about things the wrong way. Or maybe it is clearer to say we are starting at the wrong end. To achieve any goal, there are always at least two approaches to take. Should I start with the target and determine how it can be achieved? Or should I start with a process or behavioral change and see how much improvement I can make?
What are the things that, if we could find them, would make Supply Chain Management a whole lot easier? In fact, they are the things for which some of us search our entire careers. Have a look at my list of three. Let me know if you agree or if you have additional holy grails that you seek.
What if we could segment the precision, with built-in connectivity between the segments, rather than forcing the entire operation into a step by step linear process?
We can embrace the complexity and build a system where everyone is judged on the preciseness of their input and their output. Aligning the various complexities along the various steps of a process so that each step is exactly and precisely in line with the preceding and proceeding steps. Sound simple?
What does it mean to be over-qualified? When I was hiring people, I was always eager to find those who may one day replace me or even surpass me. Why would I want to hire someone that was only capable of meeting the current requirements?
During our phone conversation yesterday, when you asked me how long before we could ship our product to you, I went about researching the lead time for our top selling product.
Traditional MRP has become the focus of Buyers, Planners, and Schedulers with input from Sales and Customer Service and output impacting operations, shipping, and logistics.
Years ago, at one of our APICS meetings, we had a meteorologist from a local television station as our guest speaker. I figured it would be interesting, but I never figured that her first words would be like a beacon in the darkness and a goal for which I have been striving ever since.
We all can agree that having the right amount of inventory is valuable. Yet most businesses have too much of the wrong stuff and too little of the right stuff.
