How Covid Changed the Restaurant Industry!

The pandemic saw the restaurant industry face challenges like never before, with most being forced to close for a substantial period and, when allowed to re-open once more, having to operate under new restrictions, ensuring social distancing was being maintained for example.

The crisis forced many restaurants and bars out of business; those that survived often did so by deploying innovative and inventive new systems and ideas to stay afloat.

For the restaurants that made it through the pandemic, things will likely never be the same again. But this isn’t necessarily a bad thing.

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The Supply Chain Detective™ and the Mystery of the Rock Star Boss!

My plane had just landed.  I turned on my cell phone.  And almost immediately my CEO called to ask me about my recently hired “Rock Star” boss.

“Have you heard from Rick?  Nobody’s heard from him in several days.”

Rick was my new boss, the CPO, a guy that the CEO hired a couple of months before.

“No I haven’t heard from him either.  That is very unusual given the incredible pace he set for himself”, I said.

“Ok. Let me know if you hear from him and I’ll do the same.”

Where the heck was he?  He seemed to be working 20 hours a day, 7 days a week.  All of his direct reports were getting dozens of emails from him at all hours of the day and night.  But lately there was nothing.  Complete radio silence.

What happened to my new boss? It was a case for the Supply Chain Detective™.

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The Dirty Little Secrets in Procurement!

It’s time to air our dirty laundry and our dirty little secrets.

Procurement is a function that is undergoing an exciting transformation in the majority of global value chains; simultaneously, within its own strategy, process, and technology.

This is an exciting time to be a procurement practitioner, as well as a vendor of ProcureTech solutions. ProcureTech is a fast-growing technology category. While it may not be equally as sexy or notable, as MarTech or FinTech, the ProcureTech market has a forecasted CAGR of 9.6% between 2018–2023 (MarketWatch 2020). The market can expect to be evaluated at a $9.9BN industry by 2023 (Banerjee 2019).

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Digital Transformation of SCM and Change Management!

Ah yes, the sweet smell of change is in the air. The digital transformation of SCM (supply chain management), more specifically procurement and sourcing functions, is becoming a part of the new normal in business.

Organizations are beginning to hop aboard the technology train en route to their end destination: Innovation City and Top-Line Value Ave. .

Along the way, there will be barriers to a smooth journey, but taking incremental steps towards change will allow organizations to overcome challenges.

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Seasoned Leadership in Action™! An Interview with Brad Jackson, COO at North West Rubber!

Brad Jackson
Brad Jackson, EVP at Rakuten Kobo

At Supply Chain Game Changer we believe in sharing experiences and expertise from people in every industry and from across the globe.  As such we have introduced our “Seasoned Leadership in Action™” Interview series at Supply Chain Game Changer.  This interview is with Brad Jackson, Executive Vice President of Supply Chain Management and Device Sales at Rakuten Kobo, now at North West Rubber.

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Never Automate a Bad Process!

SC Viral The Pandemic Diaries

When I was presenting the latest Supply Chain Strategic Plan the CEO said to me, “We’ve already spent millions on Supply Chain! Every process should be working like clockwork. Why do you need more money?”

It was true, to a degree. While I had only recently joined the company it was true that the company was investing over $10 million to upgrade and automate their Distribution Center operations.

My predecessor had spearheaded this investment. The current Distribution Center operations were unable to handle the growth, the change in product mix, and the dynamics associated with rapid fulfillment and online shopping.

But there were some fatal flaws which were at the core of their investment plan. Most significantly they failed to optimize the process first.

As a result they were spending millions of dollars automating a bad process.

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What Does Expansion Mean for Your Changing Business?

Change is natural and inevitable in almost every aspect of life, but that doesn’t help to make it any less uncomfortable. While some people are better at adapting to the winds of change than others, it can always remain difficult when it comes to topics like business, where change is something that entails risk and unfamiliarity – in a field where you like to know what’s coming so you can be as prepared as possible.

Expansion is something that can often bring more change with it than people expect, and it’s worth understanding what the finer details here might be before you jump in and find your surroundings shifting faster than you can get to grips with. 

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The Supply Chain Detective™ and the Case of the Broken Global Processes!

I had just arrived on the scene. On the surface the operational leaders I met from the Americas, Europe and Asia were very smart people. But I soon learned that each region had their own disparate ways of doing things locally. From a broader perspective however there were only broken global processes.

To say that there were broken global processes is a little misleading. The fact was that there were no truly “global” processes. Every site had their own way of doing things even within a region, so there weren’t even actual regional processes.

Clearly there must be a better way of doing things. This was another case for The Supply Chain Detective™!

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Practical Tips for Implementing WhatsApp Teams Integration to Improve Team Dynamics!

Do you know that businesses today rely on various communication tools to enhance productivity, collaboration, and most importantly, team dynamics? Microsoft Teams is one of the best platforms that works wonders for managing workflows in teams, while WhatsApp is one of the top messaging apps worldwide. 

The integration of WhatsApp Teams unites the potential of these two strong platforms, boosting team dynamics and operational efficiency across the organization. This will allow seamless communication on both platforms, hence reducing any chance of communication loss and offering a more integrated work environment. 

Below is the step-by-step process of how one should go about integrating WhatsApp into Teams and some tips on how to make this powerful combination work for the best in terms of team dynamics.

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Lean in the Back Office … Why is it so difficult?

SC Viral The Pandemic Diaries

Implementing a Lean program on the Manufacturing floor, in a Warehouse operation, or in a Distribution Centre is challenging enough.  There are a series of process steps in which materials are transformed or moved in some fashion.  Try implementing Lean in the Back Office.

And your Lean program has at its core the objective of making these operations as efficient as possible. But when you try to apply these same Lean principles to the support organizations, or the back office, you are likely to experience a wide range of reactions.

So why is it so difficult to implement, and sustain, a Lean program in the Back Office of your organization?

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Do You Want Inventory Turnover Breakthrough? Define and Manage The Levers!

Taking a holistic approach in order to achieve Inventory Turnover Breakthrough results meant that I needed to consider the End To End Supply Chain.  As I thought through this approach there was really no other way if we were to achieve significant improvements to help the entire business in a short period of time.

In thinking about the End To End Supply Chain it was necessary to define all of the aspects that impact Inventory levels.   In short I needed to be able to manage:

  • All of the levers that control the rate at which Inventory is brought in to the company
  • All of the levers that control the rate at which Inventory moves through the company
  • And all of the levers that control the rate at which Inventory moves out of the company
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An Acquisition Gone Wrong! A Coup D’Etat in the Boardroom!

The CEO called an emergency meeting in the Boardroom.  The President of our Division, myself, the prior owners of a company we had just acquired, and one of our major shareholders/board members were to attend.  The sh*t had hit the fan with our latest acquisition.

It had only been a few months since the acquisition had been completed.  This was certainly long enough for the honeymoon period to be over.  But now it looked like we were quickly heading for a divorce.

What went wrong?

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Characteristics of a Barrier Busting Culture!

SC Viral The Pandemic Diaries

When you embark on driving any kind of Game Changing Transformation you will most likely also need to change the Culture.  As the saying goes, “the definition of insanity is doing the same thing and expecting different results”.  So in order to get different results you may have to break through barriers and drive different behaviours from what are inherent in your current Culture.

Your organization is an ecosystem of policies, practices, processes and procedures that are the result of decisions, beliefs and  behaviours.  Over time much of this generally gets accepted as the way it’s always been done and is not open to challenge or to change.  Therein sacred cows, whether real or perceived, can become obstacles to making the changes needed to derive different results from the status quo.

So how do you change your Culture to achieve Game Changing results?

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The Control Tower – Is Yours Real or Smoke and Mirrors?

The advancement of digital technology enables the real-time, intelligent management of the Supply Chain.  This now means you need a Control Tower.

But any company’s Supply Chain can still involve tens of thousands of skus, thousands of bills of material, thousands of suppliers, hundreds of transportation vendors, dozens of manufacturing facilities and distribution centres, and numerous customers.

So even if you have a Digital Supply Chain how do you manage this complexity?  The answer is that you need a Control Tower!

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7 Reasons to Switch to Agile Project Management!

The agile approach is one of the most popular methodologies among project managers these days. This agile project management approach has been shown to be quite beneficial in supporting companies in developing profitable products/services.

This is primarily due to agile’s emphasis on teamwork and the priority it places on client happiness. Another reason agile is so effective is that it involves project roadmaps and continuously revises them to meet the customer’s growing needs.

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