In the middle of our 5th year here at Supply Chain Game Changer we are proud to publish our 2021 Top 10 List. Here we are showcasing our 10 most popular articles for the first half of the year.
Since we’ve started we have amassed an extensive library of over 750 articles. There is something for everyone no matter what your interests, challenges and needs may be from one day to the next. And that fulfills our mission of sharing experiences and expertise for the benefit of all.
Still there is always more to right about to help our readers.
So let’s take some time to reflect, and look back on our 2021 top 10 list … so far!
Our recent trips to Costco and Walmart, in mid March 2020, had one thing in particular in common. Both stores were sold out of toilet paper, with no knowledge as to when more was coming in to the store.
A few weeks ago, in mid February 2020, when the panic was starting to set in with respect to the Coronavirus we saw some people buying a lot of toilet paper. At the time we bought more packages than we should have, just in case, not realizing there was going to be a full blown run on toilet paper.
This seems to be the story everywhere, even on Amazon. Every store is sold out of toilet paper. Why is it sold out? It’s such a common product that’s merely made out of paper. Does it all come from China, where their factories are shut down? Is that the problem?
In light of the current situation we thought it was time to learn more about the Toilet Paper Supply Chain.
It’s certainly been an interesting past few months in the container shipping industry; from the upcoming IMO 2020 Low Sulphur Fuel requirements, Brexit (Yikes!), US-China tariff negotiations; it’s refreshing to get back to basics and talk about the container industry.
However, today the container business seems to be more logistical than purely shipping.
More than a year since the Covid pandemic began, the Auto market has yet to stabilize, mostly because of the sudden surge in demand for new and used cars after the country reopened. As the world went into lockdown, several factories were shut down leading to a scarce supply of various components, the most notable of which were semiconductors, which are a critical part of modern cars.
Because of this, even after the factories were reopened, manufacturers couldn’t cope with the sudden rise in demand for new cars. Most manufacturers canceled their orders for semiconductors and chips at the start of the pandemic, and the sudden surge in demand caught them off-guard, having to reorder all the components, taking a lot more time.
In the era of digital transformation, organizations are constantly seeking innovative solutions to enhance their supply chain management (SCM) processes and create the Digital Supply Chain of the future.
One such revolutionary technology is ChatGPT (Generative Pre-trained Transformer), powered by Artificial Intelligence (AI). ChatGPT, developed by OpenAI, is a sophisticated language model that can understand and generate human-like text.
While most medical supplies can be refrigerated or kept in a dry, dark place at room temperature, some require unusually low temperatures. The ability to supply extreme cooling measures is also vital in various medical treatments. Therefore, from a medical supply chain point of view, one could certainly do worse than investing in some of these industries including refrigerated transportation.
All over the business landscape, more companies in more diverse industries are transforming their Procurement functions and Procurement strategy.
They’re leaving behind more transactional models and becoming more strategic, implementing total cost of ownership Strategic Sourcing models, either centre-led or decentralized.
In any company or industry that sells products the cost of the raw materials and components is often the single largest expense. Despite the magnitude of this cost however there is a wide range of focus put on managing this expenditure from proactive and strategic to reactive and tactical. This is all managed by either Commodity Management or Category Management.
In some cases there is a great level of planning applied before a single purchase order is placed. In other cases buying decisions are made subjectively and with very little focus. Further the experience in those buying these goods can vary significantly as well.
Supply Chain is about much more than just negotiating lower materials costs. A well constructed Procurement Strategy will raise the value of the Supply Chain to your company.
How do you manage your materials spend? Are you executing a Buying Strategy or are you just blindly placing purchase orders ?
Some procurement professionals can quickly identify their key or champion supplier partners.
Unfortunately for many, basic supplier insights, such as contract, spend, performance, risk, and compliance data aren’t so easy to get a hold of or begin to analyze.
Listed as a top key finding in a 2020 WBR Insights report, it was found that “The top concern for procurement professionals is making buying decisions without the necessary insight” (WBR Insights 2020).
Access to reliable insights is incredibly important when aiming to know which suppliers are the ‘right suppliers’ to collaborate with.
There’s something about startups and the successful entrepreneur that fascinates people.
Maybe it’s the idea of starting your own business with little more than an idea and a lot of hard work, or perhaps it’s the excitement of seeing that business grow and succeed.
Whatever the case may be, there’s no doubt that startup culture is alive and well – and growing every day.
Our fundamental objective at Supply Chain Game Changer is to share experiences and expertise and lessons learned. As such we have focussed on curating a wide range of content and resources that will have relevance to anyone at anytime no matter what their needs may be.
We began our Seasoned Leadership in Action™ Interview series in support of our objective to share experiences and expertise. And hearing from Industry leaders in this interview format has proven to be incredibly popular. People want to hear about the experiences of others and lessons learned from those who have been successful in their fields.
With many of these Seasoned Leadership in Action™ Interviews now published we thought it would be valuable to extract excerpts from these interviews along themes, starting with lessons learned.
As such we are presenting our first compilation of excerpts from these interviews which is focussed on Lessons Learned by these leaders throughout their careers.
Enjoy and look for nuggets of wisdom in these lessons learned.
The Supply Chain touches all of our lives whether it be in business or personally. No matter what industry you are in or are touched by, all involve the movement of goods, services, and information. So the most efficient functioning of the Supply Chain affects us all. And it affects us in every aspect of our lives whether we are consumers, employees, or business leaders.
With a career spent in Supply Chain I’ve seen many ways of performing the processes involved in managing the Supply Chain. Many of these processes are highly efficient. Yet many more are highly inefficient. Regardless, everyone strives to improve the way things are done. And every experience has been an opportunity for growth.
In this blog I’d like to share my experiences, and those of others, in improving, working in, managing in and being managed by the Supply Chain.
There have been some remarkable achievements and there have been some missteps along the way. However there are lessons to be learned and experiences to be shared in every case. And I hope that this learning and shared experience will be of value as you seek to improve the Supply Chain you are a part of.
On top of that we want to share anything and everything related to Leadership, Change Management, Technology, Procurement, Purchasing, Distribution, Logistics, and much, much more.
Overall Supply Chain Game Changer can serve you as a guide as you do your jobs and as you progress through your career. The issues and challenges that you face will be different for everyone on any given day. There is something for everyone in Supply Chain Game Changer.
Additionally I invite you to comment and send me content. By learning, not only from successes but from failures, we will all be better going forward. There is a wonderful world of people and experiences that we can all learn from.
So again I welcome you to the Supply Chain Game Changer™ blog.
I have seen many people join a new company and take a new job or leave for another company. While I don’t have the precise statistics it is fair to say that as many as half of the people joining a new company will do well. However atleast half of these people will struggle in their new roles and in their new companies. Many will fail altogether.
What makes someone more or less successful when making such a career move? What are the environmental factors which affect this outcome? And most importantly what is it that the new employee does or doesn’t do that makes them succeed or fail?
We all know how important cybersecurity is now that technology powers commerce in such a significant way. But if you perform work as part of a supply chain, you know that the stakes are especially high with cyber security the weakest link.
Given that you’re part of a network of providers, vendors, transporters and managers, the impact of the weakest link in the supply chain cybersecurity “chain of custody” can be significant.
“I’d like you to join our company. One of the Projects you will lead is our ‘Productivity Initiative’ unless you will be naming your project. We need to transform all of our business processes and culture and improve our efficiencies everywhere.”
Wow! What a great challenge and opportunity to make a difference. But calling it the “Productivity Initiative”? That was as inspiring as watching paint dry or grass grow.
“I’ll do it! But we need to give this Project a NAME. A NAME that will inspire people, motivate people, and capture the essence of the change and cultural transformation that we are looking for. And this can’t be an ‘Initiative” … it has to be an ‘Imperative’ … this is not optional … we have to transform the business and we need everyone to rally around our cause!
EBOOK HERE
EBOOKS HERE
