Business Archives - Page 8 of 8 - Supply Chain Game Changer™

Outsourcing Sourcing! 5 Lessons from Around the Globe!

What is Virtual Procurement and Why Should You Care?

Doing business with suppliers located overseas or in another country can be an overwhelming and daunting task even for expert Sourcing professionals. But what if you considered Outsourcing Sourcing?

Recently a friend of mine asked me to have lunch with him and one of his associates. The other gentleman had invented a new product. He had a marketing plan. He knew what his cost point had to be on the product which meant that he had to have the product manufactured overseas.

But beyond that he had no idea on where to start to source his product.

Introducing Lean In Retail … Start in the Backroom!

The Agile Supply Chain! Why Agility is Trumping Lean!

The Retail company I had just joined was undergoing a massive transformation. Fundamentally the new merchandising strategy was to curate a dramatically different set of products from that which was carried historically, but in addition to what was carried historically. What did this mean for the backroom in every store?

This meant that an enormous number of the business processes had to be transformed to support the new product set because management of the new merchandise required much different capabilities in all aspects of running a retail company. Not only did this transformation require new capabilities but it also required improvements to productivity and efficiency throughout the company. And overall this meant a need for cultural change.

I decided that I would introduce Lean process improvement techniques to this company.

Be a Farmer … of People!

Leadership Techniques To Inspire Your Team!

I’ve told this story many times, and still get laughs out of it every time I do. One time, as I was having lunch with a relatively new associate, he asked what I did for a living. I told him I was a farmer.

Now after he spit his food out and laughed insatiably for a few minutes, I explained to him what I meant.

From Click to Ship in 4 Minutes! Ultimate Principles for World Class Fulfillment!

Disruptive Warehouse Technologies for Any Company!

The capability we had in E-Commerce order fulfillment was rather basic. We had employees manually pushing carts up and down standard warehouse racking aisles picking goods off of shelves. And when they had completed an order or a set of orders they would then push the entire cart back to a centralized order packing station.

As a Supply Chain Services company we needed a dramatically better capability if we were wanted to have customers trust their growing E-Commerce business with us. Pushing carts around a warehouse is both inefficient and lacks innovation.

We had to go back to the drawing board. But in doing so we would end up with a World Class solution!

Disaster Strikes!!! Is Your Supply Chain Ready To Recover?

Part Shortages? What is your Supply Line Strategy?

Hurricanes! Earthquakes! Terrorist Attacks! Train Derailments! War! Fire! Cyber Attacks! Every one is a disaster.

You see it in the news every minute of every hour of every day. Either some natural disaster or some man made despicable act has occurred somewhere on the planet. The result is death, destruction and disruption.

Everyone is trying to pick up the pieces. They are trying to figure out what has happened, how to come to grips with the catastrophic results, and how to get things going again.

Depending on what the disaster is people can be struggling to know where they can get the basics such as food, water and shelter.

This is where the Supply Chain must kick in to gear: business continuity and disaster recovery.

Pain Points – An Opportunity to Innovate and Expand!

Pain points are a part of business. They create opportunities to innovate, diversify and grow. Without customer pain points, there is no reason to be in business. Trading goods and services is as old as mankind itself.

Social Media Tips for Supply Chain Leaders!

For busy executives, being active on social media and leveraging social media tips is kind of like networking. It’s one of those things that everyone says you absolutely have to do to benefit your career, but it’s hard to make it part of your daily routine.

Let’s be honest: it’s even harder for those who came of age before social media became ubiquitous. It can be tough to pin down what channels you should be on, what you should be posting, and the specific ways that a strong social media presence will bolster your career.