supplychain Archives - Page 16 of 18 - Supply Chain Game Changer™

Enable Spend Aggregation in Procurement!

Spend Aggregation Obstacle Course for Procurement!

Aggregating your procurement spend for the purpose of delivering greater value is a sound objective. Theoretically you should be able to generate better service, better terms and conditions, and better cost. Therefore you should enable spend aggregation.

Yet there can be many obstacles in your way to achieving this seemingly simple goal. Loss of control, fear of job loss, questionable benefits, and a perceived loss of margin are some of the obstacles you may run across. We discussed these in greater detail in our post Procurement (Part 1!) – The Spend Aggregation Obstacle Course!

How to Optimize Your Factory for Industry 4.0!

Industry 4.0 – Smart Manufacturing of the Future! (Infographic)

Believe it or not, Industry 4.0 — the latest specialization for modern factories and manufacturing plants — does factor into design and and help optimize your factory layout. That is because digitization, or the current movement to connect and bring all equipment into modern times, absolutely influences design.

In essence, that is the heart of Industry 4.0, a complete synergy between operations, equipment, properties and, of course, the people who spend their time there. If 3.0 was about automation and boosting efficiency, this generation is about injecting the human touch back into the work environment, and that means accommodating such things from a design standpoint.

Ground Rules for Creating a High Performance Organization (HPO)!

Creating a High Performance Organization! (Infographic)

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A High Performance Organization is one in which there is tremendous alignment among and commitment by the team members. And as a result this motivated team is able to achieve superior results. The level of collaboration and innovation they demonstrate is remarkable. But what are the ground rules?

There are many characteristics of the culture which allows such teams to be high performing. And when they set out to drive change and make improvements it is those cultural characteristics which allow them to succeed.

The Supply Chain Detective ™! In Search of Broken Supply Chain Clues!

The Supply Chain Detective™: The Case of the Unpaid Invoices!

How can you tell if your Supply Chain is broken? Do you need a Supply Chain Detective?

Certainly there can be obvious clues: your CEO starts firing and hiring people, consultants are brought in, customers start leaving, or operating and financial performance suffers.

But before the situation gets to those extremes what are the clues that your Supply Chain is not working as well as it could, or should?

Supply Chain effectiveness is absolutely critical for companies in most industries to survive, let alone succeed. And even if your company seems successful now that is no guarantee that it will be in the future.

So detecting those clues and solving these problems is of paramount importance.

How Artificial Intelligence (AI) Will Change Decision Making!

The Impact of Artificial Intelligence (AI) Over the Next Half Decade!

From The Terminator to Blade Runner, pop culture has always leaned towards a chilling depiction of artificial intelligence (AI) and our future with AI at the helm. Recent headlines about Facebook panicking because their AI bots developed a language of their own have us hitting the alarm button once again. Should we really feel unsettled with an AI future?

News flash: that future is here. If you ask Siri, the helpful assistant who magically lives inside your phone, to read text messages and emails to you, find the nearest pizza place or call your mother for you, then you’ve made AI a part of your everyday life.

Supply Chain Predictions!

Spreadsheets – A History and a Future!

As to Supply Chain predictions, in the book The Living Supply Chain, the authors argue that, “Speeding up the supply chain is at the root of everything that is good: improved revenue, reduced working capital, higher profitability, and less obsolete inventory. Conversely, slowing down the supply chain is at the root of everything that is bad: working capital write-offs, reduced profitability, and slowing revenues.”

To “speed” up the supply chain is to invest in change and change will come with the digital transformation of the supply chain, which is the major focus for executives in the future.

Screen Time! Is That Enough To Be Good In Supply Chain?

Social Media Tips for Supply Chain Leaders!

How many screens do you have? And is your screen time?

You likely have a Cell phone or a Smart phone. You may have a Desktop computer monitor or a Laptop, or both, between your home and your place of work. You may have a wearable device like a Fitbit or an Apple Watch. You may have an iPad or other type of tablet. And your TV may even have Internet connectivity.

We are surrounded by screens and the amount of time that we spend on them is truly remarkable.

But for those who are learning about Supply Chain, or any other profession for that matter, is it best to acquire that learning and gain that experience just by watching screens? Or is it better in Supply Chain to learn based on actual physical experiences and interactions?

The 5 Levels of Supply Chain Transparency!

Supply Chain Visibility Has Never Been More Important!

One could argue Supply Chain transparency — at it’s origin — is a byproduct of consumer concerns, materialized within poor production, social and/or environmental quality.

As the story goes, the meatpacking districts of Chicago were one of the first recorded drivers, towards the need, for supply chain transparency. The Jungle, authored by Upton Sinclair, outraged the American public in 1904, after Sinclair’s depiction of the harsh realities of the meat industry at the turn of the 20th century. The book sparked consumer concern, which prompted the Food and Drug Act and the Meat Inspection Act (Linich 2016).

Differentiate With Supplier Relationship Management (SRM)!

Strategic Supplier Relationship Management – Do’s and Don’ts

Democratic institutions around the world promote the core doctrine that all people are created equally. This is clearly not the case in the world of supplier management. All suppliers are not created equally and they should all be managed with this distinction in mind. As such you can differentiate with Supplier Relationship Management.

This article on how to differentiate with Supplier Relationship Management will look at a model for stratifying and segmenting your supply base within the confines of a structured and formal supplier relationship program (SRP).

On Time Delivery – Get that right First!

What Gets Measured Is What Gets Done!

No matter what industry you are in and no matter what channels you are serving your Customers expect delivery of their goods on time.

You may have different pressures, to increase profits for instance, but you must take care of the basic expectation of on time delivery first.

If you don’t have on time delivery all your other pressures will not matter. Your customers will go elsewhere and your business will fail. Even if you have a unique product that no one else in the world has (for now) you must deliver on time to your customers. If not there will always come a time when your customers will be able to go elsewhere.

Providing on time delivery may seem basic. But it is the foundation on which the rest of your business must be built.

Do You Have Hidden Freight Costs?

Do you have a Freight Management Strategy or are you Spinning your Wheels?

Having come from a company wherein we were selling Freight management services I was curious about Freight spend at this new company. But I could find no one answer to my question.

“How much were we spending on Freight?”

The fact that no one knew the answer raised the first alarm bell. The answers that I got raised a whole slew of other alarm bells.

This was going to be an area that was full of opportunity!

Lessons from the Edge of the Abyss! Surviving a System Implementation!

10 Supply Chain Investment Challenges – Real and Imagined!

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The company I had just joined was nearing the finish line on the implementation of a new WMS system. They had been working on the system change for a few years. Now implementation was only a few months away. There were going to be lessons from the edge of this experience.

As the implementation date drew closer one of the key Warehouse management leaders, heading the project from the beginning, left the company. We forged ahead and implemented the system on April 1st. That’s right, April 1st!

And that’s when the “fun” began!

Last Mile Delivery: Stop Shipping Air and Empty Boxes!

Raising the Bar! The Omni-channel Approach to Customer Experience!

When you order something Online there is great excitement in anticipation of opening your package when it arrives. With any luck the company you have ordered from has provided a positive experience in the online ordering and payment process. Now you are just waiting for the package to arrive. You certainly don’t want them to stop shipping.

Most recently we ordered a couple of items online. They were relatively small items and could easily fit in the palm of your hand. Within a couple of days a large box arrived at the front door. I wasn’t quite sure what it was because the box was rather big, big enough for a toaster or perhaps a couple of large board games.

I was surprised when we opened the big box, removed a bunch of crumpled paper and packaging material, and found the 2 small items we had ordered sitting on the bottom of this box. The items could have fit inside a standard envelope. Instead they were deliberately packaged in a box which could have held 200-300 of the items. Why don’t they stop shipping air?

What a waste!

A Formula For Achieving Game Changing Results!

World Class Inventory Turnover Breakthrough Elements! (Infographic)

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Many projects often fade away over time and fall well short of their original goals. People face many very real challenges in leading these projects. So how do you avoid having your project become another program-of-the-month and disappear from view? Is there a formula?

As we have discussed in other blog posts we have tackled Inventory Turnover several times, amongst many other challenges. We have doubled turnover and achieved industry leading results in very short periods of time.

Your challenge may be trying to improve Inventory performance or trying to create a transformational improvement in some other area. We have found that there is a formula and a set of key principles that are critical to driving the game changing results you are looking for.

Why don’t you have a TMS (Transportation Management System) Solution yet?

Supply Chain as a Service (SCaaS)!

Why have so few companies adopted a TMS (Transportation Management System) solution? There are tremendous benefits but there are obstacles, real or perceived, that get in the way. I believe that the benefits far outweigh the obstacles but the obstacles often do not have anything to do with the benefits.

Many years ago I started a Supply Chain Services business as a new service within the company. The fundamental premise was that we had great Supply Chain expertise, tools, systems and processes which we could easily offer to customers.

One of the services that was very compelling was our Freight Management service. We had a tremendous amount of spend leverage globally, a seasoned team, great supplier relationships, very strong processes, and an excellent Transportation Management System (TMS). With all of that we went to market!