As a blogger, you can get feedback in real-time. Pretty cool. Right? I answer every question I get and sometimes I share my answers. This is the case today. Recently I had a comment on the Supply Chains to Admire post. The comment was, “While I appreciate comparing companies to their peers, I am lost on how Amazon and Walmart can be excluded (nevermind P&G). Amazon’s because of their breath…
Supply chain excellence. It is easier to say than define. Getting it clear is important. Why? The answer makes or breaks a supply chain leader’s career and defines corporate value. Let’s take an example. When we look at the relative progress of industries within the Technology Value Networks in Table 1, you see a lot of red. The first number in a cell represents the average value for a specific…
Within a supply chain organization there is turmoil. The enlightened leader knows that the efficient silos do not create the most effective supply chains; however, it is hard to deviate from the traditional path that focused inside-out. Most are on a fixed march for process standardization to build efficient vertical silos. These traditional processes are batch, often using latent data, and the focus is inside-out. The building of outside-in processes,…
I closed the door of my hotel room and grimaced at the overflowing trash can. Heaped high with plastic, it violated my principles as an environmentalist. Ironically in the city of San Francisco, which alleges allegiance to Corporate Social Responsibility, I had no option. As a frequent traveler, sometimes the road stories are ones we’d like to forget. This was a bad week. The flight into San Francisco on American was…
On Tuesday this week I will present the findings from the recent Supply Chain Insights study at the Penn State Forum. As I worked on my presentation, three themes emerged. 1) Opportunity. The most satisfied respondents on the survey were technologists and academics by profession, Baby-Boomers by age group, and those with the ability to work from home. The least satisfied are those in manufacturing work teams. A central theme in…
The 2016 US presidential political contest was brutal. Emotions are still quite raw. I hated it. When emotions run high, everyone loses. Unfortunately, I think the concept of “Demand Driven” is headed down the same path. I feel the discussions are becoming religious arguments about right and wrong instead of healthy discovery (much like this picture of Tibetan monks debating). Let’s face it, the definition of demand-driven is evolving. There…
Imagine driving down a dusty road for years. One without any towns, road signs, billboards, or rest stops. Sounds boring, right? I agree. This is the world of the supply chain leader driving process improvement. The road to supply chain excellence takes time and patience. There are no clear landmarks or directional signage. Today, in organizations, there is a large gap between technology and process effectiveness. Here we examine some…
As I participate in technology briefings with vendors, I am trying to piece together the future of supply chain management. For me it is not clear. I believe that supply chain leaders are in the middle of step change in process innovation driven by not one, but a confluence of technologies. In each briefing, presenters bandy about the word “digital” like I throw Parmesan cheese on a pizza. (The more the better.)…
Timeless: not affected by the passage of time or changes in fashion. Last week I was on vacation in the Caribbean. I moved on island time. It is a slower, more relaxed pace. In the process, I thought a lot about the concept of time and how it affects our daily lives. Supply chains are anything but timeless. At a company, individuals define supply chain excellence based upon their own purview…
This week I worked with the Supply Chain Insights team to analyze and write our annual supply chain talent report. With over 400 respondents in the study, cross-tabbing and data analysis was fun. We had many options. High-Level Findings In general there is high job satisfaction in supply chain careers: 70% are either very satisfied or satisfied with their current job. The most satisfied are Baby Boomers working for technology…
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