Global growth is slowing to levels of GDP. Notice that the average growth for consumer nondurables (often termed household products) is 1.7%, as shown in Table 1. This is a far cry from the pre-recessionary growth rate of 6%. Public markets reward growth. As the rate of year-over-year revenues slows, companies attempt to grow through tactics. In consumer good supply chains, this includes new product launch, price incentives, and trade…
“…the art of the possible, the attainable — the art of the next best” ― Otto von Bismarck This morning I landed in Frankfurt. Keeping with my normal Sunday night ritual, I poured myself a cup of tea to pen my weekly post for the Supply Chain Shaman. I have been writing weekly posts for this blog for eight years. The length of time is hard to believe. I thank…
This afternoon, I poured myself a cup of tea to sit down and begin to pen congratulation emails to the Supply Chains to Admire award winners. This is the fun part of my job. It is now our fifth year of analyzing balance sheets to understand which companies are outperforming their peer groups on the metrics of growth, operating margin, inventory turns and Return on Invested Capital (ROIC) while driving…
In Greek mythology, there is a difference between a Titan and a God. A Titan was a primordial god born of Uranus and Gaea and ruled the earth until overthrown by the next generation, younger Olympian gods. The evolution sprung from chaos. Titans were born through brute strength and Gods drove more refined outcomes. Supply chain leaders are competitive. The field of supply chain management—combining source, make and deliver into…
Companies state that they want bold change; but within the company, I find swirling inaction. It baffles me. Why? Companies are at a tipping point. Traditional processes are not sufficient and there is a war being waged between traditionalists and reformers. Within IT organizations, there are many zealots of existing systems. I am speaking to companies that are being held hostage to SAP HANA upgrades with 70% cost overruns and…
Definitions: Provocateur. A person who or thing which provokes; a challenger, instigator, inciter, irritator; (in later use) specifically = “provocateur.” Incrementalism. Movement by degrees. Known by gradualism. I am tired. For the past month, I have been working alongside companies implementing digital strategies. In my experience, during the first session energy is high. As time goes on these high energies dissipate. Fear engulfs companies. Teams cannot help themselves. They guard the…
Ten calls. They are all starting to sound the same. Here is the storyline: “We implemented SAP APO, and we now know its limitations. We have tried SAP IBP and are not impressed. Since SAP is not investing in improving the depth of their solutions for planning, we are looking for a new solution. Can you help us select a new approach? Which of these vendors do you suggest?” They…
Today I am facilitating a share group. The dream is to build a Network of Networks. The goal is to close current gaps, to build inter-enterprise visibility, and improve interoperability between businesses. Today the gaps are large. The solutions to close the gaps are not easy. In attendance are manufacturing representatives from BASF, BerryGlobal, Corning, Covestro, Grace, Evonik, Intel, Monsanto, and Smith’s Detection. Prior attendance included Adama, Dow, J&J, Nestle, P&G, Siemens,…
This week I spoke at an SAS Global Analytics Summit on the connected supply chain. In my view, the connected supply chain is very, very different from the integrated supply chain. Here, in this blog post, I want to provoke teams to think through the differences, and really question what they are asking for. Some History In 2002 I worked for Gartner Group in the business applications practice. This was in…
Financial Reengineering is the radical redesign of business processes and organizational structure in order to achieve significant improvements in performance, such as productivity, cost reduction, cycle time, and quality. It is the basis for many recent developments in management. Sounds good? Right? Think again. The traditional supply chain leader was only focused on cost reduction. This sounds aligned with financial reengineering. Right? The correct answer is “Wrong.” Let me explain. Financial…
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