Your One Plan. Running around to ‘put out fires’ and reacting positively to challenging events looks good as a ‘can do’ attitude. Unfortunately, it is an ineffective and expensive way to operate; instead, try planning. Planning is based on the ‘one plan’ approach – to be truly effective, your organisation must have only one plan. But, to be successful, all affected … Read More
A future scenario for your supply chains
Forecasting supply chains and logistics businesses. Even in large companies, the person or team who consider future economic and business scenarios and how the enterprise may respond, do not always get it right. The chairman of Origin Energy has admitted that management had not foreseen the extent of the fall of crude oil prices and had been mistaken in its … Read More
Inventory the base of customer service in supply chains
Inventory is a cost or asset. Too often, inventory is viewed as just a feature within a business – that is, until it is the cause of lost sales. I always hope that understanding by senior management will improve about the value of inventory and the people who manage it, but there is still a way to go. Two situations this … Read More
Your supply chain organisation is the best – is it?
News to affect supply chains. Three articles this week provided input into a picture of supply chains in the future. One article discussed the recently agreed (but not ratified) Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), a trade facilitation pact between 12 countries of the Pacific rim. The second talked about the benefits of incorporating the Internet of Things (IoT) into supply chains. The … Read More
Know your client’s supply chains plans for the future
There will be a target to aim for. Thinking forward over 15 years is not so difficult. Remember back to 2000 – it was only 15 years ago. The challenge then was the number of business options about the future to select, rank and plan. In 2015 the ever more likely scenario is that governments of the world will be … Read More