Your focus – metrics or observation. As a business gets larger, the challenge for managers is whether to only believe the performance measures (metrics) presented or to also take notice of the views from staff and customers. If only metrics are considered, managers are entering dangerous territory. I have been reading about a major retailer in Australia that relied on … Read More
Does Logistics Play a Part in Your Capital Investments?
Reduce spending in your business. Are ‘savings’ in maintenance expenditure real savings? In a future time, when the original decision maker has moved to another job, additional expenditure will be required to keep the items or equipment operational. A recent court case in Australia found an electricity utility guilty of causing a devastating fire that killed a number of people … Read More
Getting Procurement from good to great – where to start
Starting the improvement process. How should an effective Procurement function operate? There will be different ideas at the detail level, but are there some main points that would find general agreement? These thoughts came about recently while having coffee with a colleague who has recently completed a consulting assignment. The assignment was to advise on ‘reducing the cost of purchased … Read More
Think about Supply Chains and Logistics as Strategic
Innovation in your supply chains. You cannot cut your business to glory. There comes a time when being smarter is the better option. After some seven years of hearing and reading about re-organisation and retrenchment as a solution to business challenges, is it the right time to invest in smarter supply chains? This thought was triggered by a recent report … Read More
Logistics Service Providers can improve their business
What do shippers require of their 3PL suppliers? A third party logistics (3PL) service provider is unlikely to be equally good at every part of their service offering. So what aspects of the service should 3PL businesses and their shipper clients aim for? The events firm Eye for Transport has recently asked shippers and retailers in North America to rank … Read More