Support a decentralised business with one system. Discussions about the benefits of either centralised or decentralised IT systems often assume a business has a main focus, with performance measures structured to improve the focus. However, what should be the approach to IT systems if your business has an overall reason for being, but is structured to be very decentralised, with … Read More
Know the Logistics Service Providers that support your business
Global trade and increased complexity. Global trade continues to increase, together with the length of trade routes, increasing the complexity of supply chains. This in turn, increases the reliance that shippers have on their logistics service providers (LSPs), that can change the power structure in supply chain relationships. There is an old saying which states ” It is not the … Read More
Speed the flow of money in your supply chains
Know more about your money flow. Aiming to be ‘excellent’ through the supply chains in which your business operates, requires that you address the three flows of each supply chain. A logistics professional is expected to know a lot about the flow of items, be they materials, components or finished products. Increasingly there is an expectation that knowledge of information … 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