Companies aiming for change concentrate on “task alignment” – reorganizing employee roles, responsibilities, and relationships to solve specific business problems. Task alignment is easiest in small units – a plant, department, or business unit- where goals and tasks are clearly defined. Thus, the chief problem with corporate change is how Read more…
Conventional wisdom leads many managers to focus primarily on operating their business as efficiently as possible. They believe they can be most successful if they strive for high product volume, top product standardisation and a continuous process. However, turbulent and misunderstood demand left them with excess inventory.1. Downstream demand is Read more…
It is popular these days to talk about assurance of supply. More often than not, manufacturers rely on components and services from all around the world for the continuing smooth supply of their products and services. A company’s reputation hangs on its reliable delivery to customers, but assuring this ongoing Read more…
In Ironman Triathlon there are 3 events – Swimming, Cycling and Running. Total performance judged the winner, not by a single score in a single event. Because the athlete must do well in all events, he has little opportunity to perfect any one event. A contender trying to improve performance Read more…
Companies divide themselves in smaller teams and have individual goal(s) for each team. For instance:– We measure Sales team on Value/Volume sold. – Marketing team on Brand perception.– Finance team on budgets and alignment. – Manufacturing team on Asset utilisation– Sourcing team on how well they can buy at lowest cost. The actions Read more…
One of the keys to achieving agile response to fast-changing markets lies upstream of the organisation in the quality of supplier relationships.Many companies have not recognised that competitive advantage that can be derived from closer relationships with key suppliers. Instead there is often an arms- length, even adversarial approach to Read more…
“Lean thinking” embraces the elimination of waste in its various forms. Activities that consume resources but generate no redeeming value in the eyes of customers are wastes that must be eliminated in the “lean” paradigm. Agility, on the other hand, emphasizes flexible, timely action in response to rapidly changing demand environments. Though Read more…
1. Market Sensitive. By market sensitive we mean that the supply chain is capable of reading and responding to real demand. Most organisations are forecast-driven rather than demand-driven. 2. Mastered Virtual supply chain. The use of information technology to share data between buyers and suppliers is, in effect, creating an information Read more…
Who should read thisIf you have wondered why supply chain partners don’t seem to want to do what is in everyone’s best interest, even when it’s obvious what’s best for the supply chain. Symptoms faced if you have Misaligned IncentivesExcess inventory,Stock outs,Incorrect forecasts,Inadequate sales effort andPoor customer service Wrong Assumptions Read more…
Sustainable competitive advantage no longer arises exclusively from position, scale, and first-order capabilities in producing or delivering an offering. Instead of being really good at doing some particular thing, companies must be really good at learning how to do new things. Those that thrive are quick to read and act Read more…