We say ‘thank you’ when people send us a gift, open a door for us, or treated us to lunch. We thank people we see. But how about people we don’t see? When we eat at a restaurant, we thank the waiter. But do we thank the chef, his assistants, the dishwashers, and the administrativeContinue reading “We Should Be Grateful to People We Don’t See”
Author Archives: Ellery
We’re Expected to be Perfect & Productive in Demand Fulfilment
Supply chains encompass most, if not all, of what we use in our daily lives. And for those of us who work in them, the supply chain professionals, we only have one basic task: Fulfil Demand And when we do that task: Our customers expect we do it perfectly; Our superiors expect we do itContinue reading “We’re Expected to be Perfect & Productive in Demand Fulfilment”
What Should We Do When There’s Clamour?
In November 2022, this happened: The Taylor Swift Ticketmaster crash. Ticketmaster, an online ticket sales platform, cancelled ticket sales for popular singer Taylor Swift’s 2023 United States concert tour after its online ticket purchasing system crashed. The company cited “extraordinarily high demands on ticketing systems and insufficient remaining ticket inventory.” Investigations and numerous complaints followedContinue reading “What Should We Do When There’s Clamour?”
What Our Superiors Expect
Customers expect perfection in service. But what do our superiors expect? For those among us who are supply chain professionals or managers, we answer to our employers, our superiors or bosses, the owners and executives who rule the enterprises we work for. And as much as customers expect us to be perfect in serving them,Continue reading “What Our Superiors Expect”
What Our Customers Expect
What do our customers expect from us? The Total Quality movement from the 1980’s preached that the people we work with are either “suppliers” or “customers.” We played the role of either one. The idea of TQM was to do the right thing right the first time when we, as “suppliers,” serve our “customers.” WeContinue reading “What Our Customers Expect”
Two Kinds of Customers
Two (2) occupants of two (2) condominium residences were refusing to pay their share of association and water bills. They, in fact, haven’t paid for over a year despite repeated follow-ups from the condominium’s treasurer. The rationale of both occupants (who happen to be sisters, by the way) was that the condominium association wasn’t legal,Continue reading “Two Kinds of Customers”
We are Consumers in a Take-It-or-Leave-It World
I’ll never fly, Emirates, the Dubai-based airline, ever again. At least I’ll avoid it as much as I could. The Emirates flight I took from Manila to Dubai was horrible. I had a economy seat in which I could not get the in-flight entertainment system to work. The flight attendants ignored my requests for assistance. Continue reading “We are Consumers in a Take-It-or-Leave-It World”
Attaining Flow via Systems & Platforms
We complain how little time we have. Or we complain about how long we have to wait. Either time is too short or too long. We lose track of time when we’re engrossed in a task. But we use a lot of it when we distract ourselves from our jobs. Time is an intangible resourceContinue reading “Attaining Flow via Systems & Platforms”
Three (3) Real-Life Cases of Demand Fulfilment
We fulfil demand in different ways. For instance, we make products available such as at store shelves. Another example is we customise and deliver based on what our customers order. We encounter challenges in fulfilling demand, however. And we sometimes don’t know we do. The Case of the Missing Dumpling I went to aContinue reading “Three (3) Real-Life Cases of Demand Fulfilment”
Demand Fulfilment Begins Before the Order, Not After
As managers of our enterprises. we entice our customers to select our products & services. Once our customers show interest in the items we are selling, the demand creation process comes closer to ending, and the demand fulfilment comes closer to beginning. Hence, we don’t wait for customers to order when we start the fulfilmentContinue reading “Demand Fulfilment Begins Before the Order, Not After”
